The title refers to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro , [ 6 ] where the film is set. It tells the story of Blu Eisenberg , a domesticated male Spix's macaw who is taken to Rio de Janeiro to mate with a free-spirited female Spix's macaw, Jewel Hathaway.
Saldanha developed his first story concept of Rio in , in which a penguin is washed up in Rio. Saldanha learned of the production of the films Happy Feet and Surf's Up , and changed the concept to involve macaws and their environments in Rio.
He proposed his idea to Chris Wedge in , and the project was set up at Blue Sky. The main voice actors were approached in During production, the crew visited Rio de Janeiro and also consulted with an expert on macaws at the Bronx Zoo to study their movements.
The film received generally positive reviews from film critics, who praised the visuals, voice acting, characters, and music. In Moose Lake, Minnesota , a crate containing an orphaned male Spix's macaw hatchling that was smuggled out of Brazil falls from a truck and is found by Linda Gunderson, who names him Blu.
Fifteen years later, Blu is highly domesticated, but has never learned to fly. While Fernando feels regretful for his actions, Nigel tells the macaws of his disdain for "pretty birds" after he was replaced by a parakeet on a television show. Blu's familiarity with cages allows him and Jewel to escape, alerting Nigel and the smugglers to give chase.
