The Cocky Critic....... Rewind / Rio (2011 / PG / 96 mins)

Rio follows the journey of a blue macaw who, as a young hatchling, was captured by smugglers from his home in the Brazilian jungles, and then flown over to the States for a likely fate as a pet-for-sale. That never happened and he was found by a little girl who took him in and fostered a 15 years friendship together.

One day, the girl, now an adult by the name of Linda (voiced by Leslie Mann), was approached by Tulio (voiced by Rodrigo Santoro), a Brazilian ornithologist, who claimed that Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) the macaw is the last of his kind, thus the urgency to acquaint him with a suitable mate. He was eventually brought to a bird shelter where he met Jewel (voiced by Anne Hathaway) the fiercely independent Spix's Macaw, who's planning a break-out from the aviary. The pair will also have to deal with  Nigel (voiced by Jemaine Clement), a demented cockatoo in cahoots with a band of local poachers.

Rio is Blue Sky Studio's sixth animated feature, in the days after its successful Ice Age series. The film is a bloom of vibrant colors and pepped-up energy, sustained by a good number of dynamic scenes and top-notch animation.

And that is all that can say about Rio's saving grace.

While Clement's Nigel is the only character which truly stands, the rest never soar to their potential, simply because there's nothing really special about them. Blu and Jewel is the personification of same old rom-com; both never took a initial liking to each other, but they will fall in love in the end. will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas voiced Pedro, a Red-crested Cardinal, who tries to coach Blu in attracting potential mates. Jamie Foxx played Nico the Yellow Canary whose kid-friendly character design seems to be at extreme odds with his sly attitude. Santoro's Tulio is a bothersome attempt at eccentric humor as his preoccupation with birds is pointlessly demonstrated by a tendency to act like one. Others in the line-up includes the romantic Rafael the Toco Toucan (vocied by George Lopez) and non-bird Luiz (vocied by Tracy Morgan), a bulldog.

Birds of a feather flock together: Blu (left, voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) and potential mate, Jewel (right voiced by Anne Hathaway)

Rio's formulaic storyline took a straight-forward progress, and even with that particular angle of the highly-domesticated Blu not being able to fly, the tangibility of excitement is  barely there.

For a brief moment, the film also diverts slightly into serious matters of poverty and poaching, through the eyes of street child, Fernando (voiced by Jake T. Austin), who has abducted Blu and Jewel for a bird smuggling gang. If there's a chance for it to aggrandize the narrative, the subplot may have been under-explored. Additionally, the musical scenes in Rio fall short in whipping up an intended uplift to the film.

With good observation, you might just notice a certain character model that's been recycled for various different roles. Not something of an issue though.

Blu and Jewel bumps into Rafael (voiced by George Lopez) the Toco Toucan.

Rio is pretty much a kid's delight, not one to be appreciated deeply by a more mature audience . Just like a couple of animated features in recent times, the promising aspects of the film aren't able to propel it alongside some of Pixar and Dreamworks' high-end productions. If you are looking for something within that league, this is not one of them.