Rango

Rating: 6/10 (15 June 2016)

I had seen many images and maybe a couple of clips of this computer- animated movie, and I knew the leading actor voicing, as for anything about it, I just waited until I watched it, directed by Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt, The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Lone Ranger). Basically a pet chameleon (Johnny Depp) is stranded in the Mojave Desert, on the road he meets armadillo Roadkill (Alfred Molina), who directs him to a town called Dirt. The chameleon narrowly avoids being eaten by a vicious red-tailed hawk before meeting desert iguana and rancher's daughter Beans (Isla Fisher), who takes him to Dirt, an Old West town populated by desert animals, the chameleon uses bravado and improvisation to fit in, presenting himself as a tough drifter, giving himself the name Rango. He quickly has a collision with outlaw Gila monster Bad Bill (Ray Winstone), but avoids a shootout when the hawk returns, Rango is chased by the hawk, but accidentally shoots and knocks down an empty water tower, which crushes the bird, the elderly tortoise Mayor (Ned Beatty) appoints Rango the new sheriff, but with the hawk dead, the townspeople worry gunslinger Rattlesnake Jake (Bill Nighy), who feared the bird, will return. Dirt's water reserves, stored in the town bank inside a water cooler bottle, is nearly empty, sceptical Beans tells Rango he should investigate where the water has disappeared to. However, in the night, Rango inadvertently assists a trio of bank robbers, led by mole Balthazar (Harry Dean Stanton), mistaking them for prospectors, when the townsfolk discover the water bottle has been stolen Rango organises a posse. Bank manager Merrimack (Stephen Root) is discovered dead in the desert, he was somehow drowned, despite the town's lack of water, the posse and the robbers then fight over the stolen water in a canyon chase, after which the robbers profess they found the bottle empty, but they are brought for trial. The mayor is buying land around Dirt, he denies any wrongdoing and tells Rango he is building a modern city, but the mayor hires Rattlesnake Jake to run Rango out of town, and make him admit everything he told the town about himself is a lie. Rango leaves ashamed and confused about his identity, but in the middle of nowhere he meets the Spirit of the West (Timothy Olyphant), the Man With No Name, who Roadkill told him about, the Spirit inspires Rango to return to town and put things right. Rango learns that Dirt's water supply, located outside of Las Vegas, is controlled by an emergency shut-off valve in a water pipeline, the mayor has manipulated to cause drought and buy the land, Rango recruits the robbers to help him restore order to Dirt. Rango makes a diversion by calling out Jake for a duel, while the clan can turn the pipeline valve and flood the town with water, Rango eventually gets one over on the Mayor and his men and washing them away, in the end the Dirt citizens celebrate the return of the water and recognise Rango as their hero. Also starring Abigail Breslin as Priscilla, Ian Abercrombie as Ambrose and Gil Birmingham as Wounded Bird. A chameleon with a big imagination but a self- questioning personality in the wild west during the modern day, it is fairly simple if a little weird, but the voices are chosen well, the jokes including spoofs of Spaghetti Westerns with Clint Eastwood, Apocalypse Now, Star Wars and others are funny enough, and the animation to create the walking talking animals and the world they inhabit is fantastic, it may have clichés, but overall it is a fun animated action comedy western. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year, it won the BAFTA for Best Animated Film, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film. Good!