In a jungle near Rio de Janeiro, a baby Spix's Macaw who is unable to fly and several other birds are captured by smugglers and taken to Moose Lake, Minnesota. The box containing the macaw falls to the street and is found by a girl named Linda (Leslie Mann), who names him "Blu". Fifteen years later, Linda lives in a bookstore with Blu (Jesse Eisenberg). Túlio (Rodrigo Santoro), a scientist, tells Linda that Blu is the last male of his species, and he needs to mate with a female to preserve the species.
Linda takes Blu to Brazil, where Blu meets a female macaw named Jewel (Anne Hathaway) whom he instantly falls for, but all she cares about is escaping. The shelter is raided by smugglers, who are let in by the lead smuggler's Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Nigel (Jemaine Clement). Among them is Fernando (Jake T. Austin), a poor boy who only helps the smugglers to earn some money. Blu and Jewel are captured and chained. Nigel explains that he used to be a performing bird on a television program, but was replaced by a parakeet. Because of this, he developed a hatred of exotic birds like Jewel, which is why he assists the smugglers in capturing such birds. After he departs, Blu and Jewel escape from confinement. As they flee,
Fernando leads Linda and Tulio to the smugglers hideout, where they learn the criminals plan to use Carnivale as a cover to regain Blu and Jewel and escape. The group finally meets the Bulldog Luiz (Tracy Morgan), who attempts to saw through the chain but unintentionally uses his drool to release Blu and Jewel. Jewel is overjoyed but Blu is sad because he still can't fly. Blu upsets the group by admitting he hates samba and Jewel leaves. However, she is captured by Nigel. When Pedro and Nico inform Blu of Jewel's capture, he decides to mount a rescue. Linda and Tulio make their way into Carnivale by posing as dancers, but Blu, Rafael, Nico, and Pedro are captured by Nigel. Linda and Tulio follow the smugglers, but are too late to stop them from taking off in their plane. During the flight, Blu manages to break out of his cage, and they all fly away except for Jewel, who knows Blu is still scared of flying. Nigel grievously injures Jewel's wing. Blu manages to blast Nigel out of the plane by attaching a fire extinguisher to his leg, and hits the propeller.
Jewel, now flightless, is pushed out of the plane by a cage, and Blu follows her, much to her surprise and kisses him. Blu is overcome by the rhythm of his heart, and flies, saving himself and Jewel. They return to Linda and Tulio, who attempts to tend to Jewel's hurt wing. Jewel is reluctant at first, but Blu convinces her to accept Tulio's help.
Sometime later, Linda and Tulio have organized the "Blu Bird Sanctuary", a part of Rio's jungle protected from smugglers. Blu and Linda remain very close, though she also has a relationship with Tulio, and is now living in Rio to help run the Blu Bird Sanctuary along with Fernando. Blu and Jewel are the parents of three chicks (two boys and one girl). The film ends with a lively sing and dance from their friends and family. Nigel survives his encounter, but has lost his feathers and is humiliated from Mauro, who is seen taking pictures and the smugglers are detained.
5stars....
