Review: Rango

Well - this was a pleasant surprise for me. I really didn't have any knowledge of Rango prior to seeing it other than it starred Johnny Depp and was a CGI film. I went to see it with my wife and my young Niece, as we are taking care of her for the month and she wanted to see it. I honestly expected to see something along the lines of Shrek or Despicable Me, a cute family comedy that would be an enjoyable time-waster. However Rango turned out to be something much, much more. Rango actually turned out to be a refreshingly off-beat and occasionally dark parody/tribute to classic Westerns and one of, if not the most memorable non-Pixar CGI'Toon.

Rango tells the tale of a nameless Chameleon (Though he is referred to as Rango later in the film, so let's call him that anyways.) with a bit of an identity problem. Living in a glass cage, he has no concept of the outside world and who or what he is; spending his time attempting to entertain himself by writing sappy romantic plays that he acts out with the help of his "friends," the torso of a Barbie doll, a wind up fish, and a dead cockroach. While driving down a highway in the Mojave Desert, his owners' car hits a rough bump and his cage is jettisoned out the back, leaving him stranded on the road. He quite quickly learns that Water is a precious commodity and a half-flattened Armadillo that is stuck on the highway tells him that if he wants to find water, he must find the town of "Dirt" - where every Wednesday they apparently perform a 'ritual' to get their water. Rango wanders the desert in an attempt to find this town, and on the way becomes the target of a hungry hawk. Barely escaping the hawk (Who chose a larger meal instead after Rango ruined the other ones camouflage.), he soon meets a young farmer girl who is trying to find water that so she can save her land. This finally leads him to the town of Dirt, who have only 5 days worth of water on Reserve and a dead sheriff.

The film is largely a tribute/parody of Westerns, and it uses a fair amount of Western cliches - which is both a strength and weakness of the film. It works as satire, but at times it takes a straight faced route and the use of cliche makes certain plot points (Especially regarding the identity of the villain) a bit predictable. Fans of Westerns though will find plenty to enjoy, and it is a very loving send up to the genre.

The humour and style of the film is rather off-beat and at times, darkly tinted. This is one of the films strengths as it manages to carve a sense of style all its own, there aren't really any pop-culture references (Other than a couple nods to classic Westerns and an appearance of The Man with No Name as the "Spirit of the West.") and its characters are anything but cute. That's not to say there's no charm to the design, there is - but once again, it's all a design of its own. The movie isn't a laugh riot, and there is actually a fair amount of seriousness - but when the film wants to be funny it is and the weird characters are memorable, and the films set pieces are excellently designed and highly entertaining.

The visuals are fantastic on a technical level as well. Apparently, this was the first film that Industrial Light and Magic animated entirely themselves and it is some of the best looking CGI out there. There are lots of great details, especially on the films backgrounds and environments - which are practically photorealistic. The characters also have a quirky way of bordering the line of "Cartoony" and "Real" in design, which means that the film does a great job merging the technical and artistic design into one.

All in all - Rango is a weird little treat for those who want an excellently made, written, and visualized CG movie that does not become a slave to the conventions of most other non-Pixar CG cartoons. I was quite pleasantly surprised, and maybe you will be too.

Great review, UK. I was going to see this anyway, but now I am even more excited to see it.

Son Of Jack Deth wrote:

Great review, UK. I was going to see this anyway, but now I am even more excited to see it.

Thanks for the comment. Hope you enjoy it =)

So far, I've heard mostly positive reviews about this film. A few of my friends think that this and the Tintin movie will probably be the two big players when it comes to Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.