This sequel to 2011’s hit animated movie sees Jesse Eisenberg’s neurotic blue Spix macaw, Blu, flying deep into the Amazon rainforest with feisty mate Jewel (Anne Hathaway) and their brood to find a flock of their endangered fellow birds.
What follows is essentially a tale of city folk rediscovering their roots in nature, with some drama involving illegal loggers thrown in to give the film its eco credentials. The plot struggles to take wing at first, but Eisenberg is very funny as the fretful, accident-prone Blu, so ill at ease in the wild that he uses a GPS device to navigate and tries to open brazil nuts with a multi-tool rather than his beak.
And there’s great support from Jemaine Clement as fruity thespian cockatoo Nigel and Kristin Chenoweth as his adoring frog sidekick Gabi. The animation is vibrant, the peppy songs embrace sassy samba and showtune pizzazz, and the jungle critters are cute. Be warned, though, the film’s nature is sometimes red in tooth and claw, and they do occasionally eat one another.
Certificate U. Runtime 97 mins. Director Carlos Saldanha.
Released on Blu-ray 2D & 3D and DVD by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
