- Joined
- Apr 24, 2009
- Messages
- 2,941
- Trophies
- 0
- Age
- 27
- Location
- In Vulpes' Fur
- Website
- meekpicture.blogspot.com
- XP
- 628
- Country
3 1/2 STARS
out of 4
Rango is a great movie. It takes its unique premise and turns it into this dazzlingly smart, fantastically animated, funny and at times a bit slapstick creation. The graphics are bright and contain animation who's quality and depth I haven't seen in a long time.
This western (well, sort of a western) starts and ends in two nearly parallel yet oddly similar ways. The plot suddenly took this odd turn within the first 5 minutes of the movie, and everyone in the theater was kind of weirded out by the drastic change in scenery within those few minutes. It turns out, the strange opening sequence was sort of an introduction into the character's backdrop, personality and his, a bit cliched, drive to remove himself from his secluded lifestyle. Even if he doesn't want to admit it, he doesn't like being alone.
Oh yes, if you haven't guessed by now, the title character Rango (Johnny Depp) is a lizard. Or chameleon. I'm not all too sure, since he did try to change colors once in the movie, but whatever. I'm pretty sure that if I told someone that I just watched an animated western movie about about a character that saves a run-down town that struggles with water, he/she could have never guessed that the title character was a lizard. Much less a lizard named "Rango".
The character itself is like one of those classic, insane, jumpy characters that is in all of those old Sunday morning cartoons. You do however see that there is more depth to the character than it seems. The character struggles with his inner depression and thus finds an exit by acting in a weird fashion. He is pushed into odd and unfamiliar circumstances and blah blah blah and becomes a hero. You know the story. The character is infectious and charming, perfectly fitting as the movie itself is infectious and charming.
The rest of the movie without Rango himself is a classic western, borrowing themes from the old movies which are today, considered classics. It's a tribute to those movies, with face-offs, the mysterious new guy, the local villain, the saloons with all of those harsh drinks. The place where everyone (right down to the children) carry guns and know how to use them. Where everyone looks like they haven't taken a bath in a long time and has weird scars in places where there aren't normally scars. And add that with the whole plot of trying to find water, and you've got yourself a fantastic animated country movie.
I adore the animation. It's so far, some of the best animation I've seen in a long time. The backgrounds and the wide open spaces have lush beauty, and the characters are in an effective style that lets them blend perfectly within the backgrounds. There are several scenes in the movie where I felt like taking that sequence and turning it into my screensaver. The not-too-subtle lighting within the animation and the sparks that occur during the night scenes felt so real, and you could sense the amazing detail put into this entire movie. Most especially its terrific action sequences.
The entire movie has a terrific voice cast, each actor fully living the lips of his/her character. Most especially significant in this respect is Johnny Depp giving a fully invested voice performance as the title character Rango. The audience could barely hear Johnny Depp, they could hear Rango. One of my friends' first comment was "That's Johnny Depp?" Apparently, even in voice, you could sense Depp's incredible skill for making unique accents for every role.
Even with all of it's slapstick jokes, the movie is smart, but that unfortunately has its costs as the movie loses some accessibility to very young audiences. The movie contains a mild bit of inappropriate content, but it's good for most audiences, most especially pre-teens, who can watch a really good movie, good enough for kids, that's intelligent at the same time.
There are some boring spots and sometimes too oversold spots in the movie, but all-in-all, this movie is excellently made, beautifully animated, and smart. I give it a 3 1/2 STARS OUT OF 4.
NOTE: I forgot the best part about the movie. The best thing is all is the birds. They act as the narrators to the movie and also the "musicians", and they are also characters within the films itself, and thus act as running jokes. They were funny and very smartly implemented into the movie. Just watch it to see how that actually works.
OTHER REVIEWS
ROGER EBERT: 4 STARS
ROTTEN TOMATOES: 89% FRESH
METACRITIC: 75 out of 100
REPOSTED FROM MY BLOG: http://meekpicture.blogspot.com/2011/03/rango-review.html
