In the Theatre with Kevin Murphy - Rio - Twentieth Century Fox/Blue Sky Studios

From the creators of Ice Age comes not another Ice Age sequel, or short film about that squirrel that I can't stand, but something new, fresh and original that I loved and I think kids and adults will enjoy as well. “Rio” is the newest project from Blue Sky Studios, and I gotta say I was not disappointed like I was walking out of the past two Ice Age films.

A Hit!

A macaw named Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) that has lived most of his life in Minnesota learns from an Ornithologist that he is the last male of his kind and a female has been found living in Rio De Janeiro. Blu's owner Linda reluctantly agrees to take him to Brazil so he can mate with the female named Jewel. Jewel does not take much of a liking to Blu and has an evan lower liking towards humans since they are primarily responsible for causing their species endangerment. Things get worse for the two when they are kidnapped by poachers and chained together. Luckily the two birds manage to escape and with the help of Birds from around the city the two starts to understand how each other feels.

Rio, much like the city its named after was a very fun and exciting film. It had great animation, good story telling and a good selection of actors. As stated before at the beginning of this review this movie was made by Blue Sky Studios who also produced the Ice Age trilogy, Robots (2004), and Horton hears a who (2008). The first Ice Age was good because it was original but afterwards Blue Sky studios looked like it was running out of original ideas and the animation was looking a bit cheap. Rio I thought was a good reboot to their company and actually saved it with its good animation, and story.

The main character Blu voiced by Jesse Eisenberg, who is now most notable for his role as Mark Zuckerberg in the social network (2010). Comparing the macaw he voices to the father of Facebook he played the two shares the fact that they are nerds who are trying their absolute hardest to do what they want to do with their life. Blu is obviously a nerd who has the worst social skills with his own species. His female counterpart is voiced by Anne Hathaway who i hourly enjoyed because she has a really fiery personality and her negative attitude towards humans given Blu all the more reason to win her over since he greatly trusts humans. Their opposite personalities make for great chemistry.

The other characters I thought were good but to me I thought it was the leads that made the film enjoyable. George Lopez who voices a bit of a knock off of Too Can Sam and Zazu was enjoyable but near the end of the movie I got tired of him because he was getting boring much like all George Lopez characters. Will.I.AM and Jamie Foxx are also it the movie, playing rapping birds who are just so annoying and unnecessary, this is a movie about Brazil, not about rapping in the streets of LA. But I do have to compliment on the fact that the movie has a great deal of diversity in its actors.

Birds have been animated before in film but I found Rio to showcase birds relatively well through flight. When the birds fly they fly just like they would in real life, but this is mostly when their flying, otherwise when they are on the ground they act more cartoonish. But this is Blue Sky Studios and you do expect cartoons from the creators of Ice Age.

Finally this movie really does capture Brazil. From its rainforests to the streets of Rio for Carnival. The source of this is because the director is from Brazil and he gives this movie a sense of home flavour from his point of view. If this film were directed by a non-brazilian it would seem like its from a tourist point of view. The film evan explores into the darker areas of the country with the slum neighbourhoods and the desperation of an anti-hero.

Rio, wouldn't be my #1 favourite movie I've seen but I found it to be colourful, musical, fun and entertaining. Kids will love it, adults will like it, Brazilians will certainly like much more ethan the Simpsons episode “Blame it on Lisa.” Go see Rio and it will be a most enjoyable evening.

My Rating 3/4 Shamrocks.