Movie Info
Movie Name: Rio
Studio: Blue Sky Studios
Genre(s): Animated/Comedy/Family
Release Date(s): March 22, 2011
MPAA Rating: G
I’m picking out a nice tree for you now
Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) is taken from his home as a chick and taken in by Linda Gunderson (voice by Leslie Mann) in Moose Lake, Minnesota. Leslie and Blu grow up together and learn from Tulio Monteiro (voiced by Rodrigo Santoro) that Blu is the last male of his species. Blu, Linda, and Tulio head to Rio so Blu can mate with the last female of his kind Jewel (voiced by Anne Hathaway). When Rio and Jewel are kidnapped by exotic bird smugglers, Blu finds himself out of his element in and still unable to fly. Now Blu and Jewel must escape during the middle of Carnivale.
You better do it to save your species
Directed by Carlos Saldanha, Rio was a big hit at the box office. The movie rated G was much more family friendly than the PG rated Rango which open just a month before. It originally was PG rated and they toned it down to get the G rating. The movie was released in 3D. The song “Real in Rio” was one of only two songs nominated for Best Song in 2011 Academy Awards.
Rio is kind of a generic kids’ movie. Other than the skirted around issue of Blu and Jewel having to “do it” to keep their population going, the movie is pretty harmless. There aren’t many racy jokes or things that will go over kids head, but it is also kind of boring and predictable. Blu needs to get with Jewel, Leslie needs to get with Tulio, and everyone ends up happy & alive. With such an exotic location like Rio as a setting, it would have been nice to have more involving this setting, but the visuals really don’t have enough fun with the setting.
Rio is crazy for birds
Jesse Eisenberg does a nice job making Blu a neurotic Woody Allen type character. It helps that he is a bit of a rambler. That is the fun in a script that is a bit slow and lacking in humor. A movie today needs to have more that clever computer animation to be good since everyone is using computer animation nowadays.
Rio isn’t a bad movie but it is quite average. It will entertain the kids and it won’t bore an adult to death. With such a generic movie like this, I soon expect a Rio 2. It also comes from the maker of the Ice Age, and God knows they’ve pump enough of those movies out.
