Rio is a 2011 American animated musical adventure comedy film directed by Carlos Saldanha and written by Don Rhymer, Joshua Sternin, Jennifer Ventimilia, and Sam Harper. The title refers to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, where the film is set. Produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios, the film features the voices of Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, Jemaine Clement, Leslie Mann, George Lopez, Jamie Foxx and Tracy Morgan. It follows Blu (Eisenberg), a domesticated male Spix's macaw, who is taken back to Rio de Janeiro to mate with Jewel (Hathaway), a free-spirited female macaw. They fall in love whilst escaping from bird smugglers and Nigel (Clement), a cockatoo.
Saldanha first developed the story concept, in which a penguin is washed up in Rio, in 2006. Learning of the production of the penguin-themed films Happy Feet (2006) and Surf's Up (2007), he changed the concept to involve macaws. He pitched his idea to Chris Wedge, and the project was set up at Blue Sky Studios. During production, the crew visited Rio de Janeiro and also consulted an expert on macaws at the Bronx Zoo to study their movements. John Powell composed and arranged the film's music score.
Rio debuted on March 22, 2011, in Lagoa, Rio de Janeiro. and was released in the United States on April 15 by 20th Century Fox. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with significant praise for the music, character writing, and animation. It grossed $484million against a $90million budget. It was nominated for Best Original Song for the song "Real in Rio" at the 84th Academy Awards. A sequel, Rio 2, was released in 2014. A third film is in development.
Plot
In Moose Lake, Minnesota, a crate containing a young, orphaned, male blue macaw that was smuggled out of Brazil falls from a truck and is found by Linda Gunderson, who names him Blu. Fifteen years later, Blu is highly domesticated, but has not learned to fly. One day, ornithologist Túlio Monteiro arrives, informs Linda that Blu is the last known male of his species, and invites the pair to Rio de Janeiro so Blu can mate with the last known female. Although initially unsure, Linda and Blu ultimately agree. At Túlio's aviary in Rio, Blu meets his prospective mate, the fiercely independent Jewel, who longs to return to the wilderness; the pair immediately clash.
Later that night, the macaws are captured by Fernando an orphaned boy and Nigel, an escaped wicked sulphur-crested cockatoo both of whom work for a gang of bird smugglers led by Marcel, who wants to leave the country to sell Blu and Jewel on the black market. While Fernando regrets his actions, Nigel tells the macaws of his disdain for "pretty birds" after he was replaced by a parakeet on a television series. Blu's familiarity with cages allows him and Jewel to escape, alerting Nigel and the smugglers to give pursuit. The macaws are forced to travel on foot, as Marcel had legcuffs applied to both of them. Fernando helps Linda and Túlio search for the macaws the next morning. Blu and Jewel meet a toco toucan named Rafael, who says that his bulldog friend, Luiz, will remove their cuffs.
Rafael unsuccessfully tries teaching Blu to fly from the edge of a mountain with Jewel. They soon catch up with a red-crested cardinal named Pedro and his yellow canary friend Nico, both of whom Blu had met the day before. Elsewhere, Nigel coerces a horde of thieving marmosets led by Mauro to capture Blu and Jewel. To help Blu and Jewel get along better, Pedro, Nico, and Rafael take the macaws to a samba dance party, where the two begin to fall in love. The marmosets arrive and, after a brief fight breaks out, the five escape on a tram.
At the smugglers' hideout, Fernando, Linda, and Túlio discover the macaws are gone. Fernando gets Marcel's henchmen, Armando and Tipa, to reveal that they will use the Rio Carnival parade to smuggle the birds to the abandoned airport. Blu and the others meet Luiz, whose saliva allows Blu and Jewel to slip out of their cuffs. Upon release, Jewel happily flies with Pedro and Nico, triggering Blu's insecurity and causing a falling out between the two macaws. Jewel flies away in tears and Blu storms away.
While flying away, Jewel is captured by Nigel. Blu, Rafael, Nico, and Pedro rush to the parade to rescue her, only to also be captured. Elsewhere, Linda and Túlio pose as dancers in Spix's macaw costumes to find and pursue Blu, but the smugglers escape and flee to their plane. Using a fire extinguisher, Blu breaks out of his cage and quickly frees Jewel and the other birds, but Nigel attacks them and Jewel's wing is badly injured in the process. Blu activates the fire extinguisher, sending Nigel out of the open cargo door and into one of its engines. The smugglers escape the falling plane while Jewel falls out of the open hold compartment. Blu jumps out and dives towards her, intent on not leaving her behind. After Jewel kisses Blu, he finally gains his flying ability. He carries her to Linda and Túlio, who help Jewel's wing heal and recover.
Now a couple, Linda and Túlio adopt Fernando and start a bird sanctuary and a bookstore branch in Rio. Blu and Jewel have three hatchlings: Two daughters named Bia and Carla, and a son named Tiago. Meanwhile, Nigel survives the plane crash and is bullied by Mauro, while the smugglers are arrested and imprisoned in jail.
