Visually Dynamic Rango a Western Hoot
A lost fast-talking chameleon (voiced by Johnny Depp) has come to the tiny desert town of Dirt after a high speed freeway calamity busts him out of his glass surrounded home thanks to the sage guidance of the mysterious armadillo Roadkill (voiced by Alfred Molina). Taking up the moniker Rango, he quickly ingratiates himself with the townsfolk thanks to his tall tales and an accidental lucky shot from a six-shooter. Thinking he might be their savior, they make the lizard their new sheriff, presenting him to the Mayor (voiced by Ned Beatty) as the creature capable of figuring out the mystery behind their water shortage and as the one who will fearlessly stand up to the evil rattlesnake Jake (voiced by Bill Nighy).
Rango (Johnny Depp) and Beans (Isla Fisher) in Rango
© Paramount Pictures
But Rango isn’t a hero. He’s never met the Spirit of the West. He hasn’t killed seven villainous varmints with a one bullet. He’s just your average everyday pet, used to being fed and taken care of by others and not one to stand up for himself let alone others. Yet there’s something about being in Dirt, something about the look on the townsfolk’s faces as they believe in him, something about the confident and forthright fellow lizard Beans (voiced by Isla Fisher) whom maybe he loves, that has Rango starting to believe there might be small rivers of truth hidden within all his mountainous lies.
As change of paces after being mired in directing three massive Pirates of the Caribbean epics more or less in a row (2005’s underrated The Weather Man notwithstanding) are concerned, the computer animated Spaghetti Western Rango certainly is a gigantic one for director and co-storywriter Gore Verbinski. The movie is an agreeable concoction of adult situations, family-friendly adventure and crackling dialogue that’s one heck of a lot of fun. For observant viewers who know the genre well and have a quick eye (and sometimes an even quicker ear) there is so much going on within the film one viewing almost doesn’t suffice, Verbinski and company creating a fun-filled desert-set charmer worthy of repeat showings.
The opening portions are a psychedelic sensation, introducing us to our at that point nameless title character going through his daily routine in his lonely glass-encased confines. Next thing the little guy knows he’s flying through the air, crashing to the asphalt with a sudden splat. This is when he meets Roadkill in one of the most hilariously gruesome introductions in ages, Verbinski creating a wonderful visual feel and flow that he’ll then follow throughout the rest of the picture.
From that point on the movie gets more inventive and more entertaining as it goes along. Verbinski and screenwriter John Logan (The Aviator, Gladiator) pay homage to countless different pictures (too many to list here), not the least of which are High Noon, 2001, A Fistful of Dollars, Star Wars and, hysterically, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Better than that, though, they craft fully realized characters, populating Dirt not so much with Western archetypes but intriguing figures I found myself booth rooting for and hissing at. Their script at times comes shockingly close to gaining Pixar-level magnetism, transporting me to an entirely different world I couldn’t wait to see a whole heck of a lot more of.
The vocal work by the entire cast (which also happens to include Stephen Root, Abigail Breslin, Ray Winstone, Timothy Olyphant and the great Harry Dean Stanton) is aces, Depp having a total field day portraying the whip-smart charlatan Rango with a rapid-fire panache that’s been missing from some of his more recent live action roles. Verbinski seemingly gave him the freedom to go anywhere he wanted to, the actor loosing himself so completely inside the role at times he almost vanishes entirely.
From a visual standpoint, the film is a jaw-dropping stunner. Celebrated cinematographer Roger Deakins (True Grit, The Reader) is listed as a visual consultant and his stamp is all over this thing, the movie having a cinematic look and feel to it that as close to photorealistic as any animated offering I’ve ever seen. On top of that, the geniuses at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) have tackled their first fully CG animated cartoon with all guns blazing, and there were times every now and then were they achieve a level of eye-popping perfection that’s going to have the folks residing over at John Lassetter’s Toy Story and WALL•E playground looking a bit worried.
Things aren’t a total smashing success on all fronts, however. The story loses some of its momentum during the final third, and as great as the long awaited appearance of the Spirit of the West is what happens after is kind of no-brainer. The movie falls into a predictable pattern that’s not quite as much of an off-kilter and surreal bit of fun as it was during the first two-thirds, and as spectacularly animated as the climax is there is something of a ho-hum pedestrianism to it that didn’t do a ton for me.
As problems go that’s not as much of a major one as it probably could have been. For the majority of its running time Rango is a total blast, more so probably for adults in the know than it will be for the kids they brought along with them. I had a great time sitting there watching it, and I have this sneaky suspicion as the year goes on this animated Western adventure might end up being one I’ll be talking about long after 2011’s other cartoon offerings have faded into the nether regions of my memory.
Film Rating: êêê (out of 4)
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