Barrett’s Review: ‘Rango’ is a Quirky, Unusual and Refreshing Animated Adventure

GRADE: B+

With Pixar and Dreamworks dominating the animated landscape over the last decade, it’s refreshing to have other studios adding their unique visions to the family adventure genre, such as last year’s Despicable Me from Universal, and most recently Rango from Nickelodeon – who hasn’t released a prominent animated feature in some time. I was pleasantly surprised by Rango, starring Johnny Depp, as it is a very original, quirky, entertaining and visually fantastic animated adventure that should please both kids and adults alike.

What I liked most about Rango is its rich development of the characters within the setting of a Western  – a genre that has almost been untouched by animated films as of late. That rich development is 100% due to the script written by mega-screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator, The Last Samurai, The Aviator, Sweeney Todd, etc…I know, right?) Rango is a bizarrely likable little chameleon with aspirations of becoming a hero – which we see him channeling at the very beginning in an aquarium rehearsing a play production with inanimate objects. Rango’s dream of becoming a famous hero who embarks on an epic journey comes true when the car carrying said aquarium hits a pothole in the middle of the desert, ejecting him from the speeding vehicle into the vastness of the Wild West all by his lonesome.

Throughout the film, Rango runs into a whole host of different rodents, reptiles, amphibians and other animals – many of which I could not identify. Probably the most important critter he meets immediately follows his departure from the car and his human owners. An old, old armadillo trying to cross the road to “fulfill his destiny” imparts the same cosmic wisdom upon Rango, which gives him injections of hope and determination at pivotal points in the film.

As I alluded to before, Rango is no brute, ruffian or badass. But when he stumbles upon Beans (Isla Fisher) – a don’t-take-no-shit girl chameleon – she takes him to her home town of Dirt (which is filled with dirty hooligan outlaws), allowing him to act out his wildest fantasies and become “Rango;” a brute, ruffian, badass. Only Beans suspects his true “softy” nature, but Rango’s accidental displays of badassism has the whole town blissfully duped – especially when he’s designated to lead the charge of finding water, which is such a rare commodity in the town of Dirt that it’s become their currency.

And boy does Dirt have some crazy characters – one of the reasons Rango is so enjoyable. They’re all dirty hicks with gross teeth and hairy backs. But they’re extremely naive, loyal and trusting – a unique contrast of physical and personality characteristics – that you can’t help but go “awwww” at.

The performances in the film are all great. Johnny Depp is just entertaining and captivating as hell playing Rango. He’s so optimistically foolish and exuberant that you can’t help but cheer him on during his quest. But I have to say that my favorite character in the film is hands down the villainous Rattlesnake Jake (played creepily and awesomely by Bill Nighy). He put on such a scary yet riveting display of badassism, that i didn’t want him to leave the screen.

Another thing that made Rango awesome was the bright, vibrant and crystal clear animation. Obviously computer animated films nowadays are all HD and whatever, but the images in Rango just POPPED off the screen and it was just really great to look at – especially some of the truly epic action/chase scenes that twisted in and out of the treacherous mountain terrain of the desert; thank director Gore Verbinski (Pirates franchise) for that .

The only things that detracted from my grade was that this film is actually pretty dark and adult for a PG-rated animated film. There are a ton of sexual innuendos, violence and dark themes (i.e. to showcase the dire straits Rango is in 3/4 of the way into the film, they show five owls who have hung themselves in a jail cell). I mean, I’m no censor and I thought it was great, but if I were any sort of parent I would be somewhat perplexed and put off of the inclusion of such adult themes. Also, Rango is an odd film as I wasn’t so high on it immediately after leaving the theater. Upon thinking about it hours and days after, the film’s quirky nuances and bizarre characters became more likable the more I thought about it. I don’t know if that should detract from a letter grade, but it will because I wasn’t “immediately smitten.” It also didn’t immediately scream “classic” like most (not Cars) of Pixar’s films do

Overall, Rango is a very different and original animated adventure, that I am surely looking forward to seeing again.

What Should You Do? See it.