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They’re running out
of ideas for kids
movies. Sure, they
change the setting
and they change the
characters, but they
really never change
the plot. Somebody
doesn’t belong,
somebody’s
different, and
somebody needs to
discover friendship
and so on.
Rio
is the about a bird
that doesn’t belong.
He
can’t fly because he
never learned to,
but he’s smart
enough to make up
for that. Directed
by Carlos Saldanha
Rio
follow Blu through
beautiful Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil with
some great animation
and some quality
laughs, both of
which and (added
with some cool
music) make up for
that lack of
originality in the
plot.
Blu is a rare blue
macaw. After a
colorful musical
opening orchestrated
by Sergio Mendes,
with various birds
of Brazil flying and
dancing around, the
bird poachers come
in and snatch up a
few birds including
a young baby Blu.
Through a series of
shipping
misfortunes, Blu
finds his way to a
young girl by the
name of Linda in
Minnesota. The two
grow up together
comfortably but
enabling the other
to shelter
themselves. Out of
nowhere, a Brazilian
bird enthusiast by
the name of Tulio
shows up and informs
Linda that Blu is
the last male of his
species and he needs
to travel with him
to Brazil to breed
with a remaining
female. From there
we go on a weird
trip, the two
remaining blue
macaws get
birdnapped from the
laboratory and they
go on a crazy
adventure through
Brazil with a
variety of birds and
a few other
different characters
too.
The
animation with
Rio
is what really sets
it apart. Blue Sky
Studios made a
brilliant movie with
this outing. Brazil
was animated
gorgeously and the
colors of this film…
Everything in the
jungle
and
everything with the
birds… I mean I’m
pretty sure I saw
thirty colors that
I’d never seen
before in
Rio.
The animation is
brilliant and the
character design of
the birds and all of
the other creatures
is great. They’re
bright and they’re
colorful, and you
can’t say that this
movie should have
been animated any
better.
Even
on the sound side of
things,
Rio
impresses. With
original music
composition by
Sergio Mendes and
then contributions
from Will.i.am and
Jamie Foxx the music
is tremendous. The
music creates most
of the joyful
element of
Rio
and combined with
the animation… it
really makes it so
the story isn’t that
big of a deal.
Maybe
we’ve seen this
story before but the
jokes in the story
were funny. Blu
voiced by Jesse
Eisenberg is
genuinely funny.
Anne Hathaway voices
the other blue macaw
Jewel and she’s
always great. And
then contributions
from Will.i.am,
Jamie Foxx, George
Lopez, Tracy Morgan,
and others make it
even more enjoyable.
There are some great
voices and some
great humor in
Rio.
I’ve gone over how
insane this movie
looks over and over
again, but I’ll
repeat it again
anyway. You can get
a few laughs
watching the DVD of
this movie, but its
true brilliance
needs to be seen and
heard with Blu-ray.
The atmosphere
that’s created with
the sights and
sounds in high
definition is
striking.
As
far as extras go
with
Rio,
there’s not a ton of
good content but
there is some decent
stuff. We get to
talk with director
Carlos Saldanha
pretty extensively
about why he wanted
to make the movie,
we get a behind the
scenes look at the
creation of the song
“Hot Wings” with
Will.i.am and Jamie
Foxx and then we get
some fun interactive
features with
dancing, postcards,
and Rio de Janeiro
tours. The behind
the scenes stuff is
pretty much a ‘meh’
but the interactive
stuff will be great
for the kids.
Visually and audibly
terrific, Rio has
plenty of laughs
too. Sure, we’ve
seen this story
before but I don’t
think we’ve seen it
look so stuffing.
Rio will be a great
pickup for the kids
to enjoy and you’ll
get a few chuckles
out of it too.
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