Now Playing: Rango (2011)

Today is my birthday! As was the case I went out with my family to see Rango on their dime! Always a welcome treat. I'd heard good things about Rango, and that it wasn't like your standard animated movie. It also doesn't hurt that the title character is voiced by the talented Johnny Depp. As is with most of my "Now Playing" articles, I'll keep in mind ticket prices as I go and we'll see if this would be worth paying to see, even though I didn't this time. Hit the jump for more.


Rango is an interesting tale about a chameleon who becomes lost in the desert only to find himself in a strange little town filled with animals. He quickly bewilders the locals with stories of bravery using his wild imagination and some dumb luck finds himself as Sheriff of the town of Dirt. Now he must help solve the town crisis of where all the water is going.

The first thing to talk about for an animated movie is the animation. Hands down Rango has some of the most beautifully rendered scenes and characters I've seen in a long time. The detail is incredible. Not to mention some of the character designs. Most of them are down right ugly, but all of them are unique or play off a look or stereotype seen in many western movies. I kinda wish thought that the main love interest, the brown lizard named Beans, wasn't so ugly. I guess there's not too much you can do with a lizard face.

Why does Beans have to be so ugly?!

Another thing I've heard about this movie is that it's not for kids. I thought this meant maybe there was a lot of killing or since some of the animals look more realistic than in other animated movies, maybe there was a realism that could be unsettling for kids. Well it turns out that wasn't what they meant, but more that there might not be much in it for kids. There's jokes, but almost all of them would play better to a grownup audience. The story is also fairly existential. What does it mean to be yourself, a lot of "Who am I?" and dream-like visions, self-reflection and introspection. Great stuff for adults, but might bore the kiddies.

Something else that struck me was how solidly the story and theme of the film was set firmly in the western genre. It wasn't just the setting, but the story, characters, way of speech and even the very cool cameo were all pulled straight out of western movies. But not at all in a mocking way or a joking way. Well, sure some of it was for jokes, but this movie is seriously a western through and through, and I couldn't be more appreciative of that than I am now.

Loved the owls

Lastly, and this is a small point, I absolutely loved the music. They even had a little band of owls that played the music and they popped up constantly throughout the movie. They were great and I just wanted to put that out there.

So the big question, if I had paid full price for this movie, would I have been satisfied and happy about my purchase? Hell yeah I would! This was a great movie, and the visuals were so good and so detailed it really deserves to be seen on the big screen. Hurry out and go see Rango. That's all I have to say, now I ride off into the sunset!