Rio

Rating: 7/10 (5 December 2011)

From the creators of Ice Age and Robots, I saw the clips and trailers for this computer-animated film and was certainly interested in giving it a go, especially after hearing some positive opinions from sources. Basically, in Rio De Janeiro, a baby Spix's Macaw was captured by dealers and smuggled into the United States of America, but a minor accident causes with the truck transporting his box, and he is found by a little girl in Moose Lake, Minnesota. Fifteen years later the girl has grown up to be woman and book shop owner Linda (Leslie Mann), and the macaw has grown up, named Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) he has been raised with love and in a comfortable home he is a domesticated and intelligent bird, but he has not learnt to fly. One day out of the blue, Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) the clumsy Brazilian ornithologist comes into the shop and knows that Blu may be the last male of his kind left in the world, so he is suggesting to Linda that he should mate with the female macaw he has in Rio De Janeiro. Linda eventually agrees it is probably the best thing to do to save the beautiful species of bird, she and Blu travel with Tulio to Rio De Janeiro, and the bird does meet the female of his species, Jewel (Anne Hathaway), but in the large cage she is more interested in escaping rather than getting to know him. During their escape attempt from the institute Blu and Jewel are stolen by a pair of smugglers and taken to a place for many rare and valuable birds in a small warehouse in the slums of the country. Blu and Jewel manage to escape, even with chains on their feet keeping them together, and they befriend some of the birds on the outside in the paradise surroundings who they want to help them break their chains. The only thing stopping the smugglers trying to find the birds before Linda and Tulio can find them is the big Rio Carnival that is going on in the city, so they send their trusted evil cockatoo bird Nigel (Jemaine Clement) to find them and bring them back. On their journey to break their chains they have many adventures and have fun dancing the samba and bossa nova, Nico the yellow canary with a green and purple striped bottle cap as a hat (Jamie Foxx) and Pedro the rapping red-crested cardinal (will.i.am), Luiz the bulldog (Tracy Morgan) and Rafael the toco toucan (George Lopez), and they are slowly developing feelings. Blu and Jewel do have their chains broken, and obviously there is the point when there is a separation due to an argument or events or whatever, but they are eventually reunited. In the end all the characters end up in the middle of the Carnival, Blu and Jewel are brought back together, Linda and Tulio find them, and the villains and Nigel get what they deserve, so it is a good ending. Also starring Jake T. Austin as Fernando, Wanda Sykes as Chloe the Goose and Jane Lynch as Alice the Other Goose. Eisenberg and Hathaway are good choices for the two leading blue macaw birds that initially do not see eye to eye but eventually find their hearts, and the other voices in the cast, especially Foxx and will.i.am with their rapping and street wise antics, are great fun. The film looks really good with the use of bright vibrant colours for the sights of Rio De Janeiro, the musical moments are great fun to listen to alongside watching the dance sequences, and the effects to take you on the fun filled journey are great, it is a good fun animated comedy adventure for all the family. Very good!