TITLE: Rango
WITH THE VOICE TALENTS OF: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Ned Beatty, Abigal Breslin, Bill Nighy
DIRECTOR: Gore Verbinski
STUDIO: Nickelodeon Movies, Industrial Light and Magic, GK Films, Blind Wink. Distributed by Paramount Pictures.
RATED: PG
RUN TIME: 107 min
RELEASED: March 4, 2011

By Chris Kromphardt
Staff Writer, Justice Administrator

It seems to be the thing with American animated films—previously the now all-but-extinct ones with hand-drawn animation and now those with the near ubiquitous computer-rendering—that they’re crafted to appeal to both kids and adults. Whereas animated films from Europe and of course anime may not hesitate to tackle more complex and adult stories, in America the story is almost always told simply enough that young children can follow along. Of course, the level of detail and control that animation enables means that filmmakers can throw in the occasional sly wink or innuendo to keep older audience members engaged.

Rango’s a little different, however. This fact, for me, was hinted at in the first trailer that I saw. Seeing a chameleon that looked like one of those journo-lizards in the bar in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, wearing Raoul Duke’s Hawaiian shirt, voiced by Johnny Depp—I knew this was going to be a movie I had to see. Coupled with some of the most gorgeous animation this side of Avatar—courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic—Rango’s a film that fits into a rather rare niche of American cinema: the animated film that puts the grown-up audience first.

This, of course, is not to say that Rango’s like Aqua Teen Hunger Force or Beavis and Butt-head Do America or, thank God, Team America: World Police. Rather, through its clear homages to the western genre and its brilliant subversion of those archetypes, Rango dares to take itself seriously. Not so much that it’s an austere film at all, far from it, actually. It is a movie for people who love movies.

Image from rottentomatoes.com.

Like most Westerns, Rango doesn’t have an overwrought plot. Previously terrarium-raised and with only toys for companionship, Rango finds himself somewhere—outside Barstow—in the Mojave Desert after a freak car accident rips him from his sheltered life. Having honed his performance skills as a way of keeping himself entertained—and, as a chameleon, he’s a natural at assuming roles—Rango is able to win over the locals of the desert town of Dirt with his bravado and charisma, and takes up the mantle of sheriff. A dwindling water supply provides the ostensible conflict, and to say much more would spoil the treat of watching the story unwind.

Rango is voiced by Johnny Depp (also the lead in Fear and Loathing) and I can’t imagine any other actor playing the role. It’s great to see him really sink his teeth into a role in a way he hasn’t done since Captain Jack Sparrow, and he’s perfect with Rango’s schizophrenic inhabiting of role after role. Ned Beatty, who after this and Toy Story 3 appears to be the go-to-guy for voicing malevolent characters in animated films, plays the Mayor, and a swath of other big names—from Alfred Molina to Isla Fisher to Bill Nighy to Timothy Olyphant—round out a cast that is just superb. The only problem sound-wise with Rango is that sometimes it is a little hard to understand what some of the characters are saying. There was an entire song sequence where I didn’t understand a word.

I have a hunch, and while I can’t confirm it I still think it’s pretty sound. It goes like this: given the number of people who worked on both this and the Pirates of the Caribbean flicks—Depp, Nighy, director Gore Verbinski—Rango became a pet project for that crew. With its delightfully weird cast of misfit characters, coarse dialogue, and almost hallucinatory method of storytelling, this is, as I said at the beginning, not your standard animated film. However, thanks to the marquee-quality names attached to it, I think Rango may find a place among mainstream audiences, much as, say, The Nightmare Before Christmas did: an irreverent story that utilizes the unique possibilities of animation to tell a truly memorable story.

RATING: 8/10

Front page image from getthebigpicture.net.
For more from Johnny Depp, check out The Tourist and Alice in Wonderland.