Rio (B)

Mildly entertaining and mostly appropriate, watching Rio is an enjoyable enough activity, though not a mandatory one.
Carlos Saldanha (the Ice Age films) directs (and is one of seven writers for) another installment in the popular animal sex comedy genre. Yes, the whole story is set in motion because in order to repopulate the species, thoroughly domesticated macaw Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) is taken from Minnesota to Rio de Janero and locked up with a way-out-of-his-league female named Jewel in the hopes they will make little macaws. This subject has already decimated good story-telling last year with Alpha and Omega, and Rio is good evidence for supporting Pixar's decision to drop Newt, an amphibious take on the same (stupid) story.
Fortunately for parents, bird-nappers soon intervene and the sexual antics take a backseat to more youngster-friendly adventure.
The worst part of the story is undoubtedly the "relationship" between the two parrots. Jewel endlessly insults Blu, and this is presented as a normal point of guy-girl interaction. The use of taunts and mockery in movies aimed for young children simply for quick laughs and a substitute for genuine dialogue are not only infinitely irritating, they encourage kids to be obnoxious little brats. I hope children seeing this movie remember to ask their mom if her first date with their dad involved the words "idiot" or "pathetic" in reference to her future spouse.
That said, Rio is not all that bad. There are gags and jokes that are adequate for young children's enjoyment, action which is entertaining for any audiences, and voice talents (Jamie Foxx, Will.I.AM, George Lopez...) that are lucrative for those featured. Furthermore, the romance between the macaw's owners (Leslie Mann and Jake T. Austin) is far more interesting and charming than the avian flirtation.
Best of all, though, are the visuals. While decidedly cartoonish, the animal looks and movements are unique and appealing; the movie's colors are so vivid and bright it is delightful just to look at. If one is to see the film, I highly recommend doing so in 3-D (because I don't know how you can eat popcorn in the second dimension).
Flawed but flashy, Rio might not fly, but it certainly can flutter its way through a decent 90 minutes.

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (B+)

Inventive and action-packed, Dylan Dog overcomes its lacking elements to become an enjoyable action flick.

Ghouls, vampires, zombies, werewolves… They are all real. And, up until a couple years ago, they appointed a human detective to serve as an impartial mediator and track down the few of them that broke the code of secrecy and non-violence towards humans. Wait, why the secrecy? They don't want to escalate things to a war, since some of the undead--like vampires--are pretty aggressive at times. Makes sense, right? …

Anyway, Dylan Dog (Brandon "Superman" Routh) was that detective up until the day that he put bullets in the skulls of the elite council of vampires. Seeing as that damaged his "impartial" reputation, he was fired and the undead have become unruly and increasingly savage ever since. Depressed, Dog has been running a human detective agency which almost exclusively deals with divorce cases. His partner, Marcus (Sam Huntington), wants him to accept a request from the young and attractive Elizabeth (Anita Briem) to solve her father's murder. Dog takes one look at the evidence and decides the death is super-natural and refuses to help…Until Marcus is brutally slain and partially eaten. This is not a spoiler: This is still the first ten-or-so minutes of the film. Yes, the exposition is somewhat hasty and relies to much on voiceovers, but who cares. Once Dog, Elizabeth, and Marcus (revived due to contracting the zombie virus from his killer) get started solving the crime, the action and excitement escalates. Discovering the deaths are part of a larger conspiracy, Dog and his companions begin sleuthing tirelessly through the evidence too--Haha, just kidding. They begin to beat (and stab and shoot and magnesium bomb) the snot out of every supernatural being imaginable to get the information they need.

While last year's Skyline proved it is possible to get big studio-quality visuals and scenery with a low budget, that is still near IMpossible. As a result, the $20 million production receipt cannot pay for the special effects and sets we are used to seeing. Also, the choreography and script editing must also be taken down a notch to money issues. Even so, the monsters and battles are entertaining. Just keep reminding yourself that werewolves and the like have never been seen in real life and thus they can look like whatever the producers want them to look like. You should be thanking your lucky stars they don't sparkle (okay, that was a cheap shot).

The movie's biggest fault is the sometimes cringe-worthy dialogue, especially evident in the relationship between Dog and MMMMM. The constant insulting and lack of any dynamic (more due to the script than the acting) is quite irritating at times.

That said, the movie is still quite enjoyable. Director Kevin Munroe (TMNT) and Writers Thomas Dean Donnelly (Sahara) and Joshua Oppenheimer (also Sahara) adapt Tiziano Sclavi (Nero)'s little-known graphic novel to form a tale of endless inventiveness that is reminiscent of the Percy Jackson books or the first Harry Potter. We get to see a unique spin on all the classic monsters--wolves, for example, are crime lords and Marlin Brando's voice was really because of the godfather's canine oral structure.

All in all, Dylan Dog is witty and exciting enough to make an entertaining adventure-tale.