A Blu Brazilian
15 years after having found Blu, a rare blue Macaw by the roadside, bookshop owner Linda now had a very tame and pampered bird. So when Brazilian ornithologist Tulio contacts her as he would like her to take Blu to Rio to mate with Jewel his blue Macaw she is initially reluctant. But Linda agrees and having put the two Macaws in a large cage together Linda and Tulio go out for a meal. Unfortunately whilst they are out a gang of exotic bird traffickers steal both Blue and Jewel. With Jewel trying to come up with a way for her and Blu to escape she is frustrated by the fact that not only does Blu know anything about surviving in the wild but also that he can't fly.
If you have a young child "Rio" is probably going to keep them entertained not just for its 96 minute running time but with frequent rewatches, it is bright and entertaining and to be honest fun. But if you are not a parent of a child but still enjoy animations, yes there are some grown ups who still have a thing for animations, then "Rio" whilst nicely animated may be a bit of a bore. Yes I did say bore because of the simple reason the storyline is unoriginal and doesn't allow for us to truly warm to the characters presented to us.
But before I get to that "Rio" is a nicely animated movie with plenty of detail and some big old fashioned production numbers such as the opening scene in the jungle. It also benefits from many recognizable voices; none more so than Jesse Eisenberg's geekish tones which make Blu amusing. In truth there may be one or two too many recognizable voices as their recognizability start to overwhelm the movie.
Unfortunately whilst "Rio" works visually which to be frank is of huge importance for its intended audience the eventual storyline of a domesticated pet in the wilderness is as a grown up too familiar. Alongside that familiarity is for me another issue and that the characters never really grab you. When I think of some other animations they have delivered characters which as an adult I found enchanting but here we just have amusing characters with recognizable voices. It again will work for young audiences but for adults it doesn't deliver that little extra which will make you want to watch it again.
What this all boils down to is that "Rio" is a good animation and for children it is probably great but it lacks that something extra which makes it work for adults as well.
