There's two kinds of movies in this world my friend... the ones who work, and the ones who could have worked better.

Rating: 8/10 (4 March 2011)

Heads up, I gave this movie a 8/10, so that you don't think I found it a mediocre film... because it ain't!
I saw Rango yesterday night at a half filled (or half empty) room. There was 1 single kid watching it and she stopped talking the minute the 4 mariachis showed up on screen, so I guess it's not the worst movie for kids. Part of her attention, of course, wasn't for the story, or the jokes or for the inumerous references to the genre classics, it was for the visuals. Colourful, highly-detailed, realistic and abstract sometimes, but always with a little of cartoonish look to it. That part, I most say, also caught a lot of my attention, I was utterly amazed with the landscape, the details of the objects and the composition of every thing on screen from start to finish.
As for the story, I must say I find it genius and creative the way they manage to create this parody of western American and spaghetti movies in a animalistic context. The characters, from Rango itself to that bird with the thinguie in the eye, where greatly conceived, but didn't had the best lines to give them memorable moments and that's exactly what goes wrong with the movie for me. Everything was there to make excellent jokes and by doing so and adding it to the great story behind the town of Dirt, the movie would be unforgettable. The comic reliefs where most of the time forced and some of the comic moments looked like Peter Griffin gave Rango some humour lessons.
All in all, the movie is a most see for me, the western genre fans will love (or hate) to spot the references and some will put a nostalgic smile on your face. The visuals again were a spot on for me, the mood of the film's fantastic, the creativity involved in the characters is great (you'll love Cascavel Jake), and the story's memorable and new, but the ingredient that keeps this plate from being a classic is the script, and by this I mean most of the jokes and lines.