Dir. Carlos Saldanha, USA, 2011, 96 mins.
Characters voiced by Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jermaine Clement, Leslie Mann, Tracy Morgan, George Lopez
Review by Carlie Newman
When 3D is used with skill and the technique matches the scenes it, works really well and so it proves in this animated comedy. It begins with a very catchy song, Real in Rio, with a lovely kaleidoscope of colours and shapes which form and then separate as we see birds in the jungle in Brazil. The story proper starts in the small town of Moose City, Minnesota, where Linda (voiced by Mann), has found and adopted Blu (Eisenberg), a Macaw who has now become completely domesticated and can’t even fly. Their simple, contented life changes with the arrival of a scientist, Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), who convinces Linda that they must go with him to Rio, Brazil. Apparently Blu is the last male of his kind and needs to mate with another blue macaw so the species can survive.
In Rio Blu meets the very independent lady Macaw, Jewel (Hathaway), whose one wish is to return to the jungle. Before they can mate, the rare birds are stolen by smugglers who want to sell them for a high price. The villain of the piece – from the birds’ point of view – is the evil cockatoo, Nigel (Clement), who leads the chase when Jewel and Blu manage to escape. Luckily the couple, who have been chained together, have friends who aid them in their efforts to stay clear of both Nigel and the human villains. Rafael (Lopez), a helpful toucan who knows everyone, introduces them to Luiz (Morgan), his slobbering bulldog friend. As Blu can’t fly, the couple are really stuck together and find they have different ideas about the future. Jewel just wants to be free of all human contact while Blu wishes to return to Linda but…he really fancies Jewel so faces a dilemma. And, of course, he has to learn to fly.
Apart from the lovely way in which the film is animated, the voices of the characters exactly catch their characteristics: Eisenberg actually sounds like a parrot and Morgan has a voice to match the dribbling bulldog. The style also gives the birds individual characteristics and there is much fun to be had from the antics of the wicked cockatoo, the very Spanish toucan and all the other featured birds. With Easter coming up, this is an ideal family film for the holidays. Do though make the effort to catch the 3D version. It’s well worth it.
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