Some is Fun, most is Predictable !

Rating: Null/10 (28 August 2011)

Before watching (Rio), someone told me that "The Latino music of it is so refreshing". Well, it was maybe another way to say that the soundtrack is the good thing about it!
The main storyline seems so similar to Pixar's not too far hit (Finding Nemo - 2003); with parrot instead of fish, geeky owner instead of afraid father, and Rio instead of the sea. But of course on this scale (Finding Nimo) prevails with more unique characters and more dazzling image.
The songs aren't touchy or beautiful enough; I hated the too dirty lyrics of the evil bird's song! And basically how come that everybody sings except the leads; whether the human or the flying ones, why it's Lionel Richie to undertake the job every time?! Furthermore, didn't you notice how almost every possible emotional climax, like the one over the trolley, isn't complete with always something to disappoint it?!
The designing of the characters didn't interest me at all. For clear example look at the female parrot; it has nothing to be distinct or remembered by. The slimy bulldog was disgusting; but let's put that one in the corner of "accepting the other". The rest is less than important, I couldn't stand most of the human characters; look how the lab's fat guard, who went to dance, looks exactly like the evil man's fat henchman!
Some characters appear to disappear, like the husband / father / guide. I know it's kind of road movies' basis, but the thing is that character wasn't written good or satisfying in the first place. I was provoked by the moment in which the electricity, of the whole city, goes out because one pole in one slum got broken?!
While there are many stars behind the mike this time, Jesse Eisenberg and Leslie Mann are the only ones who made their job work. The climax didn't sound original; I have seen that plane situation which gets opened in the sky, as a climax, in previous other movies like The Living Daylights (1987) and Chain Reaction (1996).
What keep it together are the fast pace, the smooth colors, the flashy lights, the lovely backgrounds, and the nice music. The parallel 2 love stories are well done, with the same slow-motion magical intro for the girl capturing the boy's attention shown twice; one for the birds and one for the humans. Few moments of graphic proved to be exceptional; like the sad, rather collapsed, body language of (Linda)'s character while her bird is being taken into the plane near the end. And the 2 dancing sequences, of the start and the end, are so good they deserve another movie!
All in all, one look to this Twentieth Century Fox Animation's production shows how and why other, cleverer, studios, like Disney or Pixar, spend more time on things like script or songs.
(Rio) is a celebration of freedom, colors and Latino music. Fun to watch, but not for many times, because - really - I have seen it before, many times, and better too!