Rango (2011)

Rango has accomplished something that pretty much has only ever been accomplished by Pixar and Walt Disney himself: it is a truly good animated movie. Not in the sense that it is capable of entertaining families for a brief period with mindless action and rude humor, although that does partially describe the film, but it is actually good. I think in many ways it tops Pixar’s last effort, Toy Story 3, which was an acceptable production, but shockingly average and wildly overrated. I think everyone was left so unconscious by that last emotional punch that they forgot all the lengthily pointless and relatively un-amusing shenanigans that preceded it. Rango has something different going on.

To say that this film is not appropriate for children (there are a few mild profanities and innuendos) would be to deprive them of one of the best entertainments aimed at their kind in recent memory. To say that it is for children and not for adults, though, would be to neglect the fact that it offers so much to all viewers. Surely kids wouldn’t catch all the references to classic Westerns (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; High Noon; Cat Ballou, just to name a few) and of course, Chinatown. In fact, the plot of Rango owes a lot to the great Roman Polanski film, as they both involve a big water conspiracy. But Rango doesn’t hide this fact in a cowering thief-like way, but even makes direct reference to the classic in a way that is most amusing. It is all a loving homage, particularly to the Westerns, and it actually works well, unlike most of the stuff churned out of Dreamworks Animation. Rango also has a wonderful style. If the film had no substance whatever, but kept that style, it would still be worth watching. It is almost reminiscent of watching a stop-motion animation, but with much more microscopic attention to detail. Just look at the realistic way fur moves, or even Rango’s tail, which is almost a character in itself.

Johnny Depp, who provides the voice of the titular character, does a fantastic job of tweaking his voice just enough to make us forget we’re listening to Johnny Depp. He instead has become the voice of Rango; that is Rango’s voice. We can always hear that scared little lizard even when he’s trying to be tough, and it fits perfectly. The other voice artists do a fine job also, but they are not spectacular, all relying on the Deep South accent as a crutch for a bulk of the humor. The jokes, in fact, are hit and miss. It seemed to me that everytime they got something right, like the way the hawk walks after Rango has managed to get a bucket trapped on its head, then turns into something much more conventional, like when the hawk then runs into a cactus. Simple is usually much funnier than zany, at least in this instance, and the occasional bodily function joke works its way in, which is also not a good thing.

The thing that surprised me the most about Rango was that it has moments that are surprisingly profound. I keep having to remind myself that this is a cartoon comedy and that this stuff is probably a joke or parody in some way, but it’s hard to look past that while watching certain scenes, like the first several minutes. The film opens with Rango enacting a play in his head and keeping conversation with his inanimate surroundings, a startlingly accurate approach to the insanity that creeps in on one so alone for so long. After an amusing time spent on this, we find that he is in a tank in the back of a vehicle, which he is thrown from during a near-collision. Once he has landed, the umbrella that was in his drinking glass falls slowly, briefly teeters on the rim and falls to the ground. In a different movie, I would have praised this excellent use of symbolism, but here I'm sure it's just another joke. The filmmakers do seem to be trying to make a statement regardless, as seen in the moment where after Rango has been abandoned by the town, he slowly walks across a busy street, paying no mind to the danger involved. Whether he made the journey to the other side because of desperation or because he finally had the courage needed is unclear. Only once safely across is he able to see the path he has to follow. The message is that we must go through the bad parts of life before we reach the good, and it's heavy and daring stuff for this type of movie.

Rango is a perfect example of an animated movie that actually had as much effort put into it as a “real” movie and the result is pretty extraordinary. In the end, people just want to be entertained, and Rango serves that purpose with vigor. It is sometimes funny, sometimes thrilling, and it also has a darker side that is almost so good it belongs in a different movie, but I can’t imagine what Rango would have been like without it. Whether you’re the type who would actually notice and/or appreciate all that stuff, or if you’re just along for the ride, Rango is one of the better family movies I’ve seen in a long while, and on the whole I would certainly recommend it.

8/10