RIO – The Review

Let’s see, we’ve got a couple that meet cute and can’t stand each other, but soon find mutual interests and finally attraction. This has been a staple of romantic comedies since movies began. Film goers tend to forget that this formula has also been utilized in animated features. They’ve all not been instantly smitten with each like Snow White and Prince Charming. Recently we’ve seen affection blossom over time between Rapunzel and Flynn in TANGLED ( and of course Princess Fiona and the big green hero of SHREK ) which may have had it’s roots back with LADY AND THE TRAMP. Well let’s add Jewel and Blu from the new film RIO to this list of Toontown couples. Their love story covers two continents in this delightful tale that’s truly made for the young and young at heart.

This odyssey begins down in South America as baby Blu joins his feathered friends in a big song and dance ( or maybe flight ) celebrating the beautiful new morning. Suddenly the music stops and he’s plunged into darkness. He’s been captured by poachers! They put him in a crate and whisk him out of the country via cargo plane. Soon his crate is in the back of a truck careening down the icy streets of Minnesota. Luck is on Blu’s side as his crate bounces out of the back of the truck and he’s found by a little girl named Linda. She takes the little guy home. As the years fly by ( although Blu himself never does learn to fly) they become inseparable. When the adult Linda ( Leslie Mann ) moves from home to live above a bookstore she manages, Blu ( Jesse Eisenberg ) is right by her side as helper and faithful pet. Their world is turned upside down when an ornithologist from Brazil,Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) enters the bookstore. Turns out that Blu is the last male of his species left. The last female is down in Rio. The doctor proposes that Linda and Blu return with him to replenish the species. Reluctantly she agrees and they arrive at his avian sanctuary. There Blu meets his future mate, Jewel ( Anne Hathaway ), a fearsome fly-er determined to escape. She takes an immediate dislike to Blu. Late that night, thanks to a cunning cockatoo named Nigel ( Jermaine Clement ), the birds are stolen away by a motley group of smugglers. Blu and Jewel are immediately chained together, left claw to right claw ( like THE DEFIANT ONES ). Despite their differences ( she soars, he climbs ) they escape. They’re on the lam with the aid of a couple of street-wise birds, Nico ( Jamie Foxx ) and Pedro ( Will i Am ). They soon encounter the happy-go-lucky Rafael ( George Lopez ) who takes them to see his pal Luiz ( Tracy Morgan ) in order to free them from the chain. All the while they keep a few steps ahead of the smuggler gang and Nigel. who’s enlisted a pack of thieving monkeys. Oh, and Linda and Tulio are looking for the duo also. Can they catch up to Blu and Jewel before they’re caged and shipped off by the bad guys?

RIO is a dazzling treat for the eyes… and the ears! Seems the producers are almost hiding ( in commercials and trailers ) the fact that this is indeed a musical. The musical number in the opening scene is a great tribute to the gaudy Busby Berkley directed Carmen Miranda 1940’s extravaganzas. Later the despicable villain Nigel sings an ode to his vile wickedness. Clement’s years as half of the Flight of the Conchords serves the character very well. Later we’re treated to a sweet love song by Foxx’s Nico and a great rap duet between him and i Am’s Pedro. I was delighted to hear Ms. Hathaway’s beautiful singing voice in a couple of numbers ( wished there had been more ). Even Eisenberg warbled a couple lines in the closing number. Generally I have a problem with too many celebrity voices in animated features, but here I didn’t find it overly distracting. Eisenberg’s reprises his goofy nerd charm that he showed in ADVENTURELAND and ZOMBIELAND. Hathaway’s the right mixture of spunk and heart. Lopez ‘s good natured fun is contagious. And Tracy Morgan is the most endearing and lovable drooling canine since Tom Hanks’s old costar Hooch. Blue Sky studio has greatly improved on their ICE AGE work-they’re going too be giving Dreamworks and Pixar some stiff competition. The bird characters are colorful and emotive, the backgrounds shine and sparkle, and the humans are just the right mix of cartoony exaggeration and realistic movement. 3-D effects weren’t relied upon too much, so you can get just as much enjoyment of this rollicking adventure in regular projection. Once you’ve filed all your W-2s, reward yourself with this colorful south of the border finely, feathered love story.

Overall Rating : Four and a Half Out of Five Stars