First Look: Bright New Stills from Rio 2

USA Today have got a sneak peek at the next film from Munir's favourite studio, Blue Sky. Rio 2, a sequel to the 2011 hit starring Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway, flies into cinemas next year (this, unlike The Good Dinosaur and Minions hasn't been pushed back yet); we've seen a few teaser trailers for the Sambaing sequel, but this is our first proper look at the film's returning and expanded cast of characters.

"Housebird Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) and Jewel (Hathaway) used to be the only macaws known to man in the box office hit Rio," says USA Today. "Now the two lovebirds have a family of three, including their music-loving daughter Carla (Rachel Crow) and some suddenly found relatives to contend with in Rio 2." Although why (or more importantly, how) said daughter has an iPod is beyond me.

Returning characters include exotic Bird preservationist Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) and Blu's erstwhile owner/Tulio's girlfriend Linda (Leslie Mann), who are for some reason searching the Amazon for the macaws; the birds are helped along again by Luiz (Tracy Morgan), Rafael (George Lopez), Pedro (will.i.am) and Nico (Jamie Foxx). Villainous cockatoo Nigel (Flight of the Conchords's Jemaine Clement) is also back for more, and he's "better and badder than ever," assures director Carlos Saldanha. 

New characters include another macaw (Blu and Jewel weren't the last two for long, it seems), a "wild, yet very suave" old flame of Jewel's, Roberto, annoyingly voiced by Bruno Mars. Fortunately, the voice cast is gaining some good members too, with Glee/Pushing Daisies's Kristin Chenoweth lending her voice to Gabi, "a small, poisonous frog in love with Nigel."

Rio 2 begins to roll out in cinemas around the world starting on 20th March, 2014, swinging by the UK on 4th April; it eventually opens in the United States on 11th April, 2014.

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