Rio - quick review (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

What happens when a blue macaw, aptly named Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg), thought to be the last male of the species, is brought thousands of miles to mate with a more adventurous female macaw named Jewel (Anne Hathaway)? Well, Blu was captured as a young macaw and found his way to Minnesota where he was raised by Linda, then a young girl who grew to be a bookstore owner, but in such domesticity, Blu never learned to fly. Blu and Linda's lives are interrupted by Tulio, a bird expert from Brazil, and they journey to Rio de Janiero in hopes of keeping the Macaw species going.

The remaining plotline seemed pretty light and fluffy, filled with humor that appeals to kids, so in that respect they delivered a kid-friendly movie but for a film that desperately wondered if Blu would ever soar, the film never quite takes off, though we are treated with chase scenes after chase scenes that make good use of 3D animation, but it felt like the cinematic equivalent of running in place.
I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Saw this today and thought it was utterly forgettable. Slow and dull without anything to make it move in a compelling way. Yawn!

 

[Edwin-S]

I thought the film was good for what it was. An animated film with a well-worn plot line. I thought it moved along at a fairly good clip and had the requisite songs that a lot of people seem to expect in an animated picture. There was some good business and I actually thought the film's samba/rap flavoured soundtrack was rather catchy in a lot of places. I thought the Carnavale sequence at the bird club was quite well done, as was the sequence where Jewel and Blu meet Rafael and his mate. Overall, I liked the film, but I also have a soft spot for animated films, so I'm kind of soft when it comes to my opinions on them. I'd say this film was a C+ to B- in my book.