The Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro is serving as the setting for two films being released this April: one being a full on action film, Fast and Furious 5, the other being a family animated adventure. Rio is that film and shows that the Fox subsidiary Blue Sky Studios is growing from strength to strength.

Blu the Spix's Macaw's (Jesse Eisenberg) early life is tragic, having fledging from his nest too early and been kidnapped by poachers. Luckily he was adopted by a loving owner, Linda (Leslie Mann) as a little girl. 15 years later Linda owns a bookstore in the snowy landscape of Minnesota and Blu becoming a very nerdy bird. A Brazilian ornithologist, Túlio (Rodrigo Santoro) finds Linda and tells her that Blu is the last male of his species and takes them to Rio de Janeiro so the bird could breed. But Blu does not hit it off with Jewel (Anne Hathaway) and matters get worst when poachers take the birds and chain them together. When their escape Blu and Jewel they try and reunite with Linda whilst avoiding being captured by the poachers and their insane cockatoo Nigel (Jemaine Clement).

Rio is a pure formula picture and there are many elements have been in other films, such as Blu being taken from the wild as a chick, the animosity between Blu and Jewel and we all know where it is going to lead, the story of Nigel having a tragic past and being rejected, etc, etc…. But formula does not have to be bad and when done right it can easily lead to an enjoyable film for all the family. Director Carlos Saldanda certainly made a fast paced adventure with a great amount of velvet colour. There is a more old-fashion feel to it, like Disney films and its copycats in the 90s. Pop-culture references are toned down and there are a few musical numbers which is rare in CGI animated features. The animation itself has a similar look to Pixar's particular the human characters, though Túlio looks very similar to the main character in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The animation of the parrots climbing is particularly well done and true to live to anyone who has ever own one.

Much of the humour of the film is kid friendly slapstick as is expected from this type of film and it is done very well. There is enough for parents and adults audiences to keep them entertaining. My personal favourites were the double act Kipo (Robin Thicke) and Marcel (Carlos Ponce) who were the dumb henchmen for the poacher and outsmarted by a cockatoo. They have some of the best lines in the film. But the two characters Pedro the Red-crested Cardinal (will.i.am) and Nico the yellow canary (Jamie Fox) were annoying and pretty stereotypical.

Eisenberg gives a typical nerdy performance as his character is book-smart, but not adventurous at all, preferring to be safe with his owner. Compared to Hathaway she is a feisty, strong female character who wants to explore and distrusts humans. Both learn from each other, for Blu that there is a wider world and for Jewel that not all humans are bad. Clement was funny as he parodies British actors playing psychopathic villains in action films. Though I do question why ornithologists did not question why they had an injured cockatoo considering the species is native to Australia and New Guinea (but this is a minor issue). As well as the bird love in the film there is also some nerd love.

A respectable 7.5/10.

Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) is a baby macaw who was captured and smuggled to the States. The bird was lost and taken in by little girl Linda. They grow up together. She's a bookstore owner and he's completely domesticated. Brazilian scientist Tulio tells Linda that Blu is the last male of his species, and she needs to bring Blu to Rio de Janeiro. When they get to Rio, Blu and the female Jewel (Anne Hathaway) get stolen.

This is a brightly colored confection. It's a neon bright show that tired me out. The story isn't anything special. The characters are fine but I don't see much staying power. Nothing is really exceptional other than those exceptionally brilliant colors. It's a good kiddie movie. They'll get distracted by all the pretty colors.

But you could probably guessed that with the film's title. The writer and director Carlos Saldanha made this a nice feature about his home country. Topics like football, carnival and the rain forest are included, but there are also references to more serious aspects, such as orphan boys living in the slums of Rio or crime in general. Still, as this is an animated feature and thus the target audience are mostly younger people, there is nothing too severe in here. The main character is a cookie-eating coffee-drinking blue macaw and we find out he is the one of only two specimen of his kind. The problem, however, is that he is so domesticated by his owner that he cannot even fly and so his trip to Brazil where he meets the other, a female (obviously) who is the exact opposite of him, is full of danger, adventure and a love story. Oh wait, there is actually another love story in there as his owner, a young woman, falls for a wildlife preservationist. The movie starts very nicely with "Real in Rio", the song that managed an Oscar nomination and made up for the film coming short in the Animated Feature category.

I quite enjoyed this movie. There are many funny scenes in it from start to finish and Blu and Jewel (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway) just like the two humans are quite a joy to watch. However, I have to say almost all other characters did not do too much for me and I believe this film could have been more essential and better without a few of them. This way, it would probably not have been 100, but only 85 minutes, but I would have approved of that. There are some emotional moments like when Blu and Jewel discover their love for one another or the two humans do in their macaw costumes, but as a whole it does not reach the emotional heights of Pixar movies. That is not to say it's a disappointing movie. It's lots of fun and the seven(!) people who worked on the script did a fine job all in all. Saldanha also directed the equally fun sequel from a year ago and I am curious if they will ever make a third movie. If yes, I will probably give it a watch. Until then, I recommend this first movie of the Rio franchise.