Rio

Carlos Saldanha, director of Ace Age, warms things up a bit for Blue Sky Studios’ latest computer-animated flick. The exotic-feathered tale follows an awkwardly charming, Minnesota-raised blue macaw named Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg), who reluctantly travels to Brazil to mate with the sole remaining female of his endangered species: a feisty birdie named Jewel (Anne Hathaway). But don’t worry; even though the plot is driven by these birds’ need to get physical, the G-rating keeps that fact purely implicit. It’s more about the birds, and not so much the bees. It is (mildly) entertaining. The story stays fresh enough, and the young audience won’t complain (the kids in my theater laughed repeatedly), but for those of us who hold a special place in our hearts for the classics from Pixar, there’s just no creative comparison. But what this one lacks in narrative quality, it makes up for with visuals. The colors explode, and the animated snapshots of Rio’s landscapes made me want to buy a one-way ticket to Brazil. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated G