Grade: A- Scene Says: Ignore naysayers — these birds are awesome.
A surprisingly sweet journey, “Rio” tells the story of Blu (Jesse Eisenberg), the last male blue macaw. Blu was taken from his habitat by smugglers, who took him to the bitter cold of Minnesota. There, he was rescued by Linda (Leslie Mann), and the two became best friends. Fifteen years after his relocation, Blu is now being sought after by the nice-yet-passionate Brazilian scientist Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), who is trying to save the blue macaw from extinction.
Jesse Eisenberg seems perfect as Blu, who is geeky and adorable — when Blu meets a pair of local birds who speak to him in Portuguese, the first thing Blu does is take out his conversational Portuguese book. When he ends up in a bird nightclub, he declares it’s “the coolest place [he’s] ever seen, despite the obvious health code violations!”
After convincing Linda to come to Rio de Janeiro with Blu, Tulio arranges a meeting between Blu and Jewel (Anne Hathaway), the last female blue macaw. Of course, nothing turns out as planned, as Blu and Jewel are stolen from their cage that night.
During his years with Linda, Blu has become cripplingly domesticated — he doesn’t even know how to fly. This sparks some conflict with Jewel, who cannot stand to live in a cage. But as expected, this gives way to something more.
The film captures the essence of Carnival time in Rio de Janeiro. Bright colors and even brighter music, along with striking views of famous Brazilian landmarks, give it a wonderful and beautiful feel. But something this movie doesn’t do is gloss over the problem of poverty in Brazil.
Young Fernando (Jake T. Austin) has to resort to stealing in order to stay alive. A homeless orphan that sleeps in one of Rio de Janeiro’s many favelas, Fernando is the one who takes Blu from his cage in the lab and takes him to smugglers trying to make a profit from trafficking exotic birds.
“Rio” has a witty script and a cast to do it justice. The star-studded cast includes Tracy Morgan, Jamie Foxx, will.i.am and George Lopez as Blu’s sidekicks; Jemaine Clement as the villainous has-been Nigel; and a brief-yet-hilarious intervention by Wanda Sykes and Jane Lynch. Be sure to check it out in theaters now.
rgonzalez@theeagleonline.com
