Rio (20th Century Fox/ Blue Sky)

Synopsis: From the makers of the hit ICE AGE series comes RIO, a comedy adventure about taking a walk on the wild side. Blu is a domesticated Macaw who never learned to fly, living a comfortable life with his owner and best friend Linda in the small town of...  Blu (voice of Jesse Eisenberg) is a domesticated Macaw who never learned to fly, living a comfortable life with his owner and best friend Linda (voice of Leslie Mann) in the small town of Moose Lake, Minnesota. Blu and Linda think he's the last of his kind, but when they learn about another Macaw, they head to the faraway and exotic land of Rio de Janeiro to find Jewel (voice of Anne Hathaway), Blu's female counterpart. Not long after they arrive, Blu and Jewel are kidnapped by a group of bungling animal smugglers. With the help of street smart Jewel, and a group of wise-cracking and smooth-talking city birds, Blu escapes. Now, with his new friends by his side, Blu will have to find the courage to learn to fly, thwart the kidnappers who are hot on their trail, and return to Linda, the best friend a bird ever had. From the makers of the Ice Age series, Rio, directed by Carlos Saldanha, also features the voice talents of George Lopez, Jamie Foxx, Tracy Morgan, Jemaine Clement and Will I Am.

My Take:  Did you like Ice Age and Robots? Then you'll most likely enjoy Rio. The story is pretty straightforward and predictable, but that's kind of what you expect from a cutesy family film. The story is nice and the characters are fun and engaging, but the real draw is the animation. With the vibrant colors and stunning scenery, this film really takes advantage of the big screen. Carnival looks amazing, and the 3D effect really highlights the depth and beauty of the fly-over scenes. This is truly Saldanha's homage to his homeland. 

The story is your basic fish-out-of-water and boy-meets-girl mix, with a bit of underlying social commentary about exotic animal trafficking. Even a homeless boy is a pivotal character. It moves along pretty well, slowing a bit in the middle, before ramping things up a bit at the end. Eisenberg (The Social Network, Zombieland) plays the neurotic Blu to a T, without overdoing it and becoming annoying, Hathaway (The Princess Diaries, Love and Other Drugs) does her usual bang-up job, and Clement (Flight of the Concords, Dinner for Schmucks) is excellent as the evil Nigel. The rest of the cast is your typical stereotype filler, but are enjoyable, none the less. 

The only real detraction is for the musical numbers. It's not that they"re intrusive, or inappropriate in any way, the issue is that they're boring and unforgettable.  "Under The Sea" and "A Whole New World" these are not. You won't be singing them at work on Monday.

Verdict: Rio cute, it's predictable and it looks great. Sounds like a kids movie to me! You'll like it and so will your kids. And, since there is a lack of DECENT family movies out right now, upgrade to 3D, if only for the breathtaking fly-over of Rio. (Childless adults can wait for the DVD... unless you're into watching kids movies alone... I won't judge.)


My Rating: See it


Genre:Animation, Family, Adventure, Comedy
Rated:G - for mild, off-color humor
Run time:  1hr 36min

Hop (Universal Pictures)

Synopsis: Hop is the story of two characters fighting to keep their dreams alive. One is the son of the Easter Bunny who's dream is to one day be a famous drummer, and the other is a human who's dream is, apparently, to not actually do anything worthwhile. They meet when, on the eve of E.B. (voiced by Russel Brand) taking over his dad's position as the Easter Bunny, E.B. runs away to Hollywood and is run over by Fred O'Hare (James Marsden). Fred reluctantly takes in E.B. and helps hide him from the Pink Berets, the Royal Guard of the Easter Bunny, sent to bring him home. Also, Fred is simultaneously trying to: find a job, hide the mess made in the house he watches for his sister's (Kaley Cuoco) boss and win his father's (Gary Cole) approval. Meanwhile, Carlos (Voiced by Hank Azaria), a power hungry chick, is sick of living in the shadow of the Easter Bunny and plots a coup to take over Easter and the candy factory on Easter Island. Hop is directed by Tim Hill (The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, Garfield: A tail of Two Kitties), and includes Elizabeth Perkins, the voice of Hugh Laurie and a cameo by David Hasselhoff.

 My take: Hello? Suspense? Where are you? This movie gives away its entire basket of goodies right up front. Plus the plot was so formulaic, I think Mad Libs needs a royalty. I mean, take the character Fred. He lost his job a year ago and is still out of work. Why? Because he found a phantom reason to dislike each decent-paying job. And, low-and-behold, his dad is disappointed in him. WOW! Who would have seen that coming? Then there's the plot to take over Easter by Carlos and his chick workforce. I'd love to meet the genius who thought "Ya know what would really draw them into the story? Let's take the most exciting part of the movie and cram it all into the last 10 minutes of the film! Don't worry, we'll sporadically elude to it earlier in the film, but we'll do it so obviously that we'll spoil the surprise, but not so much that people get drawn into that part of the storyline!" Brilliant! Either develop it further, or leave it as a surprise twist.

Then there's the lack of character depth. Fred spends the entire movie being a slacker. That's pretty much it. They don't even give him a love interest. That's the one formula, for this kind of movie, that they DIDN'T follow. They take the one hot chick and make her his sister! What the hell?  Kaley Cuoco shows excellent comic ability in The Big Bang Theory, but is left to hang out to dry here. The best they could come up with is to have her eat jellybeans crapped out by E.B. (you know, the scene in ALL the trailers). That's it? What a waste.

Speaking of waste, why hire one of the best voice actors in Hank Azaria, if all you do is marginalize his character and cram his big scene to the end where it seemingly becomes nothing more than an add-on? THAT"S where the REAL story lays. Which is more exciting: A) Will Easter be taken over and changed forever? or B) Will a bunny get to play drums and will a douchewaffle get a job? See my point? Instead, they devote more time to storyline B, perhaps so they can include a pointless cameo by the Hoff, wherein he plays himself, bleary-eyed and all, and leaves us wishing for the days he played across from a car instead of an animated rabbit.

One more thing. Why the hell did they spend the entire movie having Fred try and hide E.B. when anyone who ever interacts with him doesn't even bat an eye that he's a TALKING BUNNY? Not the waitress, not the audience of the kids play and not even the Hoff, though he may have thought it was just a drunk hallucination. Great idea, fellas. let's have a storyline and not follow it.

Verdict: Those of you with young kids will probably still take them to this movie. I wouldn't. It's a safe movie for them to see, and they'll probably love the scene where Kaley eats a jellybean, but the overall message is flawed. It's OK to let your kids dream big, but this movie says that, if you dream big enough and long enough, you can be a bum until the day you "fail-up" and your supernatural dream job falls into your lap.

Rating: Avoid it

Genre: Animation, Family, Comedy(?)
Rated: PG - for some mild, rude humor
Run Time: 90min.