Tweet
Rango
Johnny Depp, Abigail Breslin, and others.
I’ve heard a hundred different opinions about this and mine doesn’t really match up with any of them, so here’s mine. When I saw the first trailer, I thought this looked like a loser of a movie because the only thing in the trailer was a rather extended chase sequence, where a hawk chases a lizard across a rather desolate plain. The second trailer was a lot more interesting, since Rango, a lizard, actually spoke to some of the other characters who live in the town of Dirt. Aha, I thought. This is more like it.
Even that doesn’t really give you a good idea of what the film is, however. Rango is a sort of tribute to spaghetti westerns, a genre that I have some fondness for. Some of the imagery, lots of the story, and quite a bit of the music make reference to conventions of the spaghetti western; so much, in fact, that I wonder if only people old enough to have seen enough of them will enjoy the picture.
Rango the character is likable enough. He’s something of a would-be actor, someone’s pet who finds himself homeless and lost. When he stumbles into the town of Dirt where nobody knows who he is, he realizes he can now remake himself into any of the pretend characters he’s acted out. Since Dirt needs a lawman, that’s what Rango becomes.
Dirt is being terrorized by a wicked rattlesnake and by drought. When he is made sheriff by accidentally impressing everyone, the burden is on him to figure out where the water went. That’s pretty much all the story you need.
The characters are pretty interesting, but what I really enjoyed were the four mariachi owls who serve as the Greek chorus and repeatedly predict Rango’s demise. The music is great and the owls’ dialogue is hilarious and wonderfully poetic at the same time. Los Lobos does the theme song and one other excellent tune on the soundtrack. If you never seen the film, you might at least want to hear parts of the soundtrack, especially if you love the sound of those old westerns the way I do!
I must also give props to the animation, which doesn’t have that shiny glow that Pixar films and all their copycats seem to have. Where those look like pieces of candy you could just munch on all day, the images in Rango a warm and dry and dusty and very textured. I find it impressive that the visuals in this 2D film are so much more alive and vibrant than anything I’ve seen in a 3D movie.
I have heard some people rave about this, saying that it will unseat Pixar at the next Oscars. It’s not that good. But it is a good, fun, funny entertainment that this forty-something found interesting. Don’t know what younger people will think.
7/10 (IMDb rating)
73/100 (Criticker rating)
Johnny Depp, Abigail Breslin, and others.
I’ve heard a hundred different opinions about this and mine doesn’t really match up with any of them, so here’s mine. When I saw the first trailer, I thought this looked like a loser of a movie because the only thing in the trailer was a rather extended chase sequence, where a hawk chases a lizard across a rather desolate plain. The second trailer was a lot more interesting, since Rango, a lizard, actually spoke to some of the other characters who live in the town of Dirt. Aha, I thought. This is more like it.
Even that doesn’t really give you a good idea of what the film is, however. Rango is a sort of tribute to spaghetti westerns, a genre that I have some fondness for. Some of the imagery, lots of the story, and quite a bit of the music make reference to conventions of the spaghetti western; so much, in fact, that I wonder if only people old enough to have seen enough of them will enjoy the picture.
Rango the character is likable enough. He’s something of a would-be actor, someone’s pet who finds himself homeless and lost. When he stumbles into the town of Dirt where nobody knows who he is, he realizes he can now remake himself into any of the pretend characters he’s acted out. Since Dirt needs a lawman, that’s what Rango becomes.
Dirt is being terrorized by a wicked rattlesnake and by drought. When he is made sheriff by accidentally impressing everyone, the burden is on him to figure out where the water went. That’s pretty much all the story you need.
The characters are pretty interesting, but what I really enjoyed were the four mariachi owls who serve as the Greek chorus and repeatedly predict Rango’s demise. The music is great and the owls’ dialogue is hilarious and wonderfully poetic at the same time. Los Lobos does the theme song and one other excellent tune on the soundtrack. If you never seen the film, you might at least want to hear parts of the soundtrack, especially if you love the sound of those old westerns the way I do!
I must also give props to the animation, which doesn’t have that shiny glow that Pixar films and all their copycats seem to have. Where those look like pieces of candy you could just munch on all day, the images in Rango a warm and dry and dusty and very textured. I find it impressive that the visuals in this 2D film are so much more alive and vibrant than anything I’ve seen in a 3D movie.
I have heard some people rave about this, saying that it will unseat Pixar at the next Oscars. It’s not that good. But it is a good, fun, funny entertainment that this forty-something found interesting. Don’t know what younger people will think.
7/10 (IMDb rating)
73/100 (Criticker rating)
Comment