Anne Hathaway, Neil Patrick Harris and Rodrigo Santoro have signed on to voice the lead characters in the upcoming Fox animated film RIO. The film follows the story of a nerdy macaw who leaves the comforts of his cage in small town Minnesota and heads to Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian born Carlos Saldanha, who directed one of the biggest worldwide hits of all time in ICE AGE 3 (no seriously, it is…), has been shepherding the project for years and will finally see it released in April of 2011. Like ICE AGE 3, RIO is being produced in 3D. Hathaway voiced 2005’s HOODWINKED while Harris recently lent his voice to CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS. Santoro can be seen next alongside Jim Carrey in I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS.
And because I love you so, I will leave you with a sneak peak at the title treatment and the macaws from the film. They’re one of the few animals left that haven’t been adapted into animated form (with the exception of Iago in ALADDIN) but they look pretty good here.