RIO 2
Voiced by: Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Andy Garcia, Jamie Foxx, will.i.am, Bruno Mars (English version), Ella Koon Yun-na (Cantonese version)
Director: Carlos Saldanha
Category: English and Cantonese versions
This year, with the World Cup kicking off in Brazil in June, all eyes will be on the South American country. So it might look like this sequel to the 2011 animation Rio is just another example of Hollywood cashing in.
The headache-inducing opening, set on Copacabana Beach on New Year's Eve, and featuring thousands of dancers gyrating like a Gap commercial flash mob, makes it seem like the filmmakers are in league with the Brazilian tourist board.
Factor in the blandly generic title of the movie, directed by Brazilian-born director/co-writer Carlos Saldanha ( Rio), and you could be forgiven for thinking Rio 2 is going to be a soulless affair.
But there's an unexpected warmth to the kaleidoscopic tale that reunites viewers with Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg), the domesticated Spix's macaw, and his female companion Jewel (Anne Hathaway).
Now with three offspring, they're living in Rio; when their human owners, Linda (Leslie Mann) and Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), decide to travel into the Amazon jungle to find more of their species, they follow.