Film Review: RIO

Voices: Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, George Lopez, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro, Jemaine Clement, Jamie Foxx, Tracy Morgan
Director: Carlos Saldanha

The Story: A bird-catcher catches a huge load of exotic birds from the jungle in Rio de Janeiro. He sells the lot to someone in the city. Some of the birds are transported to the USA. A parcel falls out of the truck and in it is found a tiny blue macaw. A small girl finds him and takes him home for her pet. Linda (Leslie Mann) calls her pet Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) and Blu grows up to be more human than bird. He gets educated along with Linda but never learns how to fly. A scientist and researcher, Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) goes to Linda’s book shop. He tells her that Blu is the last of his species of blue macaw. He also says that Jewel (Anne Hathaway), the last of the female of the species, is with him at his lab. Tulio suggests that the birds are brought together in their homeland of Rio to ensure that the species do not die out. At first hesitant, Linda agrees to his suggestion and takes Blu to Rio against her better judgement. Watch the colourful and hilarious turn of events when they get there right in the middle of the Rio carnival and finally Blu meets Jewel. Jewel is a smart bird with a lot of bird sense. Blu is also smart but very human and pretty sophisticated at that. Will the two get along enough to get together?

My Perception: What hits you most about this 3D film is the rainbow dance of colour. It took me back to our visit to Jurong Bird Park in Singapore. There are so many exotic birds that thrill your heart. 

The wake-up sequence first thing in the morning in the Rio jungle right at the beginning, sets the movie off on the right note.

There is Blu – so suave and smart. He is absolutely knowledgeable about just about everything that one can learn from books and the internet. It’s fun hearing him talk. He cannot fly to save his life – literally.

Jewel is wild by nature and lovely to look at. She is forever trying to escape Tulio’s lab. Desperate to get away, she gets so angry when she falls out of there to land in another jail – that of a bird thief.

The wild cockatoo Nigel (Jemaine Clement) plays the perfect villain. He is admitted to Tulio’s lab pretending to be horribly sick. He wakes up in the middle of the night to steal away all the exotic birds that are homed there. Super villain!

Rafael (George Lopez) is a toucan with a large family and a domineering wife. He goes along with Blu to help him get back to Linda. He’s quite romantic and is keen to get Blu and Jewel together.

Then there are the thieving monkeys of Rio; Bull dog Luiz (Tracy Morgan); the red-crested cardinal Pedro (Will-i-am) and the little yellow canary Nico (Jamie Foxx). All so cute and important characters in the film.

The film takes you from the wilds of Rio at the beginning to a small town in the USA and later back to Rio de Janeiro. It takes you into the slums of Rio and all the way to the grand annual carnival. Beautifully picturised!

A cute bird story that looks gorgeous in 3D animation, edited and directed perfectly.

Verdict: GO FOR IT if you like animated flicks!

Rating: **** Snazzy

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super 

Film Review: THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Eduardo & Mark

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Josh Pence, Rooney Mara
Director: David Fincher

The Story: The film is based on the book ‘The Accidental Billionaires’ by Ben Mezrich. Mark Zuckerburg (Jesse Eisenberg) and his girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara) have an argument at the bar and they break up. Mark gets so upset that he posts a blog about Erica. His anger still unspent, Mark hacks into the Harvard University database and creates Facemash – a photo-sharing website and gets 22,000 hits in just 2 hours. His only intent is to humiliate Erica. While Mark is pulled up for hacking into secure networks, everyone in and outside campus gets to know about him. The Winklevoss twins (played by Armie Hammer and Josh Pence) have an idea for a social network and approach Mark with it. He agrees to work for them. But before that, he adapts their idea to create ‘The Facebook’. A grand sum of $1000 is invested by Mark’s best friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield) and they enter a partnership of 70:30. The social network is a success from Day One while it had taken Mark a bare 6 weeks to get it in place. Things begin to get out of hand when Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), founder of Napster – an online music website – gets in touch with Mark. Mark and Sean hit it off immediately while Eduardo hates the very sight of the newcomer. A new contract is set up as The Facebook snowballs into the most popular social networking site. Eduardo signs for 0.03% share of the profits without realising what he is doing. Things turn ugly when Mark is taken to court by both his best friend and the Winklevoss twins. The rest of the film is all about how things get settled for The Accidental Billionaire who has already raked in $ 7 Billion after but a few months of floating his website.

My Perception: What can I say? I was spellbound by the movie. The Social Network ran for exactly 2 hours with crisp dialogues and superb acting.

Jesse Eisenberg did such a wonderful job of playing Mark. The quiet anger that he portrays when his girlfriend leaves him, keeping a cool head during the law proceedings, his smart-alec answers to everyone around, his loyalty to Eduardo, his instant friendship with Sean – he was just superb in just about every scene. I just loved the way he is quite chilled despite the billions growing in his bank.

Andrew Garfield as the hurt and humiliated Eduardo does an excellent job. The rest of the cast also played their roles very well.

There was not one extra scene or an out-of-place dialogue that one could complain about. You need to stay alert while the film is on if you don’t want to miss anything important – that’s every second of the movie. The film takes the viewer back and forth during the court proceedings and the story is built in flashbacks.

Verdict: Just awesome! Don’t miss this one in the theatres. I am planning to see it again soon.

Rating: ****** (That 6 stars and the rating is Stupendous)

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super