Rango

[daisho2004]

OK I just got home from seeing this new Animated movie and I thought it was great what a homage to the Classic Western Movies. This is a must see movie, I think I enjoyed it more than My 8yr. Old Son.

Full SynopsisCast
A pet chameleon who has lived his entire life in the confines of a cozy glass terrarium discovers adventure beyond his wildest imagination in this animated western adventure from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski. When we first meet Rango (voice of Johnny Depp), the imaginative pet chameleon is safe in his terrarium, and embarking on epic adventures through the power of imagination. Then, suddenly, his safe existence is irrevocably upended thanks to a bump in the road that sends him soaring out of a car window, and right onto the searing hot asphalt of a desert highway. On the advice of a wise armadillo who relays the story of the Spirit of the West, our conical-eyed hero sets out on search of a town called Dirt, narrowly escaping a hungry hawk and encountering a self-sufficient pioneer named Beans (voice of Isla Fisher) along the way. Upon arriving in the dusty desert town, Rango wanders into the local bar and convinces the locals that he's a notorious gunslinger with a lightning fast trigger-finger. When one of the locals challenges Rango to a showdown on Main Street, the hawk that menaced our hero on his way to town shows up looking for a rematch, and ends up beak down in the dirt. Now the townspeople are convinced that Rango is the real deal, and the Mayor (voice of Ned Beatty) decides to name the brave chameleon their new sheriff. But Rango's honeymoon in Dirt is short-lived when bandits steal the town's entire supply of water, and the newly christened sheriff forms a posse in order to get it back. Little do they realize they were all being manipulated by one greedy power-monger who's determined to keep the people of Dirt under his thumb with the help of a diabolical villain named Rattlesnake Jake (voice of Bill Nighy) whose Gatling gun tail makes Swiss cheese of all challengers. Now, if Rango can just locate the Spirit of the West (voice of Timothy Olyphant) and summon the courage to realize his true potential, perhaps he can finally free the people of Dirt from the tyranny that binds them, and discover his true destiny under the scorching desert sun. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi




http://images.fandango.com/r84.9.4/ImageRenderer/375/375/nox.jpg/126414/images/masterrepository/fandango/126414/rango1sht-final.jpg

[ShaOW!linDude]

I'm definitely wanting to see this on the big screen.

[daisho2004]

You have too! There is a Great scene where its a Homage to Clint Eastwood and his Spaghetti Western: Man with No Name character.

[froffeecoffee]

It was an awesome movie! Just don't go in thinking it's a kids flick. Lots of adult humor that'll go over their head. Weird, wonderful, smart, and funny!

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Yeah folks are saying this movie is geared more towards Adults...

[daisho2004]

I didn't think it was really geared towards Adults all that much? But a lot of animated movies now are geared more towards older Kids.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

my review on this:

Rango (2011: Gore Verbinski) ***/**** (possibly ***½):

I do not always understand Roger Ebert's penchant for his overuse of the **** rating, but I still take it in consideration when deciding what to watch. I was in the mood to see something in the theater and this week did not seem to have an overriding amount of films that screamed watch me. So I thought instead of watching the poorly reviewed Battle: Los Angeles, I thought I would see what Ebert stated as "... some kind of a miracle: An animated comedy for smart moviegoers, wonderfully made, great to look at, wickedly satirical, and (gasp!) filmed in glorious 2-D." His rating is, of course, too high, but the movie is a fun and pleasant experience.

There is nothing tremendously new or original in the plot. While the anthropomorphism of the various animals thrown together help make it seem they are in their own unique world, film fans are going to notice this is not the case though they probably will enjoy the huge amount of references to other material. Johnny Depp plays Rango/Lars a lizard that had a comfortable existence as a kept lizard in an aquarium with a headless doll and a fake fish for a companion. A near accident in a traveling car causes his habitat to fly out and crash amongst the highway leaving him to bake, shed skin and half to dodge traffic. There he meets an armadillo half ran over on the road (that has to be a little much for young kids) who is a Don Quixote character (another reference to a Johnny Depp project) who sends Lars on his way to meet his destiny.

Destiny is a woman lizard named Beans who has a quirky trait which is really just an instinctual behavior gone wrong (she freezes at inappropriate moments). She leads him to a western town that is drying up from lack of water. In fact water is the most important currency there and unbeknownst to the two folks the bank's reserves are almost out. Lars finds himself in a saloon and with his acting talents and his need to not get killed he creates a fake bravado and a monstrously tall tale of heroics. At this point I am reminded of Don Knotts in The Shakiest Gun in the West (see link below which also covers this; IMDB wrongly states that the character was Barney Fife influenced), but of course it also reminds me of the original The Paleface (had to have at least one Bob Hope reference).

Through happenstance and just plain luck the townsfolk thinks he is a majestic hero after he dispatches a ravenous bird and gets made sheriff by the town's mayor (Ned Beatty doing an obvious John Huston imitation from Chinatown). However, someone is stealing the town's water and with the bird gone an outlaw rattler has no fear to come back to the town. Will Lars (known in the town as Rango) succeed? Is there any question to what will happen in the film? Probably not, but it is still fun.

This is not really a film for kids though. I was paying somewhat attention to the children's and parents reactions and it seemed the parents made the stronger laughs and comments. I wonder if anyone else caught the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas reference. Some of the scenes are a bit strong for PG and in some of the reviews I have read (Modesto Bee for example) they like the film but pan it because it is not for kids.

The animation is quite good and it helps to be seen in the theater. While the storyline is a bit trite and perhaps a bit too much material is derivative (even the score is quite reminiscent of Ennio Morricone), there are enough superlative scenes and humor to make this a worthwhile cinematic venture. Heck I might go so far as to say this will probably be nominated for an animated Oscar, as long as the Academy can remember a film before September.

Here is a link on some of the meta references to the film from Entertainment Weekly: http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/03/06/the-top-six-rango-riffs-on-classic-movies/ It did not catch the Pirates of the Caribbean reference(s).

Other random information: I have to mention former Modesto native Timothy Olyphant as the voice of The Spirit of the West (I wonder who he is imitating).

[inframan]

Does he drag a coffin around?

[daisho2004]

Does he drag a coffin around?

No he doesn't!

[make believe]

I really wanted to watch this but the more trailers I watched the less interested I became. I will still watch it once it hits dvd.

I'm waiting for Rio.

[Space]

Good review, I'm not usually into the CGI kids' movies but, someone else also echoed the same sentiments the other day that you did: in a lot of ways, this isn't quite a kids movie.

Probably not Ren and Stimpy, but it sounds like I might get something out of it when it hits cable (I'm still disappointed by Kung Fu Panda).