By Matt Lewis
Executive Editor

‘Rio 2’ is a great children’s cartoon! It has music, colors and a happy-ending story line (sorry, should have said spoiler alert). This film makes you happy from the opening credits until the conclusion.

There is the obvious rise and fall of the action to fit a standard children’s tale, but there are some adult themes to keep the grown-ups interested too.

From the beginning we are given big musical numbers and great visual effects to give our eyes a treat. The movie opens in Rio de Janeiro and takes the audience and the birds and a cast of other characters to the Amazon.

The movie stars the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jemaine Clement as well as George Lopez and Bruno Mars, among others.

What the movie didn’t lack was a sense of appeal for both parents and children. There were themes that could appeal to all.

Blu’s character, played by Eisenberg, was a loveable neat-freak who was overly concerned with all the dangers of the jungle. He took paranoia to a new extreme and it was funny.

Hathaway voiced Blu’s wife Jewel. Jewel, a wild bird, had no problem fitting in to the Amazon as it was her home.

We meet Jewel’s family and ex-macaw beau who poses a bit of a threat to Blu’s manliness — again funny.

The movie has sweet moments and fun moments for the kids too. There’s a soccer match that is sure to capture the hearts of young boys the world over.

There’s not enough good things to say about this film, but mostly I’ll let the film speak for itself like a parrot, so go see it.

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