Rio: Review

Rio is another in the long line of CGI 3D animations that seem to be hitting our screens on a regular basis now. This one has been hyped up to be the next big thing but alas like all things hyped, this is more a dead duck than a beautiful swan.

Blu is a rare Blue Macaw that has been domesticated to the point that it cannot fly and is fearful of almost anything. It turns out that his breed is almost extinct and so must go to Rio in order to breed with a feisty female called Jewel. When the pair are bird-napped by a group of bumbling smugglers, they escape and Blu is desperate to get back to his owner. Only problem is, they are chained together and while she can fly, he keeps dragging her down.

The plot is simple. A chase through the carnival streets of Rio, picking up some bright characters along the way. These films are never complex and you don't expect them to be. There is a sense of laziness here though. The plot is so simple, it must have been written on a card. There has to be something more interesting than chasing around a brightly coloured city to keep the young audiences attention.

It is very bright and colourful and that's a plus side and the film has attracted some interesting voices, Anne Hathaway as Jewel, Jeese Eisenberg as Blu and with will.i.am and Jamie Foxx as a pair of samba singing birds who help them out on their journey. The music is also good, with Sergio Mendes in charge, you'd only expect the best. They are all let down by a pretty worthless script with not enough verbal gags to make the adults laugh and not enough visual gags to keep the kids smiling.

It's a shame because in the hands of Pixar or even Dreamworks, this could have been an inspired little comedy. Instead it's far too bland to be more than just pretty and while the quirky characters come and go they are not in the least bit interesting.

This is from the same team that brought us Ice Age, a film that was brimming with ideas and fun characters that could quite easily be sent off into their own adventures (like Scratch, the acorn loving rodent). These characters lack that magic and even though this will be a huge hit, I don't think it will stand the test of time like it's big brother does. In fact, I don't think it will be memorable enough to stand the test of time an hour after seeing it.