A 3-D family friendly flick from the creators of the Ice Age series, ‘Rio’ is a comedy which follows the adventures of a macaw, who escapes from his small-town Minnesota cage to the exotic city of Rio de Janeiro. It marks Jamie Foxx’s first voice over character.
“I play Nico, a fun loving and flighty bird,” says the Academy-Award winning actor, comedian and singer, who also lends his musical talents to the soundtrack.
Directed by the Brazilian-born director Carolos Saldanha, this animated adventure centers on Blu (the voice of Jesse Eisenberg from ‘The Social Network’), the last of the male Blue Macaws who has never learned to fly.
Caught in the Brazilian rainforest, he was smuggled to Minnesota by illicit exotic pet dealers, but a fortunate accident leaves him in the possession of Linda (voiced by Leslie Mann), a little girl who finds him in a box on the street. Blu and Linda grow up together in a doting and mutually beneficial relationship, until one day they are visited by a representative from Brazil who is in possession of the last female Macaw called Jewel. Blu is the last male of his species and he wants to bring them to Rio de Janeiro so that Blu can mate with Jewel (voiced by Anne Hathaway) and preserve the species. Linda and Blu are coerced into traveling to Rio de Janeiro, but nothing goes as planned.
After Blu and Jewel are stolen by poachers, they manage to escape and along the way make new friends that include Raphael (George Lopez), a toucan, Luiz (Tracy Morgan), a drooling bulldog, Pedro (will.i.am from ‘Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa’) and Foxx’s witty character Nico.
Colorful and cute, there’s scene where Blu and Jewel hang glide around the giant Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio, which is done with dazzling 3-D visuals.
“It was challenging and cool,” shares Foxx about the experience of making the movie. “The movie will blow you away. A lot of times you go to see animated films and it’s dumbed down for the kids and this film is really a wow factor. I had a great time doing it.”
