Chatting with the Cast of Blue Sky Picture's RIO 2

Kids today love electronics (actually us adults do too) but getting them to unplug and actually interact with their family can prove to be difficult.  Apparently, it applies to birds too, well in Blue Sky Picture's Rio 2 Movie!  In Rio 2, the much-anticipated sequel to the 2011 box office smash hit, Blu and Jewel are raising 3 of their own and as they set out to the Amazon they leave behind all their comforts and begin a new family adventure.

My dear friend Leanette attended the Blue Carpet Premiere and Interview session for Rio 2 on my behalf, courtesy of 20^th Century Fox.

After attending an amazing Rio 2 screening and Blue Carpet Party in South Beach, I had the opportunity to interview the cast of Rio 2 about their various roles in the movie!

As I spoke with most of its cast members, here's what they had to say about their family and reconnecting.

Q: What can we as parents do to get our kids to unplug and reconnect with their families?

Anne Hathaway:  One night a week phones go off, family dinner.  In the Jewish tradition, it's called Shabbat, but it's a great idea even if you're not Jewish.  And on Friday at sundown, you put your phone away, don't pick it up until Saturday at sundown, and have family time.  I try to practice that as much as possible, and it's really made my life better.

George Lopez:  But, watch those kids freak out until they get used to it. The wireless went out in the house one time, and I had the kids running around asking when it was going to turn back on.

Andy Garcia:  All the time, every night, every night.  So, we don't wait 'til Fridays.  I mean, we have big family and my family eats together all the time, and we text each other from across the table all the time.

Q: What are some of the recommendations that you have to navigate some of the more tricky relationships with kids who don't want to be around you as they're getting older?

Jesse Eisenberg:  There's a great quote by Al Franken, the senator/comedian, and he said he spent a lot of time with this father when he was young, but they never did anything interesting together.  And he always thinks that the adage of quality time over quantity time is wrong.  He said that it was better to just sit on the couch with his father doing nothing rather than seeing him every other weekend at a baseball game.  And I always thought that was such a nice way to put it, but it does take more time.

Andy Garcia:  You have to be present, as a father or as a mother in your child's life.  You’re going to make mistakes as you go along all the time as a parent, because we're not perfect.  But, at the end of the day, they look back and they say, "He was always there and he was present."  And that unconditional love of being present is what's essential, because I think I learned by the example that was set before me.  So, you just have to try to be the best example you can. Every so often you trip and you say something wrong, or you show up not in your best light, because your kids also inherit all your bad traits, not only your good traits, you know?  But, at the end of the day, unconditional love and presence in their life is, I think, essential.

Anne Hathaway:  My dad has a great phrase that he says a lot, "This too shall pass."  And I'm sure he said it to himself a lot when I was a teenager.  So, I think just what Andy just said, approach things with unconditional love and try to practice patience, and then maybe like pick up kickboxing on the side to find a way to get your aggression out so that it doesn't manifest itself in your relationships.

What family vacation is most memorable for you?

Jemaine Clement:  Oh, there were mostly torturous times in cars.  Those are the bits I remember.  I'm sure we had a good time when we got out of the car, but right now I remember being stuck in between my brothers in the car.

Andy Garcia:  For me, it's always the islands. When we get to the islands, sort of like when things kind of slow down a bit.  By the second or third day, you see a change and everybody's started to decompress.  After a while, if you're there long enough, you really don't care about integrating back into any sense of any sort of like city or society in a way.  You kind of can just kind of go, "I'm here.  I don't need to leave."  That's the feeling I get.

Anne Hathaway:  Just as exotic, I go to Cape May with my family, and it's really special.  My grandmother fell in love with it when my mom was about five.  And so, my mom spent all of her summers there and has friendships there from when she was five, and then they grew up together and had kids.  Then when I was a kid, I met them and so, now I have lifelong friendships.  And my mom's siblings, my aunts and my uncles, they always go down.  And now they have kids who have kids.  So, we're just a tribe down in Cape May, and it's just so wonderful.  We ride our bikes around and we have barbeques. I always try to make it there for at least a few days every year just to kind of reconnect with family.  I've gotten to go on some pretty sweet vacations in my life, but that one for family that's a place that really feels like home.

Want to spend time with your family and enjoy it?

Take them to go see Rio 2 when it opens in theaters tonight, Friday, April 11th!

About Blue Sky Picture's Rio 2

The entire cast of the animated smash RIO returns in RIO 2, and they are joined by a new flock of top actors and musical talents. Rich with grandeur, character, color and music, RIO 2 finds Jewel (Anne Hathaway), Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) and their three kids leaving their domesticated life in that magical city for a journey to the Amazon.

They encounter a menagerie of characters who are born to be wild, voiced by Oscar nominee Andy Garcia, Oscar/Emmy/Tony-winner Rita Moreno, Grammy winner Bruno Mars, and Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth.

Starring the voices of Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, Will i am, Jemaine Clement, Tracy Morgan, Leslie Mann, George Lopez, Rodrigo Santoro, Andy Garcia, Rita Moreno, Natalie Morales, Kristin Chenoweth, and Jamie Foxx.

Directed by: Carlos Saldanha and Produced by: John C. Donkin, Bruce Anderson

Check out this fun Rio 2 Movie Trailer!

Don't Miss ANY of the RIO 2 Fun! Go see Rio 2 in theaters starting April 11th!

Visit the Official Website / Like Rio 2 on Facebook and Follow on Twitter, YouTube, Google+

All photos courtesy of 20^th Century Fox.