Fly but not so high

RIO (2011)

I love animated movies. You know that you won’t be disappointed. Even the worst animated films aren’t half as bad as the other films. Yes I am generalizing, but considering the past decade it’s completely called for.

So is Rio the great cinema going experience like the recent - Wall-E, Toy Story 3, Up, Fantastic Mr. Fox, How To Train Your Dragon, The Illusionist, Despicable Me… (I could name 30 more)… well, is it? Frankly, no. Carlos Saldhana has made better films before. The Ice Age films of course, and even Robots (2005). 

It’s a good film , yes, because you realize by the end of the movie you stopped counting the laughs (yes there were very few in the first hour), you also stopped wondering why you can’t feel for any of the characters? You do. You forget the tedious story when you get up.

The plot involves Blu (Eisenberg), a Macaw from Minnesota who has to go to Rio de Janeiro to mate with the only other Spix's Macaw and save its rare species from extinction. The story is no great shakes; the screenplay is sparse to say the least. Some visuals stand out (especially the Carnivale!) but nothing great even in that department. The Brazilian clichés got a bit out of hand. The songs just don’t.. erm.. fly up into the sky. They are more like hurdles than fun.

For me, Luiz (the bull dog with the heart of a bird, voiced by Tracy Morgan) and Pedro and Nico (voiced by Will.i.am and Jamie Foxx) saved the day. Some of the gags fell flat on their face, the same kind started working when these actors lent their voices to them.

Jesse Eisenberg lends his voice to Blu, the lead character in the film. It just seemed like Eisenberg had come out of The Social Network and thought a bird and Mark Zuckerberg have the same character, in tone if not in speech. Maybe I’ve seen The Social Network too many times or he did do a bad job. Anne Hathaway was surprise, giving us some of that voice modulation.

It’s very rare to find a bad animated film. Yes, Alpha and Omega is one. But mostly even the OK ones end up having something; some magic that sucks it out of the shit movie universe (oh yes there is one!). This film is the perfect example to back up my generalization. Even a film like this one which does not have the most original story, jokes or characters ends up giving you a good feeling when you leave the theater. That’s what matters.

Rating: *** out of *****