Rio

Rio is a 2011 American 3D computer-animated musical adventure comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha. The title refers to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, where the film is set. The film features the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jemaine Clement, Leslie Mann, George Lopez, and Jamie Foxx. It tells the story of Blu (Eisenberg), a male Spix's macaw who is taken to Rio de Janeiro to mate with a free-spirited female Spix's macaw, Jewel (Hathaway). The two eventually fall in love, and together they have to escape from being smuggled by Nigel (Clement), a cockatoo. The theme song, "Telling the World," was performed by Taio Cruz.

Saldanha developed his first story concept of Rio in 1995, in which a penguin is washed up in Rio. Saldanha learned of the production of the films Happy Feet (2006) and Surf's Up (2007), and changed the concept to involve macaws and their environments in Rio. He proposed his idea to Chris Wedge in 2006, and the project was set up at Blue Sky. The main voice actors were approached in 2009. During production, the crew visited Rio de Janeiro and also consulted with an expert on macaws at the Bronx Zoo to study their movements.

Rio premiered on March 22, 2011, in Lagoa, Rio de Janeiro, and had its general release on April 15, 2011 in North America, by 20th Century Fox. The film received generally positive reviews from film critics. Observers praised the visuals, voice acting, and music. The film was also a box office success, grossing over $143 million in the United States and $484 million worldwide. The film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "Real in Rio", but lost to the other nominee, "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets. A sequel, Rio 2, was released on April 11, 2014.

Plot
In Brazil, various exotic birds are smuggled out of the country. In Moose Lake, Minnesota, a crate with a male Spix's macaw hatchling falls out of a truck and is found by a little girl named Linda Gunderson, who names him Blu. Over the next 15 years, Linda comes to own a bookstore. Highly domesticated and unable to fly because he is scared to, Blu is ridiculed frequently by the Canada geese that come by outside of Linda's bookstore.

One day, ornithologist Túlio Monteiro invites Blu and Linda to Rio de Janeiro because Blu, who is the last known male of his species, needs to mate with the last known female macaw. Linda accepts and they fly to Rio. At Túlio's aviary, Blu meets Jewel, a fiercely independent Spix's macaw female longing to flee back to the wilderness. The macaws are captured by Fernando, an orphaned boy, and a sulphur-crested cockatoo named Nigel, both of whom work for a group of smugglers led by Marcel, who wants to leave the country as soon as possible to secure a black market deal regarding Blu and Jewel.

While Fernando has second thoughts about his actions, Nigel tells the macaws that he desires to exact revenge on "pretty birds" after his role on a television program had been ruined by one. However, because of Blu's familiarity with cages, they flee into the jungle. Fernando meets Linda and Túlio and helps them find the birds, while Blu and Jewel meet Rafael, a toco toucan, who offers to take them to his imaginary hummingbird friend, Luiz, to remove their leg chain.

He attempts to teach Blu how to fly, before they meet up with a red-crested cardinal named Pedro and his yellow canary friend Nico. Meanwhile, Nigel hires a horde of thieving marmosets led by Mauro to capture Blu and Jewel. Pedro and Nico then take the two birds to a Rio-style dance party, where they perform a duet and begin to fall in love, but encounter the marmosets in the process. The birds fight them off while the five escape on a tram.

Fernando takes Linda and Túlio to the smugglers' hideout, where they discover that the birds have already been moved out. Marcel explains that he will use the Rio Carnival parade to smuggle the birds to the airport, as the other streets have been blocked off for the festivities. Meanwhile, Blu and the others meet Luiz, who is revealed to be a bulldog instead of a hummingbird, who releases the chain holding Blu and Jewel. After the two get into a heated argument, they decide to go their separate ways.

Pedro and Nico then witness Nigel capturing Jewel. When Blu and Rafael learn of it, they rush to the carnival to rescue her. Meanwhile, Linda and Túlio have spotted the smuggler's parade float and organize a rescue attempt for the birds. As Linda and Túlio pose as dancers in Spix's macaw costumes, Nigel captures Blu and the group. Linda and Túlio are unable to stop the smugglers in time and Marcel's group takes off in a Short SC.7 Skyvan.

