"Rio" Can't Last on Flimsy Parrot-Sex Premise
Parrot sex is the narrative impetus of Rio, and yet there's still little spark to this animated tale of a domesticated Minnesota macaw named Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) who's reluctantly taken to Brazil by his clingy owner, Linda (Leslie Mann), to mate with the last of his kind, tough beauty Jewel (Anne Hathaway). Greedy smugglers, a gang of thieving monkeys, the impending chaos of Carnival, and the initial incompatibility of Jewel's confidence and Blu's neurosis — epitomized by his inexplicable inability to fly — all conspire to frustrate the duo's fated coupling. More exasperating, however, is the conventionality of this ornithological odyssey, which, like Blu, is unwilling to leave its comfort zone and take daring flight. Rather, director Carlos Saldanha delivers only kids'-film-certified staples, from slapsticky set pieces and wisecracking sidekicks to a supplementary human romance and a nasty villain in white cockatoo Nigel (Jemaine Clement). Too timid to be either inspired or outrageously inept, Rio is merely a bird of a familiar feather.
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