Rio

In the jungles of Brazil a little baby blue macaw falls out of his tree and is suddenly caged and transported to about as opposite of his temperate home as you can get. In snow bound Minnesota his crate falls off the truck and he's discovered by a little girl and they become best friends forever. Years later a doctor of ornithology comes to inform the grown up girl that her macaw may be one of the last of it's kind in the world, Linda must decide to go to Brazil so her pet can mate.

Probably not exactly the kind of subject that will easily translate to young kids, but screenwriter Don Rhymer has many kids orientated movies to his credit like Surf's Up and Santa Clause 2. Director Carlos Saldanha is well suited to the location as he was born in Rio de Janeiro. The carnival atmosphere is nicely portrayed with the various talking birds and human characters. Interestingly the movie not only shows the colorful jungles and carnival sites, but also shows the poorer areas of Rio. Issues of the poverty in Rio are subtly addressed with a young boy who helps capture the macaws falls in with the poachers because he's homeless. The sound of Rio is accentuated by Sergio Mendes who served as the executive musical producer with music by How To Train Your Dragon's John Powell. Black Eyed Peas will.i.am and Jami Foxx offer up some songs with a samba, hip-hop and techno rhythms.

Jesse Eisenberg is the voice of Blu the pampered pet who never learned to fly. He's a fish out of water in Brazil and his first meeting with Jewel (Anne Hathaway) doesn't go too well. The sassy independent female blue macaw just wants to get out. After the tech in charge leaves a door open they are quickly captured by poachers. Their talons are chained together to hamper any means of escape. The poachers are assisted by Nigel (Jermaine Clement) a big nasty Cockatoo who loves to do the dirty work. When they escape again Jewel is hampered by being tethered to her non flying mate. With the help of some other feathery friends Pedro (will.i.am), Nico (Jamie Foxx), Rafael (George Lopez) the love advising toucan and a bulldog Luiz (Tracy Morgan) the blue love birds must find away to get unchained and Blu back to his owner. The adventures endured by the birds shows off the chemistry brewing between Jewel and Blu. The humans bookstore owner Linda (Leslie Mann) and Dr. Barbosa (Gracinha Leporace) the bird talking scientist have some moments of attraction too. The kids will enjoy the music and the bird antics. The parents will enjoy guessing the celebrity voices.
(Review by reesa)