Rio

There are two types of kids’ movies. One: the Pixar/Dreamworks films that are enjoyable for all ages and are very sophisticated and intelligent. (Monsters Inc, How to Train Your Dragon). Two: the cinematic trash made by studios who don’t think kids are smart enough to handle real-life issues and are bent on torturing parents (Marmaduke, Gnomeo and Juliet).

Rio falls somewhere in the middle.

It definitely looks spectacular, with vibrant colors, exciting music, thrilling cinematography and fun characters. But there’s something missing—it’s lacking that PUNCH! that elevates movies like Coraline or Finding Nemo. Rio has all the right ingredients but it just doesn’t fully succeed.

The movies follow Blu (voiced by Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg), a blue macaw raised as a domesticated pet by nerdy Linda (voiced by Leslie Mann aka Mrs. Judd Apatow). This means that Blu has never learned to fly. When Brazilian ornithologist Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro, 300) comes into Linda’s bookstore, he announces that Blu is the only male left of his species. In order to save his kind, Blu needs to come to Brazil and mate with the last female Jewel (voiced by Oscar nominee Anne Hathaway).

Now in a foreign country and without any real survival skills, Blu must navigate his way through a jungle after a bird smuggler kidnaps him. He’s helped by Rafael (comedian George Lopez), Nico (actor/singer Jamie Foxx) and Pedro (music superstar Will.I.Am) as he travels to be reunited with Linda, escape the sadistic cockatoo Nigel (Jermaine Clement, The Flight of the Concords) and ultimately learn to fly.

Aside from the visuals, the voice cast is another victory for Rio. Hathaway, Eisenberg, Lopez and Mann especially throw themselves into their parts and they give amazing voice performances. The rest of the cast (which also includes Wizard of Waverly Place’s Jake T. Austin) also acquit themselves well.

But the screenplay is just not that clever. I found myself more interested in Linda and Tulio’s awkward love story than I was in the screwball love-hate relationship between Blu and Jewel. And that’s because the dialogue between the “love” birds (sorry, I had to!) wasn’t as sparkling as it was between Rapunzel and Flynn in Tangled or Tiana and Naveen in The Princess and the Frog or even Shrek and Fiona in the Shrek films.

Also, there are too many characters. Both the humans and the animals have their own separate story with good guys and bad guys. And the whole thing seems overstuffed.

Rio is an enjoyable movie, especially for those under the age of twelve. Parents won’t mind it as much as they do a Chipmunks movie. At the end of the day, Rio is a beautiful journey down some very familiar paths.