Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas meets Nightmare Before Christmas in Rango, an animated children’s movie about a water-deprived Western town in search for the hero they need to save them from superstitions.
Johnny Depp lends his distinguishable voice and witty disposition to the main character, Rango, a chameleon and out-of-work actor. He realizes, after being thrown out of a moving car, that he is completely lost. Everything he knew is gone, and he is faced with the question of identity and meaning in life.
Gore Verbinski puts out his first film since the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie, along with his first animated feature. Starring Johnny Depp and Isla Fisher (Hot Rod, Confessions of a Shopaholic), Rango has the unique opportunity to start his life over as whomever he wants to be.
His journey as Rango begins in a bar filled with the citizens of Dirt, the town run by The Mayor (Ned Beatty). They’re going through the worst drought imaginable: they have only a few days of water supply left.
While he is in the bar, after his decision is made about what his new identity will be, Rango tells a loud story of his invented heroics and gains the bewilderment and respect of the townspeople. As his tale grows taller Rango is eventually given the title of sheriff and expected to save the town from drying out completely.
The danger that is afoot needs a hero, and Rango quickly gains the trust of everyone and gets a posse together to go on a journey to find out who stole the emergency supply of water. Though he doesn’t really know anything about being a sheriff, or a hero for that matter (save for things he’s read in Shakespeare), Rango leads his gang of scared residents of Dirt to finding nothing but trouble.
As they continue on and get further and further into the story, the townspeople grow more and more attached to Rango and his wonderful stories.
But you can only pretend for so long. And perpetuating the same lie as it grows more outrageous becomes impossible. Rango will eventually be faced with the difficulty of coming clean and admitting to his phony identity.
If you’re the kind of person who likes cartoons but only if they’re nice and cute, then perhaps stay away from Rango. A great many of the characters are creatures that aren’t necessarily the most pleasant thing to look at, especially for 107 minutes. “Well sure, Ratatoullie is a cartoon about rats, but they’re cute rats. These guys are just-ew,” Junior Math Major Chloe Radcliffe said. That’s not to say they’re all hideous, just that most of the bad guys are scruffy looking cartoonized versions of the ugly bad guys you’d see in a real Western movie.
It’s a far cry from anything like Inception or The King’s Speech, but it keeps you interested for the most part. The story is nothing to brag about, but the diversity of the animation is fantastic, and the humor, mainly childish with a few innuendos hidden within the dialogue, is enough to keep your attention lively.
I think my favorite part of Rango was the mariachi band of owls narrating the story throughout the film. They start out the movie with their cute little owl wings playing the guitar, violin, trumpet and accordion and are seen three or four times throughout the film with their funny owly faces and big sombreros.
This weekend movie at Gustavus is a bit different than the rest. In addition to Friday showings at 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in boring old Walenberg Auditorium, Rango will be shown outside behind Lund between the football and soccer field on Saturday at 9:00 p.m. Not only that, CAB is hosting a drawing for prizes at the outdoor showing, which means everyone has to go.
If you want to sit down with your sweetie for a romantic evening, Rango may not be the movie you want to go to, but if you’re in the mood for a feel-good, funny, fast paced cartoon with Johnny Depp style humor then I’d run as fast as I could over to the outdoor movie showing this Saturday at 9:00 p.m. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.