Cinema Verdict Review: Rio

Rio

OPENING: 04/15/2011

STUDIO: Fox

RUN TIME: 96 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
From the creators of Ice Age

Opening Statement
While Blue Sky Animation has provided top-flight animation work since their enjoyable debut feature Ice Age, their storytelling has always been a little run-of-the-mill. Sadly, that trend continues with Rio, a great-looking film with a forgettable plot and ho-hum characters.

Facts of the Case
Our central figure is a Blue Macaw (Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network) who has unfortunately been given the rather on-the-nose name of Blu. For most of his life, Blu has lived in Minnesota with his good-natured owner Linda (Leslie Mann, Funny People). One day, an ornithologist named Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro, Che) pays Linda a visit and informs her that Blu–who is the last male of his species–must come to Rio De Janeiro to mate with Jewel (Anne Hathaway, Ella Enchanted), who is the last female of the species. After coming to terms with the importance of the situation, Linda agrees to travel to Rio so Blu and Jewel can get it on.

Unfortunately, Blu and Jewel don’t really get along at first. To make matters worse, the two birds are then stolen by some human birdnappers and an evil cockatoo named Nigel (Jermaine Clement, Dinner for Schmucks). After escaping the clutches of their villainous abductors, the macaws receive assistance from a toucan named Rafael (George Lopez, The Spy Next Door), a slobbering bulldog (Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock) and two goofy music-loving birds (Jamie Foxx, Ray and Will.i.am, X-Men Origins: Wolverine). Will Blu and Jewel ever find their way home? Will they be able to continue escaping the savage Nigel? Will they fall in love somewhere along the way? Yeah, probably.

The Evidence
I realize that the folks at Blue Sky haven’t exactly demonstrated vast amounts of originality in their plotting up until now, but it seems they’ve already started borrowing from themselves. This whole “two central characters must mate or their species will become extinct” plot was the driving force of Ice Age: The Meltdown (not to mention plenty of dystopian pornography). It’s an odd idea for a children’s movie to begin with; a very odd one to use more than once. The gimmick is even less interesting this time around, serving as a springboard for a film which feels routine far too often.

There’s a brilliant animated short which precedes Rio entitled Scrat’s Continental Crackup, featuring the beloved creature from the Ice Age films. It’s a hysterical bit of cause-and-effect comedy which sets up cataclysmic events in a delightfully organic fashion. The short’s graceful execution only serves to accentuate the fairly wheezy plotting of the main feature. Far too often, it feels as if the characters are simply going through the motions because the screenwriters are forcing them to do so. Despite the fact that Blu and Linda are neurotic Americans who are a bit intimidated by the loud South American flair of Rio during Carnival, we know there’s going to be a moment near the end where both lose their inhibitions and shake their tail feathers. That’s fine, but the film doesn’t even bother to grant the characters a slow progression to that point, instead simply ordering their characters to do a complete 180-degree turn in the closing moments.

The romance between Blu and Jewel takes a similarly predictable path, as the two begin on a note of hostility, slowly begin to warm up to each other, engage in a stupid argument that leads to a stupid breakup and eventually wind up back in each other’s arms…er, wings. This romantic comedy formula is just about the most tedious cliché in the history of cinema, and yet filmmakers continue to embrace it on an alarmingly frequent basis.

Still, there are pleasures to be found in Rio, particularly in the technical department. The film is admittedly gorgeous to look at, as the animators have done a very impressive job of capturing the vibrant energy of the film’s location. Character design is excellent and there’s a lot of subtle physical comedy that works far better than much of the dialogue. I also quite enjoyed Clement’s big musical number, which offers the actor’s patented Flight of the Conchords charm (“Like an abandoned school, I have no principles,” he coos wickedly). The other numbers (chiefly performed by Foxx and Will.i.am) are less inspired, as they often resemble second-rate Black Eyed Peas tunes (“I wanna party, party, party,” goes one particularly underwhelming song).

The characters may have problems, but at least the voice work is excellent throughout. Jesse Eisenberg brings his Woody Allen-ish charm to the main character and interacts quite nicely with Hathaway (who doesn’t have many good lines but voices them with enthusiasm, anyway). Clement is delightful every time he appears (I love the way he chews on a phrase like, “bundle of burgled baubles”), while Foxx, Will.i.am and Lopez make the most of their generically wacky supporting characters. One of the best turns comes from Tracy Morgan, who brings a fun, loopy quality to his role as the slobbering bulldog. Somehow, he brings an endearing innocence to lines like, “Doesn’t watching birds fly make you want to chase them and bite their heads off?”

Closing Statement
Kids will enjoy Rio for the bright colors, cheerful music and lively pace, but most adults will find the film a little tiresome. With a creaky plot and superficial life lessons (I’m pretty sure “Get out of your shell and party” falls a few notches such old standbys as “Be yourself,” “Follow your dreams,” and “Listen to your heart”), Blue Sky’s latest only has surface-level pleasures to offer. Too bad there aren’t enough of them to make the film a rewarding experience for viewers of all ages.

The Verdict
6/10