Carlos Saldanha's spunky animated kids flick neatly incorporates Rio de Janeiro's cultural touchstones as part of its fish-out-of-water-coming-of-age story. Samba, Carnival, and soccer make for an energetic narrative backdrop.
Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) is a rare blue macaw living a comfortable existence in Moose Lake, Minnesota with his adoring owner Linda (Leslie Mann). They live in Linda's combination apartment/bookstore.
Blu likes to make toast. Because he was snatched by smugglers from his Brazilian jungle home as a baby, Blu doesn't know how to fly. He's happiest in his cage. All that changes when Brazilian ornithologist Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), tries to convince Linda to bring the extremely rare representative of his species to Brazil.
The plan is for Blu to mate with a female macaw named Jewel (Anne Hathaway). Once Linda and Blu arrive in waves of primary colors and beautifully composed original bossa and samba songs wash over the action Rio.
Complications pop up. Jewel isn't very enamored with Blu. It's a situation only barely improved upon when the would-be love birds get captured by bird smugglers who chain them together.
A dastardly cockatoo named Nigel (Jermaine Clement) calls in the aid of a band of criminal marmosets to capture Blu and Jewel as they attempt to reunite with Linda and Tulio.
Like a beautiful iridescent mural that goes on for miles, "Rio" is an adventure movie that's fascinating to look at. The jokes and plot are lighthearted. Despite some plot holes along the way, the only real problem with this film is Saldanha's timid use of 3D.
Rated G. 96 mins.