Voice cast
Jesse Eisenberg as Blu, a male blue Spix's macaw who was born in Rio de Janeiro but raised in Moose Lake, Minnesota, after he was smuggled Anne Hathaway as Jewel, a female blue Spix's macaw who was born in the Amazon Jungle, but taken to Rio de Janeiro Leslie Mann as Linda Gunderson, Blu's human owner Sofia Scarpa Saldanha voices a young Linda Gunderson. Rodrigo Santoro as Túlio Monteiro, a Brazilian ornithologist Santoro also voices a soccer announcer. Carlos Ponce as Marcel, Nigel's owner and the leader of a group of exotic bird smugglers will.i.am as Pedro, a red-crested cardinal who owns a samba club Jamie Foxx as Nico, a yellow canary who is Pedro's best friend and co-owner of the samba club George Lopez as Rafael, a romantic, wise, and energetic toco toucan who is Eva's carnival-loving mate Jemaine Clement as Nigel, a sadistic sulphur-crested cockatoo who is Marcel’s personal pet and escaped the Rio de Janeiro bird sanctuary where Blu was taken to meet Jewel and holds a strong hatred for "pretty birds" but is used to be TV and Film Star but was replaced by a Parakeet Davi Vieira as Armando, one of Marcel's henchmen Jeff Garcia as Tipa, one of Marcel's henchmen Garcia also voices a bat, who was among the captured birds. Tracy Morgan as Luiz, a bulldog who is Rafael's friend and a saw expert who has a medical condition of drooling Jake T. Austin as Fernando, an orphaned young boy Jane Lynch as Alice, a Canada goose who is Chloe's sister Wanda Sykes as Chloe, a Canada goose who is Alice's sister Bebel Gilberto as Eva, a keel-billed toucan and Rafael's wife Bernardo de Paula as Kipo, a roseate spoonbill, and Sylvio, the security guard at Túlio's aviary Francisco Ramos as Mauro, the lead of marmoset who is hired by Nigel to capture Blu and Jewel but fails
Production Saldanha conceptualised Rio in 2007, when it involved a penguin being washed up on the beaches of Ipanema; it was changed to the current story after he learned of Happy Feet and Surf's Up being produced. He pitched the idea to Chris Wedge at Blue Sky in 2006. Saldanha showed the animators maps and books with geographic landmarks and measurements, from which they built a digital version of Rio. Later, a group of artists from the company visited Rio to see the various story locations. The animators also met with an expert on macaws at the Bronx Zoo to gain insight into their movement and personalities. Saldanha himself is a Brazilian from Rio de Janeiro; such elements of Brazilian culture and landmarks were also influenced from Saldanha growing up in Brazil.
The lead voice actors were approached in 2009. Jemaine Clement was approached to do the film after seeing test shots of his character Nigel doing a speech from Flight of the Conchords, which was done prior to a script being finalized. Neil Patrick Harris was supposed to voice Blu, but had other commitments outside production; he was later replaced by Jesse Eisenberg. Eisenberg was asked during the filming of The Social Network if he would do his voice recording on the weekends, and he agreed after reading the script, saying: "It was the perfect antidote to get out of the mindset of my character in Social Network who was so severe, and in some ways so joyless."
For music, they brought on board Sérgio Mendes to act as music guru and online living library. He in turn was able to reach out to artists such as will.i.am and Carlinhos Brown to provide music for the film.
Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway, who voiced Jewel, had acted together before when both were still teenagers, when they played siblings in the short-lived 1999 TV show Get Real. Hathaway stated in an interview that she did not see Eisenberg during production of Rio except "socially throughout the process," but that she was "very happy for all of his success."
Marketing In April 2011, Oreo announced its special edition Oreo cookies with blue cream in promotion of the film. The promotion included stickers inside each package of cookies. Two types of contest were also announced: first, by completing an album of stickers, consumers could win three movie passes and medium snack bar combos; second, by finding winning stickers in packages with prizes including a trip to Rio de Janeiro, backpacks, cinema passes for a year, and 3D glasses. The promotion ended on May 30, 2011. The promotion is available in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia.
On January 27, 2011, Rovio Mobile announced a partnership with 20th Century Fox to promote the film. The game Angry Birds Rio was released in March 2011 on the Android Market and the App Store with 50 levels. Rovio released more levels throughout 2011. With the DVD and Blu-ray release, Rovio and 20th Century Fox announced that they were going to start selling Rio plush toys in the Angry Birds Online Store and the DVD and Blu-ray comes with a code for 15 hidden levels, along with three Angry Birds Rio videos. Also, McDonald's ran a promotion with Rio toys in their Happy Meals.
In February 2011, the MPAA gave the film a PG rating for "mild off-color humor". The producers, displeased by this rating, resubmitted an edited version of the film to the ratings board one month later, and the MPAA changed the film to a G rating.
Video game Rio is a video game released on April 12, 2011, for the Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360. It was developed by Eurocom for console and 1st Playable Productions for handheld and published by THQ. The gameplay consists of various multiplayer minigames following the events of the Rio film.
The game received mixed reception, with, for lowest to highest, Metacritic at 60 out of 100 based on 16 reviews for the Xbox 360 version, and 65 out of 100 based on 8 reviews for the PlayStation 3 version. On GameRankings, 40.00% for the Wii version, 58.00% for the Nintendo DS version, 64.73% for the Xbox 360 version, and 71.67% for the PlayStation 3.
Release The world premiere of Rio took place on March 22, 2011, at a Cinépolis theater in Lagoa, Rio de Janeiro. The United States premiere was on April 10, 2011, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, and was released throughout the country five days later. Since May 2009, it had been scheduled to be released in the United States on April 8, 2011, but in December 2010, it was rescheduled a week later to April 15, 2011. The film was also dedicated to the memory of Clymene Campos Saldanha, the mother of Carlos Saldanha who died on December 11, 2010, during production.
Home media