Rio (film)

Rio is a 3D computer-animated film produced by Blue Sky Studios. It was released in theaters in 2011.

The film centers around a blue Spix's macaw named Blu who is taken to Rio de Janeiro to mate with a female. He eventually falls in love with the other blue macaw, Jewel, and together have to escape bird smugglers and a another bird named Nigel, who is a cockatoo.

The original plot for the film was when a penguin washed up on the shores of Rio. This plot idea was soon forgotten after the director, Carlos Saldanha, after he learned of the productions Happy Feet and Surf's Up.

The film was released in Brazil on March 22 2011 and on April 15 20122 in the United States. The film received mostly positive reviews from film critics. Observers praised the voice acting, animation, and songs. The film was a box office success, scoring over $484 million worldwide and was nominated for an academy award for Best Original Song. It lost to "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets.

Plot
The film centers around a blue Spix's macaw, aptly named Blu, a sophisticated 'nerd bird' who lives with his owner Linda in their bookstore in Minnesota. When an ornithologist named Tulio Monteiro comes to their bookstore, he informs them that Blu is the last male of his species of macaw. He tells them that another blue macaw named Jewel is the last female of his species and that Blu must come to Rio de Janeiro to mate with her and save their species. Blu's owner, Linda, is hesitant at first, but later decides it's the best thing to do.

When they arrive in Rio, Blu meets a Red Crested cardinal named Pedro and a Yellow Canary named Nico. At Tulio's aviary, Blu falls in love with Jewel, a fiercely independent a fiercely independent blue macaw longing to flee into the wilderness.

The macaws are captured by Fernando, an impoverished boy, and a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo named Nigel, both of whom work for Marcel's gang. Fernando is reluctant, but Nigel is ruthless, having vowed to smuggle exotic birds after his role had been replaced on a television program by a parakeet. The smugglers chain Blu and Jewel together. The pair escape and flee into a rain forest.

Fernando meets Linda and Túlio and tells them that Marcel forced him to capture birds, before cooperating with the two to find Blu. Meanwhile, Blu and Jewel meet a Toco toucan named Rafael, who offers to take them to his bulldog friend Luiz to remove their leg chain. While Rafael tries to teach Blu how to fly, Nigel hires a horde of thieving marmosets to capture Blu and Jewel. Pedro and Nico take Blu and Jewel to a bird's Rio-style samba club, where they perform a duet, but are attacked by the marmosets. Their bird friends fight them, then the five flee. Linda and Túlio are taken to the smugglers hideout. Marcel explains that he will use the Rio Carnival to capture Blu and Jewel and smuggle them out of the country.

Meanwhile, Blu and the others meet Luiz, who unintentionally frees Blu and Jewel from the chain with his drool. Jewel is overjoyed, but Blu is depressed due to his inability to fly. After a heated argument, the two part ways. However, Nigel recaptures Jewel. When Blu learns from Rafael, Pedro and Nico about this, they rush to the carnival to rescue her, while Linda and Túlio organize a rescue attempt.

While Linda and Túlio pose as dancers in blue macaw costumes, the smugglers capture Blu, Rafael, Pedro and Nico. The smugglers then take off in their Short SC.7 Skyvan before Linda and Tulio could stop them. On board Marcel's plane, Blu's ingenuity allows the captive birds to escape, but Nigel injures Jewel. Blu ties a fire exstinguisher to Nigel's foot, sending him into the propeller of the plane's engine. Unable to fly, Jewel slips out of the plane and falls. Blu jumps out of the plane to rescue her. Jewel, realizing that Blu loves her, kisses him. Overcomed by his heartbeat, Blue begins flying for the first time. Later, Linda, Túlio, and Fernando heal Jewel and organize a sanctuary to protect the rainforest from smugglers. While the smugglers are sent to jail and Nigel is humiliated for having lost his feathers from the propeller accident, Blu and Jewel raise three chicks together and celebrate with their bird friends.

Cast
Animals Jesse Eisenberg as Blu, a male Spix's macaw. He is socially awkward, domesticated, and clumsy. Blu was smuggled from Rio de Janeiro to Moose Lake and was adopted by Linda Gunderson as Tyler Blu Gunderson, living together for 15 years. However, he is unable to fly. Anne Hathaway as Jewel, a female Spix's macaw who desperately longs to escape to the rainforest. Jemaine Clement as Nigel, a sadistic Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo. Nigel was formerly a television star, but after being replaced by a parakeet he developed a hatred of exotic birds and began to help capture them for his owner Marcel. George Lopez as Rafael, a romantic Toco Toucan who has a fondness of Carnaval. Bebel Gilberto as Eva, a Keel-billed Toucan and Rafael's wife. She is tone-deaf. will.i.am as Pedro, a rapping Red-crested Cardinal who befriends Blu and gives him advice on how to attract girls. Jamie Foxx as Nico, a close friend of Pedro. He is a Yellow Canary with a green and purple striped bottlecap as a hat and tambourine that loves to samba. Tracy Morgan as Luiz, a bulldog and a chainsaw expert who has a medical condition of drooling. Wanda Sykes and Jane Lynch as Chloe and Alice, two Canada Geese sisters from Moose Lake who ridicule Blu. Francisco Ramos as Mauro, a Common Marmoset who is head of a tribe of marmosets who steal from tourists and are experts in Capoeira. Bernardo de Paula as Kipo, a Roseate Spoonbill at the bird's funk party. [edit]Humans Leslie Mann as Linda Gunderson, Blu's human owner who discovered Blu after he was taken from Rio de Janeiro to Moose Lake and adopted him for 15 years. Sofia Scarpa Saldanha, the director's daughter, voices the younger Linda. Jake T. Austin as Fernando, an impoverished and orphaned Brazilian boy. He assists Marcel in capturing exotic birds. He later helps Linda find Blu after he learns the birds will be smuggeled out of Rio. Bernardo de Paula as Sylvio, an stocky security guard at Túlio's aviary. He is also a fan of the Carnaval festival and spends as much time as he can dancing the samba. Rodrigo Santoro as Túlio Monteiro, an ornithologist from Brazil who suggests that Blu travel to Rio to mate with Jewel and Linda's love interest. Carlos Ponce as Marcel, the leader of the smugglers and Nigel's owner who gives him difficult tasks which none of his partners can achieve. Jeffrey Garcia as Tipa, a clumsy one of Marcel's henchmen. Davi Vieira as Armando, one of Marcel's henchmen.

Reception
Critical Response

Rio received mainly positive reviews from film critics, praising the songs, bright and fluid animation, and voice actors. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a mixed C rating, saying it was "Less than Pixar-level pleasure a busy, frantic, and overstuffed dessert of a movie." Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times gave a positive review of the film, stating it was "An eco-sensitive version of 101 Dalmatians with birds as prey." She praised the visuals and voice acting.

Music
A soundtrack for Rio was released on March 18th 2011, titled Rio: Music from the Motion Picture. It is also available on iTunes.

Video games
Angry Birds: Rio, an Angry Birds game, for various platform was release on March 21, 2011 and was developed & published by Rovio Mobile (changed name to Rovio Entertainment later in 2011). Game works on Microsoft Windows, Android OS, iPad, iPhone, Macintosh, Symbian and webOS (Linux-based OS).

A Rio video game for the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 was released on April 12, 2011 and was developed by Eurocom Developments and published by THQ Inc.

Rio Mini Games for Microsoft Windows was released in 2011 and was developed by Upfront Promotions. Moby Games refers to it as shovelware.

Sequel
Rio 2, the sequel, was released in 2014 with international rollout starting March 20.