The latest animation from Blue Sky studios is Rio, the story of a rare blue macaw who must travel to Brazil in order to mate and save his species. Blue Sky are probably most famous for the Ice Age series, which I liked, but it did peter out towards the end so I was interested in seeing how Rio was going to turn out.
It was a good movie that I have to say I quite enjoyed, all be it at the start of the movie the colour was all in pink, resulting in the movie stopping abruptly and starting from the beginning…of the trailers. The projectionist simply skipped forward as if it were a DVD, which it probably was, and on we went!
Now, I wasn’t really a hundred percent behind going to watch this one but what swung it for me was the casting. Jesse Eisenberg plays the blue macaw: Blu, and he’s quite surprising in it. Very energetic and a very likable character. Anne Hathaway plays Jewel, the female macaw, feisty and with a good singing voice.
But they weren’t the reason I wanted to see this movie, it was in fact the baddie: an evil cockatoo, played by none-other than Jemaine Clement who you may know as one half of the Flight of the Conchords. Throw into the mix the promise of a song from the evil avian and I‘m queuing up outside the box office throwing my money at them!
And I’m glad I went actually, not just for Jemaine Clement, it’s generally a good movie to watch filled with joy, humour and the charm that other animations have been losing recently.
The thing I’ll remember the most about the movie is the colour of it all. It’s the most colourful movie I’ve ever seen, filling the screen with every colour imaginable with the use of several species of birds and of course the Rio carnival, it really is like your eyes are paintballing with one-another. It’s really bright and vibrant, and it might even be worth of a Blu-Ray purchase (see what I did there?). The whole movie is a fun adventure that doesn’t take itself too seriously like most movies tackling the issue of animal smuggling.
Usually movies centred around animals portray smugglers as diabolical evil geniuses who are so devious you end up surprised their wasting it all on smuggling! The likes of The Rescuers: Down Under for example, ok Joanna is a loveable salamander but the poacher is so evil he has no qualms killing a small boy just for the sake of it.
Not in Rio though, nope, they’re imbeciles. You’ve got the leader, a dread-head who thinks he’s got it all covered but in reality has nothing under control whatsoever; and then there's the incompetent henchmen who act like Tweedledee and Tweedledum for most of the movie. The real baddie here is Nigel, the evil cockatoo I mentioned earlier. He is diabolical, but in a fun, Jemaine Clement is playing the voice, kind of way.
The supporting characters aren’t bad either. We have a couple of ‘hip’ birds played by Will.I.Am and Jamie Fox who provide some good gags and some brilliant music, I liked it and I’m hardly Will.I.Am’s biggest fan. Geroge Lopez plays Rafael too and he has a brilliant singing voice! Also thrown into the mix is funny-man Tracy Morgan who plays a slobbering bulldog called Luiz. He’s a good character, a bit mental and funny, Tracy Morgan didn’t really do much acting, he plays himself here, and it’s brilliant, even featuring a family friendly pun later in the movie: “This is the spit!” - get it? He drools a lot.
As for the plot, well it’s okay. Bird needs to save species, goes to Rio, meets female who doesn’t like him at first, get kidnapped by smugglers, escape, fall in love, live happily ever after. It’s a predictable as snow in the mountains but it more than makes up for it in other areas.
Rio is a fun watch for kids and adults alike and is genuinely funny, has brilliant songs and music, even to someone who isn’t too keen on Samba. The songs represent some of the best bunch in an animated movie. They can be simply be described in one word: fun. Well that and Samba.
The only real downsides to the movie would be the plot being a little bit generic and the fact Jemaine Clement only had ONE song, just one. I mean, you’ve got him in your movie, use him more! One just simply wasn’t enough and it felt like a missed opportunity really.
But that aside, Rio is a film everyone can appreciate and enjoy. It’s got fun, it’s got laughs, it’s got good songs, and it’s pretty colourful too, filling your eyes with a kaleidoscope of vibrancy that’ll live long in the memory. I’m just glad it wasn’t all in pink.
Final verdict: 4 Stars. Fun, funny, vibrant, cheery, and Jemaine Clement. Blue Sky are back on form.
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