A triumph of a film that even matches Toy Story 3 in perfection!

Rating: 8/10 (24 April 2011)

Rio is simply a spectacular film that does everything right, and is likely the best animated film that we've seen since last year's incredible 'Toy Story 3', or even this year's 'Rango'.
The movie has the great starting quality of having an all-star cast assembled. We have Anne Hathaway, Tracey Morgan, George Lopez, Jesse Eisenburg (The Social Network) and others to keep us entertained. They all turn in fun, enjoyable performances. Definitely a nice job on casting.
The animation...This is made by the guys who made Ice Age. The one redeeming quality of the latest Ice Age movies is the AWESOME animation. This movie ups the anty even more. Many shots are full of rich colors, providing great visuals and it provides a nice background for the characters to explore and run through.
The plot...Eh. It's basically a "last of species" kind of movie. Basically, the main character Blu is the last male of his species, the Blue McCaw, and he has to...Reproduce with a female blue McCaw, who isn't fond of him at the start. While not a completely original plot, it is an entertaining one and it keeps you interested throughout.
The biggest part of the movie, however, is THE CHARACTERS. Never have I seen a movie that provides so many likable characters. From the very moment we see Blu, we're introduced to unique, fun, zany and extremely likable characters. By the end, it gives a sense that you care about the characters you're seeing, which is always a plus in any movie. However, the human characters are extremely undeveloped throughout, and feel stale and out-of-place with the main plot by the end of the film.
This film also has the decency to feature...Songs. While some can be quiet random and out-of-place, will.i.am and Jamie Foxx put on an AWESOME song performance halfway through the movie. It feels like a Black Eyed Peas song, yet has a great Samba touch to it. While I can't say I enjoy Samba too much, the songs in this movie are fun and get stuck in your head real good.
One more thing I need to add is the main villain in this movie...The main villain is a down-on-his-luck cockatoo who used to star in action movies, who has an almost devilish French accent and speech, and is almost like a James Bond villain...I don't know about you, but that is freaking' AWESOME...
Overall, Rio is definitely a fun movie. While a few problems plague it, Rio has few flaws in-between to prevent it from being a real fun experience.