Rio (2011)

March 1, 2021

3,222 6 minutes read

Film and Plot Synopsis

After some bird smugglers capture a baby blue macaw living in Brazil, they ship it to a small town in Minnesota. There a little girl named Linda finds him and decides to take care of him. As the years pass, this little bird becomes so domesticated that he never learns to fly. One day, an ornithologist named Tulio arrives and asks Linda to take her bird she named Blu to Brazil to breed with a female macaw named Jewel. She eventually agrees which leads to events that will change everyone’s life forever.

‘Rio’ Movie Summary

The summary below contains spoilers.

In the jungles of Brazil, birds live a life of freedom; happily singing and dancing their days away. One of them is a baby blue macaw (Jesse Eisenberg) who looks on as the other birds fly through the air. When he decides to try as well, some bird smugglers arrive and trap several of them, including the little macaw. They send their booty to Moose Lake, Minnesota in the United States. During this shipment, the box that holds the blue macaw falls from the delivery truck. A little girl named Linda Gunderson (Leslie Mann) then finds him. She decides to keep him and she names him Blu.

15 years pass and a grown-up Linda now owns a bookstore. Blu is so domesticated that he can not fly and behaves like a human. One day, a Brazilian ornithologist named Tulio Monteiro (Rodrigo Santoro) arrives at Linda’s bookstore to tell her that he has traveled thousands of miles looking for Blu. As far as he knows, Blu is the last male of his species, and he wants to take him to Rio de Janeiro to mate with the last female, who lives there. Linda and Blu balk at the idea, but Tulio asks her to think about it. That night, Blu tries to fly, but he fear of falling keeps him from taking off. However, Linda decides to go to Rio with Blu because that’s what is best for him.

Once there, Blu meets a canary named Nico (Jamie Foxx) and a red-crested cardinal named Pedro (will.i.am). The two give Blu tips on winning over a girl. Later at Tulio’s lab, Blu sits in an aviary to meet the beautiful blue macaw named Jewel (Anne Hathaway). He immediately falls for her at first sight. However, Jewel’s only thought is of escaping to the jungle. Blu doesn’t impress her in the slightest, but he tries to kiss her anyhow. She gets mad and attacks him.

When Tulio takes Linda out to dinner, he leaves a guard named Silvio (Bernardo de Paula) in charge of the birds. At the right moment, Nigel (Jemaine Clement), a cockatoo posing as a sick bird in Tulio’s laboratory, knocks Silvio out cold with a handkerchief full of formaldehyde. He then opens the door so a peasant boy named Fernando (Jake T. Austin) can kidnap the birds. Linda and Tulio find out about the kidnapping at dinner and start looking for them.

Fernando takes Blu and Jewel to a smuggler named Marcel (Carlos Ponce) who then pays Fernando for stealing the blue macaws. Marcel leaves his two minions, Armando (Davi Vieira) and Tipa (Jeffrey Garcia), in charge of the birds, but they are more interested in watching a soccer match on TV than the birds.

Meanwhile, Nigel tells Blu and Jewel that many years ago, a parrot stole his cushy job on a television program and ever since, he’s dedicated himself to stealing exotic birds. Jewel tries to escape from the cage, but can’t open it. Blu, who’s grown up in them, easily opens it for her. Jewel tries to fly away, but she’s chained to Blu and he still doesn’t know how to fly. The two must then flee on foot. Armando, Tipa, and Nigel take chase, but Blu and Jewel manage to escape into the jungle.

By the time morning comes around, Fernando deeply regrets stealing the birds. He goes to Linda and Tulio to help them find the macaws. Elsewhere, Blu and Jewel try to break the chain on their legs, but can not. They then meet a toucan named Rafael (George Lopez) who offers to help them. He has a friend named Luiz (Tracy Morgan) who can take that chain off, but since Blu can’t fly to him, they have to take a truck.

While Nigel is out hiring some criminal marmoset monkeys to steal back the birds, Rafael, Blu, and Jewel arrive at their destination. However, Luiz isn’t there. Nico and Pedro tell them that he left on a tram. So they all head to a samba club to kill some time! There, Nico and Pedro sing a song that Blu dances to. Jewel is feeling the groove and dances with him. Now Jewel is smitten with Blu, and as they are about to kiss, the monkeys break up the party. They try to force Blu and Jewel to go with them, but the other birds at the club defend them. Blu, Jewel, Rafael, Nico, and Pedro all escape to the tram to meet with Luiz.

Fernando takes Linda and Tulio to Marcel’s hideout, but they find the birds aren’t there. Fernando then confesses he stole the macaws as the smugglers arrive. Linda and Tulio hide from them as Marcel spots Fernando. He tells the boy his plan to use the carnival as a way to get the birds to the airport. Fernando heads off with the smugglers, and Linda and Tulio go to the carnival to stop them. Meanwhile, Nigel finds that the monkeys are of no help to him, and he sets out to catch the macaws himself.

Back on the tram, Rafael gets Blu to express his feelings of love to Jewel, but he awkwardly stumbles through his words—she knows what he’s getting at though. We finally meet Luiz who’s a slobbering English Bulldog. Luiz tries to cut the chain with a saw, but almost ends up killing Blu instead. It’s only when Luiz slobbers on the chain that his moist lubrication causes the chain to slide off their legs.

While Jewel is elated to be free and fly again, Blu is a bit sad now that he knows they will be apart. Jewel isn’t ready to leave him though as she’s falling in love with him too. She tries to convince him to go with her to the jungle, but Blu is afraid because he can not fly. Jewel walks away crying. Nico and Pedro follow her only to watch on as Nigel captures her. He then heads off to the carnival. When Nico and Pedro tell Blu the bad news, they all head off to the carnival as well to rescue her.

At the carnival, the smugglers hide in plain sight in a float that looks like a big bird. They have all their stolen birds on it, including Jewel. Nigel is now using her as bait to nab Blu as well, which then cause Jewel to worry more. Linda and Tulio arrive on a motorcycle where they dress up as dancers to get close to the smugglers. However, a parade official thinks Linda is a real dancer and puts her on a float.

Blu and the others next arrive. Blu skates on a skateboard to reach the smuggler’s car. As he tries to free Jewel, Nigel catches him and then the rest of their bird group. He tosses them all in cages. The smugglers make it to the airport with Linda and Tulio hot on their tail. Unfortunately, they are too late, and the smugglers escape in a plane.

In that plane, Blu escapes from his cage, and then frees Jewel and the other birds. However, Nigel suddenly appears. He tries to suffocate Blu, but Jewel lunges at him. Nigel pushes her against the wall which causes a cage to fall onto her left wing, injuring her. Blu uses a fire extinguisher to send Nigel flying into one of the plane’s propellers which then causes the plane to fall.

With the plane about to crash, Marcel, Armando and Tipa fight over the only parachute on board. Marcel takes it, and jumps out of the plane. The two jump out after him. Jewel then falls out of the open cargo hatch towards the ocean. Unable to fly from her injury, Blu jumps out after her. Finally able to fly, he scoops her up to save the day. The two kiss before he takes her to Linda and Tulio for help.

Shortly thereafter, Blu says goodbye to Linda to live in the jungle with Jewel. Linda and Tulio adopt Fernando, and the three also live in the jungle to help protect it. Blu and Jewel eventually raise three chicks together, and celebrate the births with Rafael, Nico, Pedro, Linda, Tulio, and Luiz.

Meanwhile, Nigel has survived the plane crash but the monkeys tease him about his new appearance. Marcel, Armando, and Tipa wind up in jail for a happy ending.