I just don’t get it. Over the past two years we’ve been given such wonderful family films. Gems like Up, How to Train Your Dragon, The Princess and the Frog, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs are all on our movie shelves, ready to be enjoyed again after we fell in love with them the first time. Heck, even the third Ice Age movie was alright, what with that trippy little weasel guy. So why do we keep getting such crappy animated films this year?

Gnomeo and Juliet was cute, though it had some weird adult references in it and it wasn’t exactly Bechdel Test-friendly. Rango royally sucked, was frustrating to watch, and absolutely failed the Bechdel. Now, having watched Rio, I’m wondering if we’re going to have any out of the ballpark kids’ films at all this year.

It’s cute, don’t get me wrong; it’s not nearly as bad as Rango was. But aside from a few funny moments, it wasn’t moving or amazing or carrying any important messages, and it definitely wasn’t the strong female casted cartoon that I’m STILL looking for. While there are several female characters—and all of them are strong, intelligent and independent—none of them interact with one another at all, all of them serve as love interests for other characters, and the only female among all of the lead animals is the watered down love interest of the lead bird, Blue. Voiced by Anne Hathaway, she is supposed to represent being wild and adventurous, and she’s definitely brave and strong—but that’s pretty much all we know about her. What few lines she has don’t give her much individual character development, let alone couple development with Blue.

I say watered down because you never really see them fall in love. There’s some dancing and a few personal comments here and there, but otherwise there are no dynamic character development scenes or even solid dialogue points that indicate they are falling in love. They just suddenly are.

Then, of course, the movie ends with the main male bird saving the female’s life, making him the hero and subsequently her mate for life, as we see them flying with their baby at the very end of the movie. How refreshing and new and—wait, no, how tired and disappointing.

There are a few halfhearted laughs, and lukewarm messages about trusting yourself or something like that—they’re never really articulated well. The main woman in the movie, an adorable bird lover and book worm, is sort of forced into making herself look like a sex object in one scene, which makes the geeky bird scientist—who is also adorable, actually; these two might be the only reason to see the movie—ogle her a bit. It’s not that bad—it’s more of a love struck look, and he gives her a similar one when she’s not dressed like a showgirl, to give him credit—but it’s still there, insinuating that her looks are just that darn important.

If you want to sit this one out, feel free; you won’t be missing much.