When people talk about all these different animation companies, we tend to forget those that are around but haven't made many great films. Blue Sky Studios is one of those companies who have made far too many sequels to one franchise (this case being
Ice Age) and mostly single films in between. But in the midst of the completion of the Disney/Fox deal, it looks like Blue Sky's future is looking bright should the two companies choose to keep or dissolve it and so today we'll be looking at the only other franchise of theirs that has more than one film. When you have a film like
Rio, the thing many of us hope for is that it celebrates the culture of those who live in the real country of Rio and Blue Sky at the very least did try to do that. So let's see if they succeeded and don't need to live on
Ice Age films:
Rio
The film begins in Brazil where the last known Spix's macaw bird is being smuggled out of the country. That is until it somehow falls out of its crate only to be picked up by a human female called Linda (voiced by Leslie Mann) who decides to keep the bird and call him Blu (voiced by the fictional Mark Zuckerberg as well as the DCEU version of Lex Luthor, Jesse Eisenberg). Fifteen years go by and Linda becomes the owner of a bookstore while Blu has become afraid of flying and is ridiculed by local birds because of it. The pair are soon invited to travel to the titular area of Rio where its discovered that Blu is the last known male and must mate with the last known female of his kind of which is residing in Rio. But as preparations are underway and as he makes new friends, a plot to smuggle exotic birds out of the country is revealed forcing Blu to take on more than he can get his beak on. So normally when it comes to celebrity voices over voices from actual actors, I tend to be against it as it brings a new low for films and that those kind of voices are not very good. However, I am pleased to know that the celebrity voices here are actually pretty good and they get a chance to do the thing they are known for which in this case is music. So as for the film, its a lot more colourful and heart warming than
Ice Age could ever be. The animation is good as is the music and story. Can be a bit overcrowded at times and may not be at the standard of say Pixar films. But its otherwise a great film that respects Rio in all the right ways. 8/10
Rio 2
Blu continues to enjoy life in Rio alongside his new found family of Spix's macaws as well as his friends too. But when its discovered that there may be more of their kind living in the Amazon, the family go about trying to reunite with their own kind. Meanwhile a group of loggers plan to destroy the Amazon which prompts Linda to do an expedition in an attempt to protest it. What follows is a series of bizarre events that ultimately changes Blu and his family's perception of life for better or worse. Like any sequel, it tries to be bigger and better. But as any good film maker will know, sometimes bigger may not work out for a sequel. This is one of those sequels. While it does try out new things and keeps the animation top notch, its very overcrowded with more new than old characters and often there isn't enough screen time for many of them. And with this being a story where the hero meets the in-laws of his love interest, it can be very predictable as the film goes on. So yeah not a great sequel, but given where things are going with the
Ice Age films, it could be a lot worse. 6/10
I think when it comes to trying to be at the top of the animation genre in films, you need to have a lot of big hits and unfortunately Blue Sky is lacking in that area. Sure they have made a couple of good films as well as a few ambitious films. But as long as they continue making
Ice Age films, they are never really going to be like Pixar any time soon. As for the
Rio films, they are at least decent enough to be considered good. But there's still a lot of work to do if Blue Sky is ever going to be the great animation company that many know it can be but they just don't know it. I guess we'll see what happens when Disney's Fox buyout is completed. 8/10
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