Viewed in
2011
Formats
Movie theater
Premise
Johnny Depp stars in a CGI-animated western about a pet lizard who finds himself as sheriff of a wild west town in the Mojave Desert.
Loved
The western movie themes.
Liked
The odd comedy.
Thoughts
Odd and epic. In a good way.
If you're a fan of westerns, you should get a kick out of the tributes/satire of that genre. There was everything, from saloon entrances to canyon chases to a lone hero taking on corruption and sandpaper-rough baddies on tumbleweed road. In addition, Sergio Leone's influence was everywhere, including a silly "cameo" from the Man With No Name. The film makers had some fun twisting cliches with the talking animal universe.
Rango also contained a lot of funny irreverent, adult comedy. One of the funniest was a character with an arrow stuck through his eye. Personally, my favorite moment was the shoutout to Johnny Depp's Hunter S. Thompson from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Speaking of him, Depp and the rest of the cast was very good. It rarely felt like I was listening to a bunch of celebrities doing voices. Instead, they felt like genuine characters and voice performances, and I did not realize the recognizable names were until the credit ran. Granted, talking in a cowboy accent helped disguise some people's voices.
As the for the animation, it was definitely top-notch. I have to admit the spaghetti western stuff really had me at more attention than the computer graphics. But that can be a good thing. The visuals were so well-done, that I simply took them for granted as its own universe, not a bunch of CGI. I should not have been surprised that the great Roger Deakins was consulted.
The main flaw of the film was its snail-like pace. Part of it might be because I had not expected this to be an epic western. But I think the bigger issue was its identity crisis. Director Gore Verbinski tried to entertain adults with the sly comedy and the kids with cartoony talking animals at the same time. The kid in me got impatient while the adult in me wanted more satire and randomness. I wished he chose one audience and just ran with it.
Overall, Rango was very entertaining, even if it was a little slow. I honestly do not know how much kids will enjoy non-cuddly reptiles playing cowboy, but as an adult, I relished the off-kilter humor as well as the western satire and references.
What I would change
Nothing.
