Preview: Rio (2011)

Synopsis:

Raised in the wilds of small-town Minnesota, a nerdy macaw finds himself out of his element when he finds himself lost in Rio.

• Poster: D (E); C+; C; B-

Review:

I sure hope this is a placeholder. If not, this is about as bad as the first poster for Despicable Me. Dreadful. (Excised)

It's not a great design, but the promotional blurb about people being afraid to fly is at least clever.

A rather lame tagline suggests a rather lame movie in the works. And I really hope this isn't going to be a series of avian puns because I don't think I could stand that.

This is a significantly improved poster over the prior. It has all the fun and amusement required to draw young audiences.

• Trailer: C-; B-

Review:

This trailer isn't much better than the poster. Filler and more filler, stunt sequences and an attempt to make audiences things they are getting the next Ice Age (same creators, you know), but this looks abysmally unentertaining and unless they can do a better job convincing audiences to see the film, it could very well be a Brazil-inspired dud.

An improvement over the teaser. With a bit of an idea of the plot, it doesn't look nearly as bad, though everything does seem a bit formulaic and Jesse Eisenberg's voice is clearly going to be a distraction.

Oscar Prospects:

It all depends on how good it is, but considering none of the original Ice Ages were beloved by critics, I doubt it will even be considered for Animated Feature.

Release Date:

• April 15, 2011

Full Review Synopsis:

I have not seen this film.

-Wesley Lovell (June 20, 2010) Original

-Wesley Lovell (September 30, 2010) New Poster

-Wesley Lovell (November 8, 2009) New Poster

-Wesley Lovell (December 10, 2010) New Trailer; New Poster