The movie centres around a Blue Macaw with the extremely creative name of 'Blu' (Jesse Eisenburg) who lives with his doting owner Linda (Leslie Mann). Blu has become so domesticated he's very nearly almost human and lives a perfectly happy life in the small, wintry town of Moosetown, Minnesota. However, his comfortable life is shaken up when he discovers that he is the last male of his species and must make the long trip to Rio De Janeiro to meet the last female, Jewel (Anne Hathaway) in order to save the species. What follows is a fast-paced exotic adventure filled with evil monkeys and cockatoos, hip-hop birds and a fruit-wearing bulldog.
The movie was made by the same people who made Ice Age and you can tell that they had a blast making this movie. The whole movie is beautifully animated, from the breathtaking scenery to the extremely detailed animals.Whereas Ice Age's palette is somewhat limited by the fact that everything is set in snow and ice, Rio bursts with life and colour. It perfectly captures the excitement and freshness of the rain forests and also the thrill and celebration of Carnival. The quality of the CGI work almost makes you believe that the characters are real, which strengthens the attachment to them.
There are some brilliant vocal performances as well. Eisenburg, who I have only ever seen play a somewhat understated character, wrings out whatever excitement he has in his voice for the role of the lovable parrot. At times it's hard to believe that it's the same actor who played Mark Zuckerburg in The Social Network. Anne Hathaway, apart from doing an excellent job as the hardcore, take-no-nonsense, female parrot, is also given the opportunity to use her amazing singing voice. Other notable vocal performances include George Lopez as the fatherly toucan, Rafael; Jamie Foxx and Will.i.am as the awesome hip-hop toucans and Jemaine Clement (of Flight of the Concords) as the twisted and evil cockatoo villain, Nigel. The soundtrack to the movie is amazing, featuring Carnival-inspired music and amazing songs performed by the very talented cast.
All that said, I did have a few problems with the movie. Some of the plot, I feel, was a little underdeveloped. There were some back-stories that were not really addressed and as a result, a particular character's motive for acting as they do was slightly lost on me. Another thing that annoyed me, having had experience with pet parrots before, was the steaming cup of cocoa that the owner presents Blu at the beginning of the movie. Chocolate is toxic to parrots, so giving him that cup of cocoa with chocolate chip cookies and all, would have most certainly killed him. While I know that the movie is not supposed to be particularly realistic, given that all the animals can talk, I do feel that any parrot owner going to see the movie would have cringed at the lack of research at this point.
That aside, I really did enjoy the movie. It was a refreshing escape into an exotic world of animals and brilliantly lit floats. It's a fun movie to take kids to or just to go watch on your own and pretend to be a kid. I give it a 3 out of 5.
Best animated movie I've seen in a while
