Exotic Pets in film: Rio (Animation)

Blue Sky studies has debuted another marketable animated film that (thankfully) is not Ice Age 4, although that film is in the works…that well is apparently still not dry. Their new film for 2011 has taken a different, more colorful and cultural route. Rio (at the time of this writing, it is still playing in some theaters) boasts tropical imagery and color schemes to appease the appetite of any small child, while keeping the discriminating adult’s eyes open for most of the film with typecast and TV personalities projected onto animals, again. It is another stale fish-out-of-water tale with two differing personalities that will lead to romance at the film’s end along with vanquishing the antagonists. There’s nothing in this film we haven’t seen before, and that includes the continuous theme of the plight of exotic animals due to human intrusion.

When I was younger, it seemed as though animals were always under attack by malicious adults, seemingly because they were just too busy dealing with unimportant details of their despotic, mundane lives. Back then it was common knowledge that most adults lacked the compassion to understand animals, or Santa Clause, or why candy before dinner was misunderstood. I grew up with shows like Captain Planet, and one of the most relevant movies of my early childhood was the animated Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (just think Avatar, but with fairies and an evil pollutant cloud); this type of programming often successfully convinces their audiences that animals and the environment are being harmed to feed the greed of an unsightly overweight villain. I believe this is part of how anti-exotic possession sentiment incubates in future adults. Other films with similar themes include Happy Feet (2006) and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002). Rio happily borrows the storyline that has always worked so well at engaging a family audience, yet with less honesty than those other films. The titular characters are, supposedly, the extant spix macaws that are considered near extinct in the wild in reality. I imagined the animators having searched possible birds to feature in the film on Wikipedia during the production. The species is not emphasized however.

I’ve always wondered why ‘family’ films with talking animals continue to exercise the same plot arrangements. I came to the conclusion that it is easy to progress a story this way, just as it is to conclude with romance. Rio can be interpreted as another jab at the exotic pet trade, but it’s obvious that the film just aims to sell tickets with dancing, Brazil’s natural avian palettes wrapped up in computer generation, and obnoxious pop songs. At the start of the film, we see exotic birds being stolen for captivity. There is even a quick side story of a homeless child to aid the plot’s pre-packed emotional necessity. I'm hoping that the naive members of the audience don't come to believe that most, or even a significant amount of captive birds in the United States have been smuggled illegally (or legally).

Animals that aren’t ‘domesticated’ are always inevitably ‘freed’ at the conclusion of these films despite the attachment they have to their owners, emphasizing the importance that freedom has on wildlife. This also occurred in the very light Open Season (2006). It shows that no matter how little these films take themselves seriously, they will always commit to the socially acceptable view of exotic pets.

Today in 2011, animated films for children certainly have changed. They are more sarcastic and have ‘modern’ themes and pacing (and more tacky ‘elbow jabbing’ sexual innuendos). Rio is no exception; it embodies the unoriginality of the humor and characterizations that leave its effect forgotten not long after the credits roll, it’s worth watching for some occasional laughs and crisp animating. Despite taking 3-4 years to produce, animated films of this nature are mere comedies that mildly stimulate the shallowest emotions of children and adults alike. I’ve long ago predicted that the setting of a rainforest was next for visual exploitation. It turned out to be a ploy that can let the moving pictures do most of the talking so bland storytelling goes unnoticed. The financial mission appears to have been a bit of a non-success this year, given some of the critical reception and mildly disappointing box office take. While the audience reaction toward cgi animal ‘talkies’ seems to be dissipating, I’m sure the allegiance to the painful Ice Age series will stay strong.

Rio: C-

A film that is predictable even by family film standards, but it’s entertaining enough for having some amount of spirit. The forced themes of poking fun at captive birds are typical.