“Rio” 3D biggest opening of 2011

“Rio” does 3D, animation, humor, music, and overall entertainment pretty well. But it does none of those things extremely well except, perhaps, for the computer animation.

What it did best was open bigger than any movie this year with $39.2 million. It will likely surpass “The Green Hornet” and “Gnomeo and Juliet,” 3D movies that are the third and fourth top-grossing movies of the year so far, but each with just under $100 million in the U.S.

Second best about “Rio” is the 3D short that preceded it, featuring more amusing misadventures by the nut-chasing Scrat of “Ice Age” in the new “Continental Crack-Up.” In fact, from original Pixar 3D shorts like “Day & Night” to the Warner Bros’ Road Runner cartoons and these Scrat toons, most of the best 3D is being delivered before the main attraction starts.

“Rio” is a cute but not dynamic story of a rare and domesticated pet bird in Minnesota trying to adjust to life in his native Brazil, with nice music by Sergio Mendes who hit it big 45 years ago with his “Brasil ’66” album, and humor that may make you smerk but never laugh out loud or remember any lines. And while the 3D is Rio close to delivering some of the best uses of the technology in a mainstream film, it also pulls up short in that area — just missing some perfect opportunities to have objects like the wing of a hang glider sail out over the audience, for instance.

The movie’s 2,591 3D locations of 3,826 and 6,400 screens overall accounted for 58% of the overall gross, according to BoxofficeMojo.com.

“Rio” is likely to be the fourth 3D movie in the top ten this year so far, with “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” the other at $73 mil.

Several others have not fared as well, including the Robert Zemeckis-produced computer-animated “Mars Needs Moms” (32nd with $21 mil.) and the Nicolas Cage horror-thriller “Drive Angry” (37th with $11 mil.)

— By Scott Hettrick