For Brazilian director Carlos Saldanha (Ice Age), Rio is every bit as much of a love letter to his hometown as Manhattan is for Woody Allen. In hopes of bringing the city’s essence to a computer generated setting, he sent crew members to experience the city first hand. They went hang gliding over the city and danced the samba in the parade at Rio’s world famous Carnival during pre-production, proof of both can be seen in the disc’s extras. Saldanha succeeded in delivering a charming animated adventure, even if it isn’t particularly memorable or unique.
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) voices Blu, a nestling Blue Macaw who was captured and abandoned before a Minnesota girl named Linda (Leslie Mann) ultimately rescued him. Years later, a scientist visits Linda at her book store and explains that her feathered companion is the last known male of his species, inviting them to travel to Rio so Blu can mate (how much of this are kids supposed to understand?) with the last remaining female (Anne Hathaway).
What follows is essentially a chase movie inside an escape film. Complicating things is the fact the highly domesticated Blu never learned to fly. Sparks don’t exactly fly between the birds at first either, but we all know how this is going to end.
The two Macaws are captured by a greedy gangster with two hopelessly dumb henchmen. The birds try to escape while Linda desperately tries to track down Blu. Adventure and hilarity ensue, right? Actually (surprisingly), yes. I’m clearly not in the target demographic for most of the film’s humor, but I found myself laughing a lot more than I do with most of these types of films.
A standout in terms of the voice cast is Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am. His Pedro, a chunky little rapper bird, represents the heart of Rio. During one rap he excitedly lists off a handful of things you can do with your wings — all of which rhyme with flap. Tracy Morgan also delvers some laughs as a slobbery Bulldog.
The music is catchy enough, but what I appreciated most was the visual attention to detail. At one point, we see a little bird perched on a snowy Minnesota stop light. As a van approaches, the light changes and we see the bird shift positions in an attempt to warm up under the red light. It has nothing to do with the film’s plot, but fun little asides like this help keep a film interesting and allow you to immerse yourself into the lives of the birds at the film’s core, even if it features a storyline we’ve seen so many times before.
Fox has loaded this 3-disc combo pack with extras, but few of them offer any substance. There’s a look at “The Real Rio” and the steps the filmmakers took to capture the city’s vibe. We can also go behind the scenes of the film’s soundtrack and check out some of the voice cast at work. While I didn’t spend a lot of time on the more interactive features (“Dance-O-Rama” and “Explore the World of Rio”), those should keep the kids busy for a while.
Rio doesn’t do enough to distinguish itself from the rest of the crop of colorful animated features and doesn’t take enough risks to resonate with an older audience the way many of Pixar’s films have, but it’s still a fine family film. Rio is bright, amusing and exuberant, and Fox has delivered a top-notch Blu-ray presentation. You’re probably not going to buy it unless you’re a parent, but you won’t be upset if you give it a once-over with your kids and I’m sure they’ll enjoy it enough that you’ll feel like you got your money’s worth.
