Rio [2011]

Plot: Deep in the jungles of Brazil, the world's last surviving male blue macaw gets snatched by poachers and shipped to Minnesota, where he falls off the back of a truck and lands in the hands of an owlish little girl named Linda.Fifteen years later, Linda has matured into an owlish young woman (voiced by Leslie Mann) and Blu(Voiced by Jesse Eisenberg), her highly imaginative name for him, has morphed into a fussy, flightless thing who sips hot chocolate and speaks in the hurried nasal bursts of Jesse Eisenberg. Enter Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), a nerdy Brazilian ornithologist who persuades Linda to haul Blu to Rio to mate with free spirit Jewel (Anne Hathaway), the last surviving female of the species. When the plan goes horribly wrong, as such plans are wont to do, Blu and Jewel wind up chained at the claw and held captive by vicious smuggler (Carlos Ponce) and his gang.

This movies visual effects are amazing and the music is superb and story line is a good one but I did find it to lack in humor. Rio is by far a rare animated film but it is certainly a  playful one that you and/or family will enjoy watching.

What I liked most about Rio was its energy, its energy is truly infectious at that. I wasn't expecting the writing to be this sharp and witty but it touches your heart to see such a small bird overcome so many obstacles just to be with his owner.The soundtrack has a huge amount of authentic Brazilian flavor and just ripples with zest. I loved the samba and bossa nova rhythms that pulsate throughout, and further fun is to be had in the spectacular Carnaeval finale.

Much of the humor of the film is kid friendly as is expected from this type of film and it is done very well but I do think it could have had more. There is enough for parents and adults audiences to keep them entertaining. My personal favorites were the double act Kipo (Robin Thicke) and Marcel (Carlos Ponce) who were the dumb henchmen for the poacher and outsmarted by a cockatoo. They have some of the best lines in the film. But the two characters Pedro the Red-crested Cardinal (will.i.am) and Nico the yellow canary (Jamie Fox) were annoying and pretty stereotypical.

Jesse Eisenberg gives a nerdy performance as his character is book-smart, but not adventurous at all, preferring to be safe with his owner. Compared to Anne Hathaway she is a feisty, strong female character who wants to explore and distrusts humans. Both learn from each other, for Blu that there is a wider world and for Jewel that not all humans are bad. As well as the bird love in the film there is also some nerd love which will be enjoyed by both adults and kids and will leave you happy at the end of the movie.

Overall I would recommend families and animiated lovers to go watch this film.

Rate - 7/10