Day 5 - Rio in 3D

Rio in 3D (2011) directed by Carlos Saldanha

Ah, yes, finally! A movie somebody might actually be interested in watching! Yes, this is somewhat of a cheap-o picking a typical animated family film but after four days of nothing but black and white head scratchers, I've decided to watch a movie for fun. Imagine that, having fun at the movies! No, I don't care if there is no redeeming value in it or if there are countless classics I have yet to see. Sometimes I don't want to watch Cary Grant slapping hoes or to wait for some random European guy I don't know to finally say something I understand. I don't want to ponder the meaning of my existence, nor do I care about the corruption of the human soul. Sometimes I just want to sit back, watch animals talk to each other, laugh a little bit and forget it all happened 90 minutes later and be done with it. Since this is the animated family film Rio and not the languishingly slow but supposedly thought provoking Seventh Seal, I don't think today's entry will have too much in depth analysis, which is fine by me.

There are two things I would like to mention before I start, going to the theaters and 3D. I always hear people say, "I'll wait for it to come out on DVD" or "That movie isn't worth watching in theaters." What are you guys talking about? These are exactly the types of movies to watch in theaters because there is no way in hell I'm ever going to rent them, let alone sit still at home and watch. At least at the theaters you can make the excuse that you were already out and had time to kill or nothing good was playing. I literally had no choice but to watch Rio! It was either this or Madea's Big Happy Family. By renting whatever mediocrity you are thinking of right now, you are purposelessly making the decision to waste two hours at home watching crap over doing anything else. And the waiting for it to come out on DVD excuse typically means that you're never going to watch it because honestly, who's going to remember Rio four months from now? I know I won't. So if I don't watch a movie like Rio now, I won't ever watch it, which is a shame because a lot of the time, the movie ends up being decent enough, which Rio is. And sometimes I just want to get out of the house and be in my own little world for two hours. Ten bucks for peace of mind seems worth it to me.

Whoever thought of charging $2.50 extra for watching a movie in 3D is a genius. It ends up being a 20+% increase in box office sales for mediocre movies that wouldn't pull in nearly that much dough on its own merits. It makes otherwise forgettable drags like Monsters vs Aliens into box office bonanzas. It is no surprise then that practically all animated films these days are 3D ready. At first, I was not a huge fan of 3D because it made my eyes hurt and I found it too distracting, but after a couple 3D movies under my belt I can tolerate them enough and be pleasantly surprised by the effects. But for the most part, most movies can do without the 3D simply because they aren't specifically made for 3D. Sure, it makes the visuals pop out more, but there aren't many movies that fully utilize the effects. That is the trade off, of course. Do you want to see a movie with all sorts of crazy things popping out all the time to the point of being distracting or do you want your movies to take the more subtle route and use the 3D to enhance visuals rather than make it the main attraction? Incidentally, I actually prefer the latter as it is easier on the eyes and gives a great sense of depth when done properly. But either way, I always end up thinking to myself at the end, was it really worth the extra $2.50?

Rio is a great looking film. The colors are bright and vibrant and I suspect you'd still appreciate the visuals even without the 3D glasses. It does a great job in capturing the look of Rio de Janeiro, complete with the Jesus the Redeemer statue and picturesque beach/jungle surroundings. The ghettos feel dark and grimy, just like how I remembered them in City of God. The birds are nicely detailed and brightly colored giving the feel that we really are in Brazil and not in Little-sota, the home of the hero Blu and his owner Linda.

The plot is formulaic enough, a domesticated animal reluctantly makes his way through the wild, only to discover his true self. Madagascar, anybody?  Blu, the last male blue macaw in the world, needs to go to Brazil to mate with the last female macaw in the world to save the species. Naturally, Blu is an awkward small town bird with no desire to leave the comforts of his own cage and his loving owner Linda, while Jewel is a tough free spirit who does is not into Blu at all at first. Is there any doubt how this ends up? Poachers come along to steal the pair and they end up escaping and spending the rest of the movie trying to avoid them and their evil bird. Will they get away? Oh, and Blu, domesticated his whole life, does not know how to fly. Will he ever learn to? Well if he hasn't before, seems unlikely he would now, right? Despite being totally predictable with the happy ending never in doubt, it's the journey that makes or breaks the movie. Unfortunately it never deviates from being the safe picture that it is, not necessarily a bad thing, but certainly doesn't separate itself from the crowd. The endearing parts are ho-hum but not eye-rolling and while there aren't any laugh out loud moments, there are a few chuckles that even adults can appreciate. I'm sure the kids will go nuts over the sillier moments which is all that really matters in the end.

Grade: C+

A couple notes:
- Jesse Eisenberg plays the voice of Blu and is generally pretty funny, but his voice is so distinct that I cannot help but picture him every time the character speaks which got kind of distracting. I just kept thinking of that douchebag that made Facebook.
- Tracy Morgan, ditto to his voice as well, except that he's hilarious in this movie. I'm a huge fan of 30 Rock so I can just picture his Tracy Jordan character doing the voice in this movie which just makes what he says even funnier.
- There are a couple songs sprinkled throughout, but they are all pretty forgettable, though the evil bird Nigel does have a couple funny lines in his mini-rap, something along the lines of pooping on people and blaming it on seagulls and having no principles/principal like a closed down school.
- A gang fight between bids and monkeys, who would win? Monkeys would tear birds in half if they got their hands on them, so I found this match up a little too unbelievable!