Johnny Depp stars as a chameleon suffering an identity crisis in this madcap family comedy about the true 'Wild' West.
From the word go its clear that Rango won't be for everyone. Watching a Johnny Depp-voiced lizard rehearsing a play with a group of rather creepy and entirely inanimate toys may lead many to briefly look confused before going to find something less insane to watch. This may actually be the rational response.
However, with awards season having just ended, a quick glance at the animated film category should be enough to convince anyone to give it a shot: those who do will be treated to one of the most unique, weirdest and altogether most entertaining animated films in some time.
Gore Verbrinski clearly took note of the various unsuccessful attempts made by other studios at beating Pixar at their own game and chose instead to do something truly different, allowing his film to stand apart from the multitude of Pixar masterpieces, rather than in their shadow.
Visually, Rango can certainly hold its own against the big boys of animation: the car crash at the very beginning is truly stunning, easily matching Pixar's finest from a technical standpoint. Artistically, Rango is nothing short of inspired, taking a typical Spaghetti-Western setting and then populating it with some of the most bizarre characters ever to grace the big screen. Anthropomorphic critters dressed like cowboys sounds like pretty standard animated film stuff but one look at this bunch and you can't help but seriously worry about the sanity of their creator.
They look like they were plucked from the mind of Sergio Leone in the midst of a severe fever. Or perhaps what would happen if Tim Burton was ever allowed to make a Western (Hell, Johnny Depp even voice one of them).
Leone's iconic protagonist even makes a bizarre cameo as just one of dozens of equally strange movie references, ranging from a brief glimpse of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to a full blown parody of Apocalypse Now (to be frank, I now can't help thinking the original lacked airborne gophers. I'm confidant Coppola would agree.)
These nods to other films are part of what makes Rango as much of a delight to watch for adults as for kids, though even without them, the film's slightly darker, edgier tone stops it from falling into the realm of saccharine kiddie-films that seem designed to punish parents for having the audacity to take young children to the cinema.
Johnny Depp playing an oddball with a funny voice and decidedly loose grip on reality is nothing new - the man has built a career doing it - but it's hard to be cynical when he creates such damn entertaining characters. Rango is certainly one of his finest: more than a little insane, he blunders through most of his own story with the kind of awkward likeability that only Depp can achieve.
Rango was a big hit at the box office, easily breaking the $200 million mark, which is perhaps not surprising as the marketing team performed admirably in their task of disguising the film's utter strangeness to pass it off as a standard talking animal cartoon (a classic easy-sell). Stick the Depp's name on the poster and highlight the Pirates of the Caribbean Connection (Vebrinski directed Depp in three of them) and the term "box office gold" has seldom been used more fittingly.
Regardless of the reason for it, Rango is utterly deserving of the success it had and it's always good to see an imaginative, unorthodox film raking in the cash that hasn't already been vacuumed up by the annual instalment of "Big Robots Punching!" or "Shirtless Vampires Looking Angsty".
There's nothing else quite like it: it;s gorgeous to look at, smartly written and just great fun to watch: just don't expect it to make any more sense when you've finished watching it.
We will publish your review of Rango on DVD within a few days as long as it meets our guidelines.
None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. From the director of The Pirates of the Caribbean comes this summer's hottest movie Rango, featuring Johnny Depp in an original animated comedy-adventure that takes moviegoers for a hilarious and heartfelt walk in the Wild West. The story follows the comical, transformative journey of Rango (Depp), a sheltered chameleon living as an ordinary family pet, while facing a major identity crisis. After all, how high can you aim when your whole purpose in life is to blend in? When Rango accidentally winds up in the gritty, gun-slinging town of Dirt-a lawless outpost populated by the desert's most wily and whimsical creatures-the less-than-courageous lizard suddenly finds he stands out. Welcomed as the last hope the town has been waiting for, new Sheriff Rango is forced to play his new role to the hilt...until, in a blaze of action-packed situations and encounters with outrageous characters, Rango starts to become the hero he once only pretended to be. With a cast that includes Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone and Timothy Olyphant as the Spirit of the West, Rango is an exciting new twist on the classic Western legend of the outsider who saves a town-and himself in the process.
Children's CGI-animated adventure featuring the voice talents of Johnny Depp, Bill Nighy and Timothy Olyphant. Rango (voiced by Depp), a pet chameleon who has long harboured dreams of being a swashbuckling hero, is offered a chance to prove himself when he becomes stranded in the Mojave Desert after tumbling from his owner's car. Rango is guided to the nearby town of Dirt by friendly iguana Beans (Isla Fisher), where an act of accidental heroism earns him the respect of the town's residents and sees the Mayor (Ned Beatty) appoint him Sheriff. Top of Rango's priority list in his new position is to find out what is happening with the town's dangerously low water supply. He uncovers a conspiracy that goes right to the heart of the town's power structure; one that will require the intervention of a true hero to overturn. Is Rango up to the task? The movie won the 2012 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy
