Cute 'Rio' undercut by cliches, stereotypes
“Rio” presents a blandly generic story pumped full of life by bright and crisp animation — despite being dimmed by 3-D glasses — plus a bouncy musical score equipped with a few serviceable but forgettable original songs.
The script runs the gamut from sassy, humorous dialogue to a disappointing dependence on kid movie clichés. (Do we really need more tired advice like “Be yourself” or more sight gags of males hurting themselves where it really hurts?)
At least “Rio” boasts strong voice talents, so even the silliest of nonsensical sentences — such as Raphael the toucan's advice, “Flying isn't what you think up here, but what you feel in here!” — sound almost like wisdom.
At the start of “Rio,” poachers in Brazil birdnap a blue baby macaw that hasn't even learned to fly, then whisk him off to market in the United States. His cage falls out of a truck while traveling through snowy Minnesota.
That's where a little girl named Linda (voiced by Leslie Mann) discovers him, names him Blu and takes him home to be her best friend for many years.
Inexplicably, a comically overenthusiastic Brazilian bird specialist named Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) somehow locates the now adult Linda and tells her she must bring Blu back to the rain forest.
He says that Blu (now voiced by “Social Network” star Jesse Eisenberg) is the last male of his kind, and he must be introduced to the last female blue macaw, Jewel (voiced by Anne Hathaway), to save their species.
The domesticated Blu likes his cage and human companionship. The proud and powerful Jewel prefers her freedom to fly at any cost.
Not even a disco ball and Lionel Ritchie's “Say Me, Say You” can get these two together.
The plot kicks in when another gang of bird smugglers, led by the ambitious Marcel (voiced by Carlos Ponce) and his vulturelike sidekick, Nigel the cockatoo (voiced by New Zealander Jemaine Clement), steal the valuable macaws.
Blu and Jewel eventually escape, and the chase is on. The fugitives, however, have two problems: They're chained together like Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier in “The Defiant Ones,” plus, Blu never learned to fly.
“Rio” winds up with another chase sequence through a massive parade, a Hollywood staple, yet, to its credit, the glitzy movie takes pains to show the poverty-striken side of the city, symbolized by a young Rio orphan (voiced by Jake T. Austin), depicted as a good kid trapped in bad circumstances.
Kids will love “Rio.”
It's cute. It's funny.
It's clever. In fits and starts.
But I'm guessing that the creators of “Rio” are completely oblivious to the stereotyping of their characters, the ...
Wait a minute!
Didn't I write these words two weeks ago in my review of “Hop”?
“Rio” isn't as blatant about it as “Hop,” featuring aristocratic white British bunnies who rule over a vast workforce of cute little chicks (read: child labor) supervised by a rabble-rousing, back-stabbing Hispanic chick trying to take out the Easter Bunny himself.
In “Rio,” the white actors voice the take-charge lead characters, while nonwhites provide the comedy as the happy-go-lucky, carnival-loving, party-animal supporting characters.
As the funny toucan Raphael, George Lopez leads a band of Brazilian nuts, among them will.i.am's rapping bird Pedro and Jamie Foxx's singing canary Nico.
Kids, of course, will not notice or care about the clichés.
(Seriously, do adults need to hear Sergio Mendes' “Mas que nada” to understand we're in Brazil?)
As for the ethnic stereotyping, do audiences really care?
Not according to box office results.
“Hop” has topped the American charts the last two consecutive weeks.
<b>“Rio”</b>
★ ★ ½
<b>Starring: </b>Leslie Mann, Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, will.i.am, George Lopez, Jamie Foxx, Tracy Morgan
<b>Directed by: </b>Carlos Saldanha
<b>Other: </b>A 20th Century Fox release. Rated G. 96 minutes.