Lionel Ritchie. Works every time.

Welcome back to my children's movie blog! Definitely not my intention, but animated flicks have two things going for them: they keep my son interested (for about 15 minutes, unless it's Despicable Me - that movie absolutely freezes him in place) and they are short. Win-win. This morning we got up extra early (for us, anyway) and began Rio. I thought this one was going to be pretty rough, but I actually, kinda...um...really, really liked it. I know. I'm like a giant, eleven year-old girl.

Dear God, make me a bird. So I could fly far. Far, far away from here

I didn't see this theatrically, but on Blu-ray, it is visually stunning. That alone, may be worth seeing it. But if beautifully animated cartoon birds don't do it for you, maybe one of these will:

• The voice cast is stellar. Jesse Eisenberg (who my wife thinks is Michael Cera) does what he does, but the lovely Anne Hathaway really soars (like what I did there?) and Jemaine Clement (please watch Flight of the Conchords) rules.
• Lionel Ritchie works every time, indeed.
• Blu's take on samba is spot-on.
• The singing and dancing is at a minimum. Still pretty annoying. Isn't the best musical number ever from an animated movie "What's This?" from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Yep.
• Animated Carnival is breathtaking to see. Of course, I'm sure the real one looks okay, too (damn you, Nikos).
• Anne Hathaway's bird-character, Jewel, is hot. Yeah, I said it. 

That seems like an appropriate place to wrap things up. I'm actually on my way to the movies with my wife. I'm hoping to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes. She wants to see something girly. My next post will announce the winner.