Rio
Directed By Carlos Saldana
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, George Lopez, and Leslie Mann
Our story begins in the land of Rio De Janeiro, where a tiny orphan blue macaw named Blu (Played by Jesse Eisenberg) is poached and taken to Minnesota, where a young girl named Linda (Leslie Mann) promises to always take care of them. Years later, an older, flightless Blu is living happily in his owner's bookstore when an ornithologist named Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) arrives and informs them that Blu is the last male of his kind, and if he does not meet and mate with the last female of his kind, Jewel (Anne Hathaway), the species may become extinct.
At first reluctant, Linda and Blu decide to travel back to Rio with Tulio for our feathery friends to meet. Naturally, Blu and Jewel's first encounter does not go well, and it only goes downhill from there, when they are kidnapped by poachers, chained together, and lost in the Brazilian jungle. Blu and Jewel must work together to get free of their chains, and reunite with Linda, with the help of Rafael the toucan (George Lopez), Luiz the bulldog (Tracy Morgan), and two samba-loving birds named Nico and Pedro (Jamie Foxx and Will.I.Am.), all the while avoiding the poacher's pet cockatoo Nigel (Jermaine Clement) and his gang of monkey henchmen. Oh, and of course through all this Blu tries to learn how to fly, and win Jewel's heart (That's kind of important lol)
Rio runs short of the usual animated-feature time-length at 82 minutes, but it's an enjoyable 82 minutes nonetheless. The animation is beautiful and I think captures the scene of Rio, Brazil exceptionally, and every member of the voice cast is spot-on.
Rio also has some really great music in it, although some of the songs are too forgettable. The opening/closing number and Will.i.am and Jamie Foxx's duet in the bird's samba club are the greatest of the playlist. Anne Hathaway proves that she in fact can sing, and that her number(s) at the Oscars were no fluke, given the fact she sings for about 30 seconds the whole movie. I feel like if the producers put more emphasis into the musical aspect of this movie, given it more of a "Disney musical" edge, extended and had the characters sing more of the songs, this movie would have had a better lasting impact.
All in all, Rio is a beautiful film, just more mediocre than it should of been, due to the typical love-story (Even though it was still very touching), it's short run time, and the underplayed music. But despite all that, I still highly recommend it.
So next week I will DEFINITELY have a Weekly Episodes post, because there's a lot to look forward to, such as:
-A bachelor party episode of "Chuck", which will also reveal the mysterious Agent X we've been hearing about for awhile.
-A beloved character from "How I Met Your Mother"'s past returning.
-A mother's day episode of "Modern Family"
AND, the first of a two part "Community" Paintball War, which is sure to be just as epic as the "Modern Warfare" episode from last season, possibly even more epic.
So stick around, because May is upon us, and Season Finales are fast approaching!
-Chris
