Johnny Depp seems to be in my opinion, one of the hardest working actors in the business. When he is not working on Pirates nine hundred and three or staring in the new Tim Burton film, he manages to do something completely different and surprise not just his audience, but the movie going community. I don't know how many directors are going to call Johnny their muse (Tim Burton never can shut up about him) but it seems director Gore Verbinski has seen that having Mr Depp in his movies other than a pirate one can make a film exciting and fresh. But this time both men are stepping out of their safety zone and entering into the world of animation. Now you know Johnny doesn't do crap (okay I just heard someone cough a little, I know Alice in Wonderland was on my worst list of movies last year) but in animation you can either have a hit (see Toy Story) or a big miss (Planet 51 anyone?) But this time both men have teamed up for the wild west adventure Rango and boy is it a fun ride. Let's begin
Rango (voiced to perfection) by Johnny Depp is a lizard who dreams of being an actor. Living in a tank he dreams of one day being a great actor. His only friends are a wind up toy fish. A barbie doll without a head, a left arm or one of her legs. A lego palm tree and that's about it. One day when being taken for a ride through the Nevada desert, his cage is thrown through the window of his owners car and smashes on the road. Nearly missing winding up as road kill, Rango encounters Roadkill (Alfred Molina) a wise old creature who tells him of water through the dirt. But dirt isn't the desert. It's a small town reminiscent of the old west, where the town is run by a mayor, the saloon is the local hang out and people talk with drawn out soutehrn accents. Enter the stranger Rango to the town, who knows he could play the part perfect of the new sheriff and gets caught up in telling a white lie that leads him to becoming the new hero. With the water supply dwindling, the town's folk are packing up and moving on. But it is the few including Beans (the amazing Isla Fisher, go the Aussies) a head strong creature who will fight for her farm, Priscilla (voiced by Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Bresnan) a possum who is looking for a hero in Rango, Mayor (Ned Beatty) an old turtle who has seen his town start to decline and the villain of the piece Rattlesnake Jake (the fantastic and under appreciated Bill Nighy). When Beans becomes the trusted friend of Rango, she believes something sinister is happening to her town and water should be flowing allowing the small community to survive. And she is right. I'm not going to say anymore without spoiling it, but this is one wild west adventure that needs to be experienced.
First off. There are two things that make this a cut above the rest. The animation and the voices. I couldn't stop thinking how far computer animation has come since the success of Toy Story. This movie is so in depth and detail in every aspect of the film that you can't help but stay focused. The characters look amazing, the scenery is so well crafted that you feel that you are in the old west and these people are in need of a hero. Gore Verbinski deserves a big pat on the back for this film, (and it's about time enough with the Pirate movies dude). He has made sure that the animation blows the audiences mind and the characters every detail appear in their expression through their face and movements.
Secondly, the voices are fantastic. The actors seem to know their characters and produce this in their voices. Major congrats need to go to Johnny, Isla and Bill Nighy. These guys are fantastic in their parts and really play well off of each other. I read that they actually performed the script with a microphone taping their entire performance and it shows. All the voice actors do a great job.
I must say though if you are wanting a very funny animated film, you are going to be highly disappointed. Rango is more of a adult comedy/adventure which draws much of its strength from it's cleaver script, fantastic animation and it's smart characters. Trust me, small kids will get scared. There are many scenes which work on fear of the main villain and are the things of nightmares. The only problem I had with this film, is I could not for the life of me figure out what most of the characters were. Unless someone told you (e.g. Rattlesnake Jake) I thought many of them were all lizards. I know probably if I watched it again that it would probably make sense but it started to bug me and I wanted to yell half way through the movie, "what kinda f*&kin creatures are you?" But all in all this was a very good animated adventure. All parties should be extremely proud of the achievement. No longer are the best animation coming out of Pixar or Dreamworks it seems the other studios are giving them a run for their money. Rango is one lizard I would definitely love to see again. 3.5/5
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