Let's Tango with Rango

Rating: 8/10 (6 March 2011)

Greetings again from the darkness. I just can't believe it. Last year I was raving about Toy Story 3 being my favorite film of the year and now here I am again extolling the excellence of an animated feature. However, Rango is a different experience ... these are all new characters and a whole new look for animation. I would even say this is more a film for grown-ups than for kids, though kids will certainly get a kick out of Rango, a colorful chameleon energetically voiced by Johnny Depp.
This story and film pays homage to many classic movies and especially to spaghetti westerns. You will easily spot the tributes to Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Hunter S Thompson, Sergio Leone, Lee Van Cleef, Clint Eastwood, High Noon, and of course Chinatown. The main story line is nearly identical to Chinatown ... the control of a town's water. Here we get the Mayor, voiced by Ned Beatty, in the John Huston role. For film fans, this is just so much fun! Rango the chameleon is a very likable character who just wants to be liked. He dreams of being a hero so that people will look up to him. Of course, he learns the hard way what being a hero really means. The town of Dirt, the desert, and multitude of characters are all fantastically drawn. There are times the film has a look of live action with terrific lighting and detail.
The voice acting in the film is truly outstanding and it starts with Depp's fine work. Also contributing are Ned Beatty (Mayor), Bill Nighy (Rattlesnake Jake), Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Stephen Root, Alfred Molina (Armadillo), Ray Winstone, Charles Fleisher (from 1988 Roger Rabbit) and Timothy Olyphant as the Clint Eastwood character no-named Spirit of the West. There is also a useful and very funny Mariachi band that pops up periodically to push the story along.
Director Gore Verbinski is known best for his Pirates of the Caribbean movies (with Depp) and he really gets to go all out on his visual style here. He is helped along by George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and their first foray into animation. Heads up Pixar ... you have definitely have some tough competition!