I've been sitting here on the sidelines watching as anonymous reviews insulting Rio and Jewel started popping up. It's like an infectious virus started spreading on the site all-of-a-sudden, and this is becoming too annoying for me to just watch. It's time I finally gave my 2 cents on this situation. But before that, let me say that if you've been spamming The Rascals all over here, just stop. Please. It's getting really annoying. It's like seeing obnoxious product placement in movies. I don't want to feel like I'm reading a story intended to market these guys instead of telling a story about the characters: the reason this website was made. With The Rascals out of the way now, let me defend Jewel who has been getting WAY TOO MUCH unnecessary hate from these spammers (or is it just 1 person?). But instead of ranting about how these haters are wrong, I'm going to try and debunk each argument these guys use on Jewel (not Rio 2).

1. "Beautiful Creatures"- People have brought up this beautifully animated musical sequence in the film as an example of Jewel neglecting Blu and leaving him to be left out of the dance just because she went with Roberto instead. Now according to the wiki, Rio 2 is set at least a few years (1-4) after the 1st film. This meant Blu and Jewel have had plenty of time together along with their kids. This also includes all the times they've spent being with each other which can include dancing together, romantic dinners, etc. The beginning of Rio 2 even shows them dancing at a New Year's Eve party, so they obviously spent a lot of time together. When Jewel meets her long-lost family, you can imagine how happy she would be to see her family and friends again. And when they decided to throw a "welcome back" dance with B.C., you can understand her decision to dance with her family instead of with Blu. Just picture yourself in her shoes. You found your long-lost family and friends and they wanted to throw a reunion party for you, wouldn't you be so swept away by this that you would want to party with them? Jewel and Roberto danced in a friendly manor, not in a serious romantic fashion since they don't even use any sort of romantic dance moves (moves you would see a couple perform). She also wanted Blu to come into the party as well with the "come on, Blu" line she says before going off to dance, so she still wants Blu to also enjoy the party. Since Eduardo and Mimi were happily dancing with the kids, and seeing as how this was before Eduardo finds out about Blu's pet life, I'm sure they would of welcomed Blu into the dance happily. It's just that Blu got a bit separated from them and got put into a different "group". And it wasn't like anyone told Blu he couldn't dance with his family, it's just that he gave up a bit too early on trying to get to them in the final act of the dance that had Jewel, the family, and Roberto in the middle. Jewel never noticed Blu not just because she was busy focusing on the dance, but the music was playing so she couldn't hear Blu (how would they be dancing to no sound?), and she's surrounded by similar looking Blue Macaws that she couldn't see Blu well enough. Try being in the middle of a dance and seeing if you can spot your friend in the far end of the dancing field. So this scene was all Blu's fault for giving up a bit too early and just deciding to sit back and watch everyone else dance away.

2."Hogging of the kids"- Another case people brought up was how Jewel hogged the kids to herself the entire movie without letting Blu spend time with them. You need to remember that Blu is a domesticated bird with absolutely little to zero experience in a jungle. How was Blu going to survive in the Amazon without any sort of proper training? Blu has a legit reason for not being with his kids as he had to get training from Eduardo (doesn't matter how successful the training was, it gave Blu a reason to be gone). This is like when a dad has to go to work to support his family. He wants to spend time with them, but his job is essential to giving them money and resources to survive. And it wasn't like Jewel ever said to Blu he couldn't see the kids. Jewel was watching them (while Roberto wanted to make friends with Tiago, nothing harmful with that) for Blu while simultaneously exploring the tribe and its environment.

3. "Jewel's cheating on Blu"- I can't believe I have to spell this out, but some people have made the accusation that Jewel wanted to be with Roberto instead of Blu which is why she "ignores Blu". Now I already explained why she couldn't be with Blu, but how are people thinking so messed up about her and Roberto? Is there some sort of stupid ideology that men and women can't just be friends? I thought because of her line "there was nothing needed to be mentioned" to Blu that would hint that they were just friends, nothing more. Come on guys, this is a G-rated movie, why would Carlos be that messed up to feature mature themes such as cheating? With Beautiful Creatures, I've explained how their dancing was friendly dancing rather than romantic, and the nest scene was more just Roberto showing off instead of actual flirting. After that, there were no more scenes of them flirting together. I guess you guys just thought there would be a "mean ex-boyfriend" cliché here. But I got to give credit to Blue Sky for not going down that path, I mean, she's technically married for Christ's sakes. Why would they put that sort of drama in a movie aimed towards kids? Just remember Jewel proved her love to Blu by supporting him despite how her father thought of him now that she understood his troubles.

