Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Rio 3D

Today I caught Rio in 3D, an animated children's movie from Blue Sky Studios. Our hero is a nerdy, nervous blue macaw, so pampered as a pet that he does not know how to fly. I did not get into the movie's story of animal smuggling, love & adventure, but I enjoyed its tropical, candy-colored world. It's just fun to look at. Though the setting is Rio de Janeiro, it feels more like a lush jungle. Naturally the animals of Brazil talk, sing & dance, but the music is more hip-hop than samba. The human characters mostly look like skinny bobblehead dolls, but the animators display great affection for a couple of rolly-polly male characters. I found it distracting that a Brazillian bird, raised in Minnesota, should talk like Mark Zuckerberg.

Rio was paired with the short Scrat's Continental Crack-up, also in 3D. The filmmakers know how to make a joke & then move on. The frantic little story starts off with just a squirrel & an acorn, yet it ends up encompassing the physics of the Earth's core, plate tectonics & the evolution of giraffes.

§ Rio (3D)
Director: Carlos Saldanha
Blue Sky Studios

2 comments:

Civic Center said...

I am so glad you went, and enjoyed just looking at it. Thanks also for sharing my unease at the cultural absurdity of a Brazilian macaw raised in rural Minnesota sounding like Mark Zuckerberg.

Besides the Botero fat dudes, I was also partial to the Brazilian ornithologist just because his nose was more like a beak than a nose. Bird people really are different, in my experience, though usually very sweet.

Axel Feldheim said...

Well I think you are much to blame for my desire to see Rio! It does look wonderful. I wish I had thought of comparing those big guys to Botero figures!