Rio opens with a scene of flash and color and then never really dips from there. And this is one time when some amazing animation isn’t let down by a weak story. Quite the contrary actually as this is a film that’s story and characterization is deep enough to keep both children and adults enthralled.
The film follows Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network, Camp Hope), a Blue Macaw that is ripped from his rainforest home as a fledgling and then smuggled to America. As fate would have it he literally falls off the back of a truck and is rescued by Linda (Leslie Mann – Little Birds, Shorts) whose lonely life is consumed by the lovable bird. Enter, Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro – There Be Dragons, Post Grad) whjo convinces Linda to travel to Rio so Blue can be mated with Jewel (Anne Hathaway – Love And Other Drugs, Alice In Wonderland) in a bid to save their species. But this doesn’t go smoothly with Jewel and Blu again becoming the target of bird smugglers which means Blu has to shake off his ‘pet’ mentality in order to make sure they both survive.
The creators of Rio (incidentally the same team that brought us the Ice Age movies) are really onto a winning formula when it comes to animated films. The stunningly colorful animation certainly does justice to real-life Rio De Janeiro, while the animation itself is so good you feel that the characters are real and that you are right there in Rio with them. Screenwriter, Don Rhymer (Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, Surf’s Up) only adds to the recipe of success. His characterization of Blu and Jewel is what makes them seem so real while Rhymer has been able to develop a script that exposes a cruel act like bird-smuggling while making the film child-friendly just goes to show what a great writer he is. His story will certainly never bore you and such is your attachment to the main characters that you never want to see anything bad happen to them. Even the subsidiary characters are 3-dimensional… something that doesn’t happen very often these days.
The voice actors also need to be congratulated for their work on Rio. None are easily obvious with even Jesse Eisenberg managing to disguise his distinct voice by giving Blu a bit of a twang. As you would expect Anne Hathaway is certainly up to the task but the person who steals the shows is Jemaine Clement (Predicament, Dinner For Schmucks) who voices the evil, Nigel. He is so good you’ll think it is an actor of the caliber of Geoffrey Rush behind the mic.
Rio is the kind of family film that is a joy to take the kids to. The kids will be entertained for 90 minutes by a film that captivates the imagination and the parents won’t find themselves bored out of their brain as they struggle to put up with a kiddy-film. Rio will be loved by people of all ages and is one of the best animated films to surface so far this year.
Year: 2011
Director: Carlos Saldanha
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro, Anne Hathaway, Jermaine Clement
Classification: G
Runtime: 96 mins
Rating: