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Rio poster

Movies that feel likeRio (2011)

Captured by smugglers when he was just a hatchling, a macaw named Blu never learned to fly and lives a happily domesticated life in Minnesota with his human friend, Linda. Blu is thought to be the last of his kind, but when word comes that Jewel, a lone female, lives in Rio de Janeiro, Blu and Linda go to meet her. Animal smugglers kidnap Blu and Jewel, but the pair soon escape and begin a perilous adventure back to freedom -- and Linda.

If you loved Rio, the closest films we have are Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Ferdinand (2017) and Bolt (2008). All three share Rio's whimsical and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Horton Hears a Who! (2008).

🍅 72% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Carlos Saldanhawhimsicalepicwittyplayfulwarmcozy
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Hulu

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If Rio hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Rio 2 (2014)

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs poster
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
2009 · dir. Carlos Saldanha
🍅 46%★ 6.9animation · comedy · familyHuluDisney+

The same director's whimsical animal-herd adventure into new territory

The difference: A prehistoric dinosaur romp, not a smuggled macaw's flight to freedom

Times are changing for Manny the moody mammoth, Sid the motor mouthed sloth and Diego the crafty saber-toothed tiger. Life heats up for our heroes when they meet some new and none-too-friendly neighbors – the mighty dinosaurs.

Ferdinand poster
Ferdinand
2017 · dir. Carlos Saldanha
🍅 71%★ 6.7animation · family · adventureMax

A quieter Saldanha fable about staying true to a gentle nature

The difference: A mellow bull avoiding a bullfight, not a jungle escape adventure

Ferdinand, a little bull, prefers sitting quietly under a cork tree just smelling the flowers versus jumping around, snorting, and butting heads with other bulls. As Ferdinand grows big and strong, his temperament remains mellow. But one day five men come to choose the "biggest, fastest, roughest bull" for the bullfights in Madrid— and Ferdinand is mistakenly chosen.

Bolt poster
Bolt
2008 · dir. Chris Williams
🍅 90%★ 6.8animation · family · adventureDisney+

A displaced animal hero crossing distance to find its way back home

The difference: A Hollywood-dog road trip, no jungle smugglers or Rio carnival

Bolt is the star of the biggest show in Hollywood. The only problem is, he thinks it's real. After he's accidentally shipped to New York City and separated from Penny, his beloved co-star and owner, Bolt must harness all his "super powers" to find a way home.

The Secret Life of Pets poster
The Secret Life of Pets
2016 · dir. Chris Renaud
🍅 71%★ 6.5animation · comedy · familyHulu

A whimsical animal comedy with the same warm, wide-eyed energy

The difference: An apartment pet's city misadventure, no jungle rescue or samba

The quiet life of a terrier named Max is upended when his owner takes in Duke, a stray whom Max instantly dislikes.

The Croods poster
The Croods
2013 · dir. Kirk DeMicco
🍅 71%★ 7.1animation · adventure · family

A warm family-adventure comedy pushed into unfamiliar, epic terrain

The difference: A prehistoric family survival tale, not a captive bird's escape

The prehistoric Croods family live in a particularly dangerous moment in time. Patriarch Grug, his mate Ugga, teenage daughter Eep, son Thunk, and feisty Gran gather food by day and huddle together in a cave at night. When a more evolved caveman named Guy arrives on the scene, Grug is distrustful, but it soon becomes apparent that Guy is correct about the impending destruction of their world.

Over the Hedge poster
Over the Hedge
2006 · dir. Karey Kirkpatrick
🍅 75%★ 6.7adventure · animation · comedyRent or buy

A scheming-animal comedy with the same warm, mismatched-crew charm

The difference: A suburban raccoon caper, no jungle smugglers or musical carnival

A scheming raccoon fools a mismatched family of forest creatures into helping him repay a debt of food, by invading the new suburban sprawl that popped up while they were hibernating – and learns a lesson about family himself.

Trolls poster
Trolls
2016 · dir. Mike Mitchell
🍅 76%★ 6.4adventure · animation · comedy

A mismatched-pair rescue quest wrapped in bright, musical whimsy

The difference: A troll-village rescue mission, no birds, jungle or samba beat

After the monstrous Bergens invade Troll Village, Princess Poppy, the happiest Troll ever born, and overly-cautious, curmudgeonly outcast Branch set off on a journey to rescue her friends. Their mission is full of adventure and mishaps, as this mismatched duo try to tolerate each other long enough to get the job done.

Horton Hears a Who! poster
Horton Hears a Who!
2008 · dir. Jimmy Hayward
🍅 79%★ 6.8animation · comedy · familyNetflixMax

A whimsical animal hero on a determined, against-the-odds rescue mission

The difference: A tiny-world rescue fable, not a smuggled macaw's jungle escape

An imaginative elephant named Horton hears a faint cry for help coming from a tiny speck of dust floating through the air. Horton suspects there may be life on that speck and despite a surrounding community, who thinks he has lost his mind, he is determined to save the tiny particle.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted poster
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
2012 · dir. Eric Darnell
🍅 78%★ 6.8animation · family · comedyMax

One thread runs through both: villain

Animal pals Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria are still trying to make it back to New York's Central Park Zoo. They are forced to take a detour to Europe to find the penguins and chimps who broke the bank at a Monte Carlo casino. When French animal-control officer Capitaine Chantel DuBois picks up their scent, Alex and company are forced to hide out in a traveling circus.

Cars 2 poster
Cars 2
2011 · dir. John Lasseter
🍅 40%★ 6.2animation · family · adventureDisney+

A whimsical globe-trotting adventure with the same bright, epic scale

The difference: A racing-and-espionage caper with cars, no animals or jungle at all

Star race car Lightning McQueen and his pal Mater head overseas to compete in the World Grand Prix race. But the road to the championship becomes rocky as Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage.

Storks poster
Storks
2016 · dir. Doug Sweetland
🍅 65%★ 6.8adventure · animation · comedy

Both keep coming back to the same thing: villain

Storks deliver babies…or at least they used to. Now they deliver packages for a global internet retail giant. Junior, the company’s top delivery stork, is about to be promoted when he accidentally activates the Baby Making Machine, producing an adorable and wholly unauthorized baby girl...

The Angry Birds Movie poster
The Angry Birds Movie
2016 · dir. Clay Kaytis
🍅 44%★ 6.3animation · adventure · comedyParamount+

Whimsical and epic in the same breath

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

An island populated entirely by happy, flightless birds or almost entirely. In this paradise, Red, a bird with a temper problem, speedy Chuck, and the volatile Bomb have always been outsiders. But when the island is visited by mysterious green piggies, it’s up to these unlikely outcasts to figure out what the pigs are up to.

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The best-reviewed films that share Rio’s defining feeling.