Very entertaining, colorful, if racist, nerds + birds vs. poachers + vengeful cockatoo.

Rating: 9/10 (8 May 2013)

Colorful, fun, if predictable, animation film. Has two major themes: the well-trodden 'The Little Engine that Could' theme, as relates to housebound macaw Blu, suddenly forced to prepare to survive in his native jungle, and the theme that wild animals are best left alone in their natural habitat(or perhaps a large aviary), instead of serving as confined companions or trophies for people.
The NAACP refuses to sanction TV reruns of the popular '50s "Amos and Andy" series, because it routinely depicts African Americans as lazy bumbling dimwits, inept crooks, or screaming shrews. Well, they have good reason to object to the characterizations in this film too. The two lead 'good guys' are clearly lily white: one Brazilian, the other from snowy small town MN, USA. They are both very introverted nerds, whose private or professional lives are dominated by their bird friends. They are initially at odds over whether Linda should bring Blu to Rio to mate with Jewel, the only known female of his species, caged by ornithologist Tulio. When this parrot pair is stolen by a gang of poachers and thieves for shipment to other countries, their relationship is further strained, until they decide to work together to recover the parrots. This mission, along with their growing friendship with street urchin Fernando, who stole their parrots for the poacher gang, then regretted his action, serves to cement their positive relationship(Actually, their efforts prove irrelevant to the 2 escapes of the parrots).
Meanwhile, Blu is having problems relating to his would-be mate, who has the great advantage of having lived in the jungle until recently. Blu proves a clumsy pessimistic wimp, who has no idea how to favorably impress confident Jewel, despite some coaching by other birds, mainly the street or jungle-wise Pedro and Rafael. Blu continues to complain that he can't fly far, thus has no chance to survive in the wild, where Jewel is determined to return to, if they escape. He doesn't learn that he can fly far until he must, to save himself and Jewel, with a hurt wing, from drowning, after engineering their escape. In reality, pet birds often cannot fly far because their flight feathers have been clipped, as well as the relative lack of wing muscle exercise. The poachers should have clipped their wings(if Tulio hadn't), should they escape.
All the poachers clearly are partial or full African Americans, thus reinforcing stereotypes. Except for the boss, Marcel, they are characterized as lazy dimwits, magnitudes dumber than Nigel, Narcel's eagle-like sulphur-crested cockatoo henchman. Nigel is native to Australia, and speaks with a British accent. He joined the poachers because he wants to extract revenge on the colorful Brazilian birds, because one of them replaced him as the star of a Brazilian TV show. Thus, he acts as a Trogan horse, feigning abuse, to be included in Tulio's collection of confiscated, sick, or otherwise collected birds. He overpowers Tulio's night watchman, paving the way for Fernando to steal Blu and Jewel, then continues to play a critical role in the periodic capture of these prizes. His downing of the poacher's plane, by being pulled into the propeller, should have cut him to piece. But we see him later, much ruffled, but alive.
The gang of mischievous white-eared marmosets can be taken as a stand in for a street urchin pick pocket gang.
The plot actually has a relevant basis. Blu and Jewel have the coloring of Spix's Macaw, which hasn't been seen in the wild since 2000, mostly because of habitat destruction. It's being raised in captive breeding programs, like Tulio planned. Unlike the 'born-free' bias in the film, which no doubt appeals to many identifying audience members, you wouldn't want to release the last breeding pair of a species into the wild, where they are subject to predation and poaching. Blame it on Jewel's misguided refusal to accept confinement.
The lead male/female toucan pair, as colored, are actually members of two distinct species. Unlike these animations, real parrots and toucans have 4, not 3, toes: 2 front and 2 back. Pedro is supposed to be a red- crested cardinal, but his color pattern and extreme obesity make him look like a blend of scarlet tanager, pigeon and red cardinal.
It's not until the ending credits that we learn that Blu and Jewel have 3 chicks, and that Tulio, Linda, and Fernando appear to have formed a family.
In 2012, after this film was released, the animation "The Pirates" was released. It has a similar theme of rescuing a virtually extinct bird species(Dodo) from the clutches of an evil uncaring person. Unfortunately, the Dodo has no mate to perpetuate the species, and the naturalist(Darwin) ends up still frustrated in finding a woman who will love him. In those respects, it is less satisfying than this film.