A trailer for a new film entitled Rio released today. Fox Animation Studios – who have brought you the three Ice Age films (and the apparent fourth one currently in development), are bringing you a new bird-themed film in Rio.

The trailer, which of course boasts that the film will be in 3D, introduces us to a trio of birds perched atop a cliff with two of them trying to encourage one of them to take the leap and learn to fly. As a teaser, it’s entertaining enough, but I’m not sure it’s enough of a hook to make animation buffs eager to catch this one when it takes flight next Easter.

Directed by Carlos Saldanha, the voice cast for Rio includes Neil Patrick Harris, Anne Hathaway, George Lopez and Rodrigo Santoro, and is slated for an April 8, 2011 release.

Click here to view the trailer in HD from MovieFone.

Director: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman Starring: voices of Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Drew Barrymore Running Time: 1 hour, 34 minutes Theatrical Release: June 16, 2000 Shop for Titan A.E. Merchandise

Plot Summary

Cale’s father leaves him when Earth is attacked when he was about 5. Earth gets annhilated, leaving humans homeless and scarce. Cale’s father pilots the Titan ship, an enormous spaceship that is said to be the key to restoring the humans as a civilization, off of earth before it’s destroyed. 15 years later, Cale is sought out by 2 humans and some aliens who need him to help find the Titan. He joins them and it’s a race to find the Titan before the evil alien race, the Drej do and destroy it.

Film Review

This another one of those hyped-up movies which you see previews for over a year in advance and has such so much anticipation it’s incredible. The question must be asked, “Can a movie hold up to such anticipation?” In Titan A.E.’s case, yes and no.

Titan blends computer and hand-drawn animation pretty well for this sci-fi adventure. While the story is interesting, and the animation thrilling, it’s amazing the faults that exist in the final product. While the voice talents of Matt Damon as Cale, Nathan Lane as Preed, Bill Pullman as Korso, and Drew Barrymore as Akima are all good with the the characters being equally such, there are 2 charactes that personally grated on my nerves in a “Jar-Jar Binks” sort of way. Gune, voiced by John Leguizamo, and Stith, voiced by Janeane Garofolo both have relatively irritating characters who break the mood and stick out as rather misplaced. Also, the animation was a little inconsistent. At times, the drawings became rough and the animation choppy. However, sometimes the movie has such amazing animation moments where the picture couldn’t get better (like the ice field scene).

One last problem, that most critics picked on and I must agree to an extent, was the dialog. It was simple, sometimes silly, and common, but the overall delivery of the film and the visual effects helped mask the problem. Content is odd for an animated feature. It’s very violent and does have several instances where quite a bit of cartoon blood is seen. The worst, in the end when a character is bleeding in a weightless environment and the blood just beads up and floats away, and in another scene, a character is shot through the shoulder with cartoon blood squirting out. The language isn’t too bad, but there is a possible muffled “s” word (or just a noise sounding as one).

One obvious mistake was the soundtrack selections. They played several rock tunes throughout the movie that didn’t fit and only hurt. The instrumental score, what little there was, seemed to fit pretty much.

Overall, it was good. A definite for a rainy day, but not worth the 8 bucks. Also, the fantasy storyline is not to be taken seriously, especially when it occasionally borderlines on ridiculous. And if you have a choice between animated features to see, check out Dinosaur. Due to the violence and the imperfections, I give 2000′s Titan A.E. a score of just 2 and a half.