“Rio†is far from the first film to go through an I-think-I-can story arc, although audiences shouldn’t appreciate its ambition any less. Besides, kids are big on CGI crowd pleasers like this – the colorful characters at its disposal inject everything with so much energy that kids will fall in love with them right away, giving “Rio†the emotional drive it needs. They balance out the charming homeliness at its center, which fits well in a movie that has feelings for a neurotic but goodhearted hero with an affection for hot chocolate and marshmallows. As you might’ve guessed, he doesn’t adapt to Rio de Janeiro very easily.
What’s interesting is that that’s where he happens to be from – Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg), a parrot whose namesake came from the hue of all those feather’s he’s got, found a home in Minnesota with an adoptive bookworm named Linda (voiced by Leslie Mann). When Blu eventually ages into adulthood, he and Linda get a visit from biologist Tulio (voiced by Rodrigo Santoro), who asks her to bring Blu to Rio so he can catch the fancy of a mate named Jewel (voiced by Anne Hathaway) and keep their breed alive. Blu, who’s pretty attached to his comfortable birdcage with the mirror in it, isn’t especially eager to pack.
Of course, Tulio winds up dragging them to Rio anyway, only for Blu to discover his blind date isn’t that crazy about him. As a matter of fact, all Jewel’s interested in is a way to escape the closed system Tulio’s confined her to, but she has no clue of the dangers waiting for her and Blu in the city, namely outlaws who catch exotic birds and dole them out on the black market. Though the evil Marcel’s (voiced by Carlos Ponce) in charge, it’s his cockatoo Nigel (voiced by Jemaine Clement) who does the dirty work, not to mention the limelight hogging and scenery chewing. It’s difficult enough for Jewel to avoid a bird this diligent, but Blu’s chances are worse – he never even figured out how to fly. (Blu’s ambition to fly is the driving force behind that whole I-think-I-can thing, by the way.)
With so many characters coming along for the ride, it’s too bad “Rio†isn’t able to do something entertaining with the entire cast, like Jamie Foxx and will.i.am as fun but futile cheerleaders for Blu. Still, it finds enough humor in George Lopez as a toucan Cyrano, as well as Tracy Morgan’s cameo as a bumbling bulldog. Come on – if a bulldog can admire a parrot, so can you.
This article originally appeared on AllMediaNY.com
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