Rango is a Bingo...

Rating: 10/10 (14 October 2016)

Ever since my eyes met the poster of "Rango", this film never stopped to tickle my curiosity. I made a poll about scariest looking not-meant-to-be-scary posters and "Rango" seemed like a good candidate, but it made me wonder: how on Earth could such an ugly-looking creature be ever conceived as a major animated protagonist? Rango is not 'Shrek ugly', Shrek is monstrous in a cinematically appealing way, but Rango looks like a chameleon and I don't think these animals would make it in the Top 20 bestial beauty pageants, even by Disney standards, a chameleon IS ugly.
But then again, why shouldn't a chameleon be the hero? Why should the requirements of drawings affect the narrative status, and as a matter of fact, what it is with the whole reptilian universe's snubbing, aren't we tired of cute, fluffy bunnies and proud and majestic horses? One of the good things about "Rango", and there are plenty, is that the film redeems a whole fauna that has been severely overlooked by animation: the creatures from the desert. The setting is a town named Dirt and its populated by the flotsam and jetsam of bestial society: toads, rats, lizards, bats, turtles and beavers, even the rodents are drawn in the ugliest possible way, but these are the animals who fought the hard way for survival, centuries and centuries of evolution, but in "human timing", it fits the Conquest of the West period. And what better a setting than the desert for a great Western story?
And if "Rango" is all built on Western archetypes and some from other genres (and that includes one of the best takes on "Apocalypse Now") these references aren't the end but only the means, it's all in the story. And this is why I'm glad I finally watched "Rango" because I never really put my finger in what left me perplex in "A Shark Tale", and now I got it, it's one thing to make references to countless movies and the more of a movie lover you are, the more likely to enjoy them you are but here, no reference feels gratuitous and it's always combined with a bit of originality that belongs to the film. "Rango" has a story to tell, it takes it seriously enough to get pretty dark and handle such serious themes like death, thirst and progress and it knows how to loosen up when needed to. In other words, it's adult material; I doubt the film would appeal to little children, but this is finally a movie that aims the adult world in an intelligent and fun.
Starting with Rango, that little guy is one of these original creations that immediately grow in you, a chameleon who is a hero in his own world, he rehearses it with a headless naked Barbie doll, a dead cockroach and a mechanical fish but the heart isn't in it, he know what lacks: conflict, a pivotal moment, a journey starter. Basically, Rango anticipates his heroic status, he's like the voice of his own writers, his voice-actor, Johnny Depp and his "Caribbean Pirates" director Gore Verbinski. He is an obvious creation, and the presence of the singing owls as a Greek chorus reinforced the artificiality of Rango. But when the action takes off, when an armadillo crosses the road, and the tank where Rango lived get out of his owners' speeding car, Rango is thrown on the road, gets out of the comfort zone but gets 'in the picture' and becomes his own creation, the journey begins and things start to get fun.
The armadillo shows him the way where he can meet his destiny, the West so Rango moves forward, he meets a hawk, a toad, a bottle of coke and finally, a cute female lizard named Beans, whose particularity is to freeze like a defensive move. But she's more than the soon-to-be love interest. The film plays with archetypes but never without substance. Take the great saloon entrance, Rango is eager to make an impression, he then brags about how he killed seven outlaws with one bullet while everyone listens with admiration, he is hilarious not just by the speech he makes but the enthusiasm form his listeners. Every character in this film has something to say, in most animated films, you have the protagonists and the rest are just space fillers with occasional one-liners, in "Rango", you feel like each one's story would have made as good a film.
So "Rango" becomes the sheriff, and the plot gets more surprisingly thicker and complex with a scheme you wouldn't see coming, let's just say that it involves water and the antagonist is obviously based on Noah Cross from "Chinatown". Out of all the movies parodied in animated features, this is the last I would have expected, and when the Mayor says that he uses water to buy 'the future', I didn't even think of Chinatown, I was drawn out by the film, and I was wondering why is it that Tarantino gets screenplays nominations for a thing like "Django Unchaines" and a film like "Rango" gets none. Well, it still won the Best Animated Feature Oscar and rightfully so.
But I wonder if it would have won over the 2010 Disney films or in 2012, this is obviously a film that is 100% original which is more than you can say about Disney and Dreamworks, and it's a film that stands so high above the usual movies for kiddies that it deserves a special spot as the most original cartoon and the riskiest. Indeed, you can't even merchandise "Rango", and that's why I love about it, it's a film whose priority was to have a unique look and feel. In the end, it is a unique film.