A fun, energetic, and entertaining musical adventure!

Rating: 9/10 (8 July 2014)

It's been a decade since a new animation company competed against Pixar and DreamWorks Animation known as Blue Sky Studios, a division of 20th Century Fox. So far, they made the Ice Age franchise (with the original being critically praised and the sequels received mixed to negative reviews) a Dr. Seuss adaptation *Horton Hears A Who*, and two William Joyce projects "Robots" and "Epic".
Then, three years later, the company made a new franchise that started with this one known as "Rio", a story about a blue macaw named Blu who travels to Rio De Janiero, Brazil with his human owner. One day, after meeting another blue macaw named Jewel, they get captured by a bunch of bird thieves and a cockatoo bird named Nigel. As they escape from them, they must find a way to get back to Blu's owner with the help from other birds.
Looking back at this, I never realized how spectacular this film is. It's not nearly perfect by any means, but it's a really great film. My only nit-pick is that it does have the same clichés that we've seen before (a pet getting kidnapped by people, etc.), but there are other movies that have execution that makes the old clichés work and this is no exception. It does a good job executing those clichés by developing the characters and flowing the story really well.
Everything else is great. The story isn't exactly the best, but it's really entertaining and a cute one that has it's heart in the right place. There's never a moment that would make you feel bored. Also, I liked the energy that was put into it and the humor comes across as fast and thick you can't help but giggle and chuckle. The pacing is very brisk and takes you to the world this film introduces us.
The characters are likable with the help of a solid voice cast. Jesse Eisenberg does a nice job as Blu, the nerdy, but endearing protagonist while Anne Hathaway does a great job as Jewel, the love interest and secondary main character and her chemistry with Blu is very entertaining. The other characters are amazing. Nigel is a very menacing enough villain he even steals the show. The same thing can be said for the comic reliefs, Nico, Pedro, and Rafael.
The music score from John Powell is actually a really good one. Not How To Train Your Dragon worthy, but I liked the Brazilian flavor, the emotion, & energy it gives an epic scale to the film. Also, the songs are really good to listen to. Real In Rio, I Wanna Party (I Wanna Samba), and the others are really nice choices for a musical adventure you'll end up humming them for a long time. Then, there's the animation. The character animation on the humans is fine and the bird designs for the protagonists and the side characters are great, but what really stands out is the visuals. The look of Rio is fantastic. The city, the streets, the ocean, the forest, and the Carnival Festival sequence. It's just... wow.
Overall, Rio isn't the best CGI modern animated feature film and it's not on par with Pixar and DreamWorks Animation, but it's a really fun film with a story that is rarely predictable, characters that are endearing, a few songs that are solid, and has a nice touch of Brazilian flavor. It makes me feel like I want to go to Rio so I can party and live my life. Thumbs up!