Why I Liked... Rio (2011)

(Dir. Carlos Saldanha Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway)

It’s nice to know that awkwardness translates across species.

I don’t know much about director Saldanha, but I do like how much detail he put into the background detail of Rio de Janeiro. Sadly, he uses 3D...

Now, you should know by now (though I don’t know how-it’s not like I’ve gone over it a million times), that I detest 3D. Even when it wasn’t popular, I pretty much hated it. It strains my eyes, and now that I’m a permanent glasses-wearer, it’s a pain in the ass having to try and fit a pair of 3D glasses over top of my own glasses that have been fit to my already too-large head, and ok, that’s not the main reason why I dislike the medium so, but it’s certainly up there.

So when I watched Rio in 2D (heh...), I was really sad to see that the bright, vibrant colours of Brazil were washed out by the 3D technology. See? Another reason to not like it. 3D, not Rio, I mean.

 If this is your argument for 3D, I will refuse to acknowledge you.

The film itself was a typical fare coming from the company that brought you Ice Age. Lonely bird Blu (Eisenberg) finds himself being raised in Minnesota, and then brought to Rio de Janeiro for some mating with the temperamental Jewel (Hathaway). They clash, he doesn’t know how to fly, is awkward, and probably created facebook when there was a pause in the action taking place.

To tell the truth, I hadn’t even heard of this film until I saw articles about it slamming the latest Scream installment at the box office. And frankly, I can’t call it a waste of my time. It was sweet, but a little airy, and more of the same I’ve seen before. I suppose had I been twelve years younger (oh god, I’m old...), I’d have enjoyed this much more, but I’m not, so...yeah. I suppose had I been twelve years older, and had taken a future child to see this film in the cinema, I’d have been able to sit through the film without a problem.

So that’s saying something, right? It’s not not-adult friendly, it’s just not exactly adult-entertaining. While not being boring. Just predictable.

R: Not an accurate depiction of the adults in the cinema.

All that said however, here’s my quibble-in the beginning, when we first meet Jewel, she’s speaking Portuguese. Which is awesome! Yay! Hurrah for realism in a film where animals talk! And when Blu reveals he cannot understand her, she goes ‘oh, you’re American.’ And then proceeds to talk in a North American accent for the rest of the film. I’m not saying Hathaway shouldn’t have been cast, I’m just saying that she should’ve done some actual vocal acting. Put on an accent like the rest of the birds-even Will.I.Am was a more convincing Brazilian than her, and from what I can tell, he’s not exactly an actor.

I suppose the same could be said of Eisenberg who is quickly falling trap to Michael Cera Syndrome, constantly playing the same role over and over, but with Blu, that was called for. With Jewel, you’re supposed to believe (other than talking), that she’s been flying free for the whole of her life down in South America, not sounding like she’s just come from classes at NYU.

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