Rio: High flying

The much awaited Rio finally arrived in Pakistan, with both 2D and 3D versions premiering at Atrium in Karachi, which is where I headed to watch this box office success on a Saturday afternoon.

Families were flocking in way before the movie started to ensure tickets for their excited young ones. And excited they should be. Rio is a fun-filled, family friendly adventure about a hero who has to overcome challenges in order to save the day.

The setting of the movie is breathtaking, especially in 3D, as it is based in the beautifully city of Rio de Janeiro. The movie starts off with a dazzling, if over the top, display of colours and music, with wildlife putting up all manners of song and dance in the jungles of Brazil. The story revolves around a rare blue macaw unimaginatively named Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) who is poached from his home in the lush rainforests and ends up in Minnesota, in the loving care of Linda (Leslie Mann). His life of domesticated luxury is disrupted by Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), a bird expert from Brazil, who informs Linda that Blu must go to Brazil to mate with the only female of his species.

In a whirl, the main characters head off to Brazil where Blu is introduced to the feisty female macaw, Jewel (Anne Hathaway). Jewel, however, wants nothing more than to escape her prison and fly free. The element of antagonists are also introduced into the story viz bird smugglers and their nefarious pet cockatoo Nigel. So start Blu and Jewel’s escapades in which they end up being chained together with one major drawback: Blu doesn’t know how to fly.

Jesse Eisenberg’s depiction of a nerdy domesticated bird, afraid to come out of his comfort zone is spot on, and keeps the viewers involved in Blu and his predicament. Anne Hathaway’s voice acting on the other hand was nothing special, and often left the viewer disengaged from Jewel. The supporting characters were strong, with Will.i.am and Jamie Foxx providing some very catchy tunes.

During their adventures, Blu and Jewel encounter an interesting array of characters, including a very romantic toucan (George Lopez) as a mentor, Will.i.am and Jamie Foxx as friendly street smart birds and Tracy Morgan as a slobbering bulldog. As is the case in most animated movies, Rio’s supporting characters are sometimes more endearing and lovable than the main ones. The characters could have been explored enough to bring them close to the likes of Donkey from the Shrek series or Mike Wazowski from Monster’s Inc. Sadly, the movie does not give them enough face time for us to fully appreciate them.

Overall, the movie is more fast-paced and vibrant than the Ice Age series or Rango. Throughout the movie there are various side-stories going on to keep the viewer entertained. What also makes this movie interesting is the fact that Rio de Janeiro is shown in a very realistic light, depicting both the good and the bad of the city. It shows the beautiful downtown areas along with the misery of life in shanty towns. The movie has a PG rating, though there are some elements and themes that might not be suitable for the younger audience. This includes innuendoes, mild sadistic violence of the antagonist towards captured birds and other characters, and scantily dressed women prancing around because of Carnivale.

Rio is not a very original movie, with the theme based on the clichéd notion of believing in yourself and following one’s heart rather than the head. This does not stop it from being an enjoyable experience for the whole family, full of wacky antics, slapstick humor and salsa infused contemporary music. You need to watch this movie, especially in 3D, to fully enjoy the vibrant CG animation and find out Blu’s fate.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 8^th, 2011.