4. "The Selfish Scene"- This is probably the most controversial scene in the movie since even people who liked the film had a bit of a problem with that. But the scene does work in context. There is a sort of cinema trick in effect here where we, the audience, know something a character doesn't. The reason Jewel called Blu selfish was because she thought he was being a big baby. We know that Blu had multiple problems flying into this setting (Roberto, Eduardo, fitting in, and the Amazon itself). Unfortunately, he never told anyone his problems, not even his own "wife" (sort of like a troubled kid in school, he keeps his problems to himself) and he had plenty of moments to tell her (after B.C., in Roberto's nest multiple times, after his training, and during the soccer match). Because of this, Jewel never saw the full picture. She only saw Eduardo get upset about him starting the war and Blu quickly explained to her that he was getting a nut for her, in which Jewel thought was sweet of him to try. So the only real case for Blu wanting to leave that she saw was the soccer game, and be honest guys, losing a soccer game isn't enough to warrant moving out of a certain area. Otherwise, every school soccer team would be moving with each defeat. So in Jewel's eyes, she only saw Blu lose a soccer game, and wanting to move because of that is equivalent to wanting to leave school because you got a bad grade on a test. So Jewel thought Blu was simply overreacting and only thinking about himself which is why she thought he was being selfish. Plus, she acknowledged her mistakes and made a subtle apology to Blu in the end by tearfully welcoming him back while touching beaks with him.

5. "Blu was getting mistreated throughout the film yet Jewel doesn't even acknowledge that and ignores him"- People keep blowing this argument out of proportions since Blu was never shown getting bullied by anyone, not even Roberto (thankfully). The movie never shows Blu getting picked on while trying to fit in, and only a few birds, including his family, knew he was a pet. Heck, even during the soccer game, no one boos or throws stuff at Blu for costing his species the game. Everyone (or at least a large number of Blue Macaws) even quietly and respectfully listened as Blu was giving his speech near the end, and they were all fine with letting him lead them against the loggers. With Eduardo, he didn't spend the entire movie picking on Blu since naturally, he started out liking him until he finds out about his past which makes sense why he would lose trust in him. So the mistreatment wasn't really given that much and this argument is nothing more than just an over-exaggeration.

6. "Jewel completely ignored Blu's choice on going to the Amazon"- In their home in Rio, Blu reluctantly agreed to go to the Amazon. As with his other problems, he never said them to Jewel so she just assumed Blu was fine with the Amazon. This film is also a few years after the 1st and seeing as how Jewel been with Blu the whole time, she would think that Blu had settled into Rio and its jungles. I mean, why would Jewel think Blu would be the exact same bird he was when they met? Of course she would think he's gotten more confident in Rio and its jungles with all the time they spent together. When they decide to move into the Amazon, everyone benefits from it (kids get to socialize with birds of their kind, they're closer to relatives, and Blu got to fit in while keeping his fanny pack, so he doesn't just conform to what Jewel wants). So the move isn't really a bad decision. Also remember they'll still visit Rio in the Summer so Blu and Jewel made a compromise on that problem. Everything is fine here.

7. "Blu completely abandoned his family"- Blu never said he was leaving and never coming back. He left to go find Linda and Tulio and bring them to the tribe. He was obviously going to come back. Even when his plan didn't come full circle with Linda and Tulio being captured, he still went back to his family to support them in their time of need because family is important to Blu.

These were the main arguments haters have brought up about the characters and I have given a counter-argument to all of them. Hopefully, this will help in keeping those anonymous haters away from this community. I want this place to go back to the happier way it used to be until this outbreak had started.

Finally, if you're going to try and counter my counter-arguments, at least create an account and PM me first. Don't be a coward and try to hide as an anonymous user (doesn't apply to anonymous users who agree with me).