Rio

No. No. NO. Okay? Unless you are SO bored or have absolutely nothing else you could possibly be doing, you really don’t need to see it. I suppose it’s meant to hold off the fun-filled animation going crowd until the better halves show up later this summer (Kung Fu Panda 2, Cars 2) and I hear it’s better than Hop. But that’s hard to believe, as Hop at least has Russell Brand and James Marsden. Even Rio’s Jesse Eisenberg couldn’t bring anything to the blue Macaw who never learned to fly. And that’s pretty much the movie right there; bird can’t fly, bird doesn’t have self identity, bird meets girl-bird who can sing and that’s nice, bird is forced to discover self identity in order to prevail against antagonist, love teaches bird to fly. For that, it’s cute at its very best. And Jamie Foxx does sing a fantastic ballad at one point in the film, but the excessive use of the singing talent, or lack thereof, of will.i.am by Blue Sky Studios is not only redundant, but simply drab and once again sinks another animated, O-M-GOSH 3DDD!, ship. Err, boat. I guess we’ll just keep watching the first Ice Age until Blue Sky figures out what exactly they’re doing over there. But until then, Disney/Pixar still reigns, even in South America.  C-