Rating: 3.5 Shurikens
Rio is an animated movie from DreamWorks, in the best traditions of Walt Disney. It is the story of a blue macaw named Blu, one of the last of his species, who is taken back to the land of his hatching to mate with the last female blue macaw. . The place of his hatching is the Amazon rain forest in Brazil, near Rio de Janeiro, hence the title. The movie begins in that selfsame rain forest when Blu, recently hatched, is captured by poachers who take exotic birds from their natural habitat to sell in America. Blu falls from the back of a truck in Minnesota, where he is found by Linda, a little girl who takes him in and raises him. They actually grow up together, but Blu never learns to fly.
Linda's voice is the voice of Leslie Mann, whom I can't place in a movie role that I have seen. Blu's voice the the easily-recognized voice of Jesse Eisenberg, who was Zuckerberg in The Social Network, and also played in Zombieland. Years later, Blu and his human are doing just fine running a book store in Minnesota until the scientist from Brazil named Silvio convinces them to go to Rio so Blu can mate with Jewel, the last female of his species. The voice of Jewel is Anne Hathaway, who played Agent 99 in the remake of Get Smart, as well as The White Queen in the recent Alice in Wonderland. She is slated to play Catwoman in the next Batman movie. Silvio's voice is the voice of Bernardo de Paula, who is a relative newbie to the movie business.
Hijinx ensues when Blu and Jewel are kidnapped by poachers, helped out by a disillusioned and cynical bird named Nigel. Nigel, voiced by Jemaine Clement, was once a star who had it all, but now is reduced to a life of crime. The poachers plan to make millions off the rare blue macaws, along with a huge number of pilfered birds from the rain forest. Blu meets several other species of birds, both good and bad plus monkeys and a dog. Voices include Jamie Foxx and Will I. Am.The bumbling bad guys are reminiscent of Disney, and poor Silvio, the bird scientist, is ridiculous to the point at which he starts to drag the whole movie down.
The story is entertaining enough and the characters are sufficiently cute to get you through the movie. It does seem a little bit contrived in that it so much resembles the old theme of Lost Animal Trying to Find Its Way Home. It it never comes close to Madagascar or Ice Age in funniness, though there are a few good laughs. There is very little in the way of touching emotion like many animated features like Despicable Me and the Toy Story movies deliver, except very late in the feature. The voice characterizations are passable but not outstanding and fail to add much feeling, so the animation is left to carry the whole movie. Also, there are some musical trivia points made with some favorite tunes from the past, and some nice cultural elements such as Carnaval and the depiction of life in one of the most populous cities in the Western Hemisphere.
All in all, I give this piece 3.5 Shurikens, for splendid animation, good storytelling, and for staying out of the gutter for the humor. The spectacle of #d and vivid color is worth seeing it in the theater, but I would wait for the matinee when there are some children in the theater. Kids can add an air of excitement to the action scenes, and the matinee price will bring it more in line with the actual value of the movie versus the ticket price at around 15 dollars fro 3D.
Rio is an animated movie from DreamWorks, in the best traditions of Walt Disney. It is the story of a blue macaw named Blu, one of the last of his species, who is taken back to the land of his hatching to mate with the last female blue macaw. . The place of his hatching is the Amazon rain forest in Brazil, near Rio de Janeiro, hence the title. The movie begins in that selfsame rain forest when Blu, recently hatched, is captured by poachers who take exotic birds from their natural habitat to sell in America. Blu falls from the back of a truck in Minnesota, where he is found by Linda, a little girl who takes him in and raises him. They actually grow up together, but Blu never learns to fly.
Linda's voice is the voice of Leslie Mann, whom I can't place in a movie role that I have seen. Blu's voice the the easily-recognized voice of Jesse Eisenberg, who was Zuckerberg in The Social Network, and also played in Zombieland. Years later, Blu and his human are doing just fine running a book store in Minnesota until the scientist from Brazil named Silvio convinces them to go to Rio so Blu can mate with Jewel, the last female of his species. The voice of Jewel is Anne Hathaway, who played Agent 99 in the remake of Get Smart, as well as The White Queen in the recent Alice in Wonderland. She is slated to play Catwoman in the next Batman movie. Silvio's voice is the voice of Bernardo de Paula, who is a relative newbie to the movie business.
Hijinx ensues when Blu and Jewel are kidnapped by poachers, helped out by a disillusioned and cynical bird named Nigel. Nigel, voiced by Jemaine Clement, was once a star who had it all, but now is reduced to a life of crime. The poachers plan to make millions off the rare blue macaws, along with a huge number of pilfered birds from the rain forest. Blu meets several other species of birds, both good and bad plus monkeys and a dog. Voices include Jamie Foxx and Will I. Am.The bumbling bad guys are reminiscent of Disney, and poor Silvio, the bird scientist, is ridiculous to the point at which he starts to drag the whole movie down.
The story is entertaining enough and the characters are sufficiently cute to get you through the movie. It does seem a little bit contrived in that it so much resembles the old theme of Lost Animal Trying to Find Its Way Home. It it never comes close to Madagascar or Ice Age in funniness, though there are a few good laughs. There is very little in the way of touching emotion like many animated features like Despicable Me and the Toy Story movies deliver, except very late in the feature. The voice characterizations are passable but not outstanding and fail to add much feeling, so the animation is left to carry the whole movie. Also, there are some musical trivia points made with some favorite tunes from the past, and some nice cultural elements such as Carnaval and the depiction of life in one of the most populous cities in the Western Hemisphere.
All in all, I give this piece 3.5 Shurikens, for splendid animation, good storytelling, and for staying out of the gutter for the humor. The spectacle of #d and vivid color is worth seeing it in the theater, but I would wait for the matinee when there are some children in the theater. Kids can add an air of excitement to the action scenes, and the matinee price will bring it more in line with the actual value of the movie versus the ticket price at around 15 dollars fro 3D.
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