Charlie

Charlie Background information Feature films Rio 2 Shorts Novelization Video games Voice Character information Species Northern Tamandua Gender Male Alias Insect-eating idiot (r. by Nigel) Occupation Performer Nigel's henchman (formerly) Feather/Hair/ Skin color Beige and brown body Eyes Brown Friends Blu Jewel Carla Bia Tiago Rafael Nico Pedro Eduardo Kipo Nigel (formerly) Gabi (formerly) Enemies Blu (formerly) Jewel (formerly) Carla (formerly) Bia (formerly) Tiago (formerly) Nigel Gabi Fate Living Likes Performing and dancing Ants Eating ants Making friends Dislikes Nigel torturing him Nigel's orders Quote

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Charlie is a mute anteater and the tertiary antagonist in Rio 2.

Appearance

Charlie is a large, beige and brown Northern tamandua with brown eyes. The darker patch of his fur resembles a vest, with white fur on the rest of his body.

He wears a black bowler hat and a red bow tie with a dark brown collar.

Bio

Rio 2

Charlie was forced by the Carnival Barker to tap dance for tourists until Nigel freed him. Nigel uses him as a form of transportation, riding on his back when he escapes the street fair with Gabi. Charlie serves as the muscle in Nigel's plan to find Blu and get revenge on him. He obeys Nigel's whims because he was promised all the ants he could eat, but was usually denied them because Nigel was too busy planning his revenge to care about Charlie's hunger. His long tongue proves to be useful on several occasions to Nigel as he uses it to catapult himself towards Blu, as a climbing rope, as a leash, and as a pulley system. Charlie is at Nigel's beck and call – until he is inevitably distracted by ants.

After the group sneaks onto the same boat as the Spix's Macaw Family, Charlie inadvertently foils Nigel's attempt to kill Blu in his sleep; having been distracted by some ants in a plastic bottle, Charlie gets his snout stuck trying to get the last one. When he finally pulls his snout out, he accidentally hits the switch for the boat's horn, waking everyone up. The humans then drive them off the boat.

The next morning, they are shown to be floating on a life preserver. Seeing Blu and his family flying away, Nigel has Charlie use his tongue like a propeller to move them through the water. Later, Charlie carries Nigel and Gabi through the jungle and, following an attempt to get Nigel airborne, climbs up a tree for Nigel to get a better look.

The next day, they see what appears to be Blu. Nigel has Charlie "tongue-apult" him to their target (Who turns out not to be Blu). Charlie watches Nigel's audition and later hears his plan to kill Blu, rehearsing his part by firing a dart with Gabi's poison on it at a fruit made up to look like Blu.

During the battle against the loggers, Nigel sees an opportunity to kill Blu. Charlie fires a dart, but it misses. When Blu and Nigel are struggling, Charlie fires again, accidentally hitting Nigel. It is then that they discover that Gabi is not poisonous.

As Nigel is being dragged away by Gabi, who plans to shower him with love, Charlie responds to his call for help by giving two thumbs up and shuffling away, fed up with Nigel's abuse and officially quitting his team. He is later seen at the "Amazon Untamed" party, dancing around his tongue as if it were a lasso.

Personality

Charlie does not talk at all, but is a rather classy anteater. He is usually seen with a smile on his face.

Initially, Charlie is loyal to Nigel and Gabi, even though Nigel is rude to Charlie and doesn't care about his safety.

At the end of the film, he redeems himself by quitting Nigel's team and is now friends with Blu and the others in the refugee.

Overall, Charlie has proven himself as a truly good anteater, despite his previous affiliation with Nigel.

Relationships

Nigel

Nigel freed Charlie and took him in as his personal steed and "silent muscle." Despite Charlie's loyalty to him, Nigel is usually rather rude to him and doesn't really care if he is in pain, usually denying him the wish to eat ants and riding on his back like a horse.

When Nigel is being smothered with affection by Gabi, Charlie takes the opportunity to leave, ignoring Nigel's cries for help and quitting his team.

Gabi

Gabi usually rides around on Charlie's hat, so as to stay close to Nigel. She does not really show an opinion towards Charlie, though she does find his size and strength useful.

Skills and Abilities

• Strength
  • Charlie is shown to be strong to lift Nigel and Gabi on his back with no sign of struggling.
• Tongue
  • Charlie's very long tongue can be used like a third hand to grab objects. It is also shown to have the strength to hold Nigel. Charlie is also able to use his tongue as a slingshot, a pulley system, a propeller, a climbing rope, and a leash.
• Speed
  • Charlie can run very fast and is used as transportation for Nigel and Gabi, similar to a horse.
• Enhanced Smell
  • Charlie has a very strong sense of smell to find ants.
• Dancing and Performing
  • He is seen at Manaus and Amazon Untamed that he can dance and perform.
• Climbing
  • Though his kind are good climbers, Charlie has to use his tongue to go around the tree and climb it like a rope instead of his legs.
• Dart Shooter
  • Charlie can use his long snout to shoot a porcupine quill.
• Opening Jars
  • He was seen trying to open a jar of ants and almost opened it until his former owner told him to get back to work.

Trivia

• Charlie is partially based off of and named after Charlie Chaplin (a silent film actor) and Chaplin's popular screen persona "The Tramp."
  • His mime tactics are possibly based off of Marcel Marceau.
• Northern tamanduas are great tree climbers, but Charlie does not look like he can climb at all, using his tongue like a rope to hold on and climb, like a lumberjack. This may be due to him being raised in captivity and therefore not having any experience climbing trees.
• According to Blue Sky Studios' Twitter, Charlie was originally going to be working in a circus with Nigel and Gabi.
• His character description on the official film site stated that "red ants make him crazy." This is never seen in Rio 2. In the Junior Novel, eating a red ant causes Charlie intense pain, but also gives him a burst of energy.
• Despite being silent, he speaks in Rio: Match 3 Party. The reason for this is unknown.
• It has been frequently assumed that Charlie has no concept of tickling due to his inquisitive nature.

Quotes

Rio: Match 3 Party

• A hundred ants for a hug seems fair to me...
• Everything in life is a gag... or so they tell me.
• Ooo! Hugs for Charlie?
• Please don't ask me to dance...
• My days of dancing on command are over!
• Shh! Shhh! Sh! Sh! ...Sh! Just watch.
• You wanna hug this thing out?

Gallery

Main article: Charlie/Gallery