During the flight, Blu brakes out his cage using a fire extinguisher and releases the other captive birds. However, Nigel attacks the macaws, injuring Jewel. Blu sends Nigel flying into the plane's engine using the fire extinguisher, causing the plane to fall. The smugglers flee the plane. Unable to fly, Jewel falls out of the plane's open cargo hatch towards the ocean. Jumping out of the plane to rescue her, Blu finally discovers that he is able to fly as he and Jewel kiss, and he carries her to Linda and Túlio for help. Later, they adopt Fernando and organize a sanctuary to protect the jungle from smugglers. Blu and Jewel eventually raise three chicks together, and fly above the jungle, joined by Linda, Luiz, and Túlio in a hang-glider. Meanwhile, Nigel survives the plane crash but is ridiculed for his loss of feathers by Mauro, and the smugglers are sent to prison.

Voice cast

 * Jesse Eisenberg as Blu, a male Spix's macaw who was born in Rio de Janeiro but raised in Moose Lake, Minnesota.
 * Anne Hathaway as Jewel, a female Spix's macaw from Rio de Janeiro.
 * Leslie Mann as Linda Gunderson, a girl who discovered Blu after he was taken from Rio de Janeiro to Moose Lake and adopted him for 15 years.
 * Jemaine Clement as Nigel, a sadistic sulphur-crested cockatoo.
 * Rodrigo Santoro as Dr. Túlio Monteiro, a Brazilian ornithologist. Santoro also voices a Soccer Announcer.
 * George Lopez as Rafael, a romantic toco toucan fond of Carnival.
 * Will.i.am as Pedro, a red-crested cardinal who is Nico's best friend.
 * Jamie Foxx as Nico, a yellow canary who loves to samba, and whose bottlecap hat functions as a tambourine.
 * Jake T. Austin as Fernando, Marcel's impoverished young assistant.
 * Tracy Morgan as Luiz, a bulldog who is Rafael's friend and a chainsaw expert who has a medical condition of drooling.
 * Carlos Ponce as Marcel, Nigel's owner and the leader of a group of exotic bird smugglers.
 * Jeffrey Garcia as Tipa/Short-Tailed Bat.
 * Davi Vieira as Armando, one of Marcel's minions alongside Tipa.
 * Bebel Gilberto as Eva, a keel-billed toucan and Rafael's wife.
 * Bernardo de Paula as Kipo, a roseate spoonbill, and Sylvio, the security guard at Túlio's aviary.
 * Francisco Ramos as Mauro (credited as "Lead Marmoset"), the leader of the marmosets, his name wasn't mentioned in the film.
 * Wanda Sykes as Chloe, a Canada goose who is Alice's sister.
 * Jane Lynch as Alice, a Canada goose who is Chloe's sister.

Production
Saldanha first had the idea for the film in 1995, involving a penguin being washed up on the beaches of Ipanema; it was changed to the current story after he learned of Happy Feet and Surf's Up (two other films involving penguins) being produced. He pitched the idea to Chris Wedge at Blue Sky in 2006. Saldanha showed the animators maps and books with geographic landmarks and measurements, from which they built a digital version of Rio. Later, a group of artists from the company visited Rio to see the various story locations. The animators also met with an expert on macaws at the Bronx Zoo to gain insight into their movement and personalities. Saldanha himself is a Brazilian from Rio de Janeiro; such elements of Brazilian culture and landmarks were also influenced from Saldanha growing up in Brazil.

The lead voice actors were approached in 2009. Jemaine Clement was approached to do the film after seeing test shots of his character Nigel doing a speech from Flight of the Conchords, which was done prior to a script being finalized. Neil Patrick Harris was supposed to voice Blu, but had other commitments outside production; he was later replaced by Jesse Eisenberg. Eisenberg was asked during the filming of The Social Network if he would do his voice recording on the weekends, and he agreed after reading the script, saying: "It was the perfect antidote to get out of the mindset of my character in Social Network who was so severe, and in some ways so joyless."

For music, they brought on board Sérgio Mendes to act as music guru and online living library. He in turn was able to reach out to artists such as will.i.am and Carlinhos Brown to provide music for the film.