Funny, quirky, raunchy and more for adults that wanna have fun than kids

Rating: Null/10 (20 August 2011)

Great animation is a dime a dozen these days. Its hard to find an animated film that isn't good or at least passable. Animation has become a driving force in Hollywood and by no means is it just kids anymore. Rango looked fun and unique and had a western spin so I looked forward to seeing it. It turns in a terrific adventure great character and most of all a slightly adult spin on the animation docket. A lot of animated films nowadays try to subtly work in some adult humour like Shrek or certain Pixar films but Rango doesn't try and hide it. Sure it might go over the heads of some youngsters but I'm not sure I would take my youngster to this one given some of the scenes that are definitely very funny but not kid oriented. The best thing in the film are the characters who are downright amazing including, of course, Rango himself. The story and the adventure are well made although a little slow at times. It certainly doesn't have your typical hour and twenty minutes animated film quality coming in at nearly two hours. As is often the case in animated films the supporting cast are amazing and so much fun to watch and they use them perfectly.
Johnny Depp is already one of the most versatile and biggest actors in Hollywood but he was born to be Rango or the other way around. He is perfect as the big talking, lovable little lizard. I am not a fan of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but the scene where Rango splats onto the car of Johnny Depp's character was hilarious. Depp brings him to life in his trademark boisterous personality. Isla Fisher gives an equally boisterous and fun vocal performance as Beans. She might be the only character I thought they underused just a little because she was a ton of fun and does a great job. Who does animated villain better than Ned Beatty? His work in Toy Story 3 will remain one of the best villains in history to me. He does a great job as the mayor. Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Stephen Root, and Harry Dean Stanton all deserve honourable mention as they bring their perspective characters to life. Root is hilarious and amazingly fun as several characters but best as the Doc. Probably my favourite part of the film is when Rango goes to find the Spirit of The West who of course is a carbon copy of the one and only Clint Eastwood (though they never say that of course.) The Spirit of the West if played by Timothy Olyphant who I love as an actor and he sounds amazing in the role. It still would have made my day...in fact might have even bumped this up to a nine for me if they had gotten Clint Eastwood himself to do the voice. Still it was fun to see the character.
Pirates director Gore Verbinski who is definitely quickly becoming one of the biggest directors out there helms something a little different for him. He still shows off his style of adventure in this film and he clearly knows how to tell a great story and pick amazing talent because Rango is exactly that. One of the things I just loved about Rango is that it has some of the great, memorable, silly lines in any animated film I've seen in a very long time. "I'm going to slice your face off and use it to wash my unmentionables." "You've got something in your eye..." The Bird has a huge arrow sticking out of it. "Oh, that? That's conjunctivitis. It's hereditary." and my favourite all time silly ridiculous line..."I once found a human spine in my fecal matter." Seriously dozens and dozens of hilarious, slightly inappropriate lines delivered perfectly. The film has some minor bad language 'hells' and 'damns' if you will. And definitely has some scary moments but if you are an adult that loves animated you MUST see Rango. Maybe steer clear of showing it the youngsters and keep it between you and the older kids because it is just an all around fun adventure!! 8.5/10