Rango: Review

Anyone who regularly follows the academy awards has probably noticed that, when it comes

to the Best Animated Feature, Pixar is pretty much unstoppable. Since the award was created in 2001, every single one of their films have been nominated for the award, and only twice have they lost it. They have won t

he award for the past three consecutive years. However, with Pixar only releasing one film, Cars 2, next year, this trend will almost certainly be broken. The original Cars is one of the two films made by Pixar that DIDN'T win (the other being Monsters Inc.). Generally, Id argue that the Academy awards don't show which film is truly the best film of the year, but Cars is BY FAR the lowest rated Pixar film on Rotten Tomatoes. And it is very likely my least favorite Pixar film. And while Pixar has shown repea

tedly that they can make a great sequel, I doubt that the sequel will be able to do what its predecessor could not, which lead me to start wondering: What movie will be this years best animated film?

We may have found the answer in Rango.

Obviously it is impossible to know for sure until later this year (the only other promissing looking film in Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson's Tintin adaptation), this film may have what it takes to win itself a statue.

For starters, the film is absolutely beautiful. The animation was done by Industrial Light and Magic, which traditionally sticks to being a special effects company. ILM has won numerous awards for their work, starting with Star Wars in 1977. While this is their first fully animated film, their expertise in the art is evident. The movie looks better than any animated film I have ever seen, especially the landscapes. That being said, the movie looks nothing like recent animated films about talking animals. Dreamworks Animations has that field pretty well covered, and yet Rango looks and feels completely different than, say, Kung Fu Panda. Most animations seem to go for a smoothed out cartoony look, where Rango went mor

e rugged, more ugly, and more real (yet a very stylized reality).

The story is a western. Rango is the story of a lizard (played fabulously by Johnny Depp) who is flung from his cage into the desert. While searching for water, he comes across the town of dirt. He quickly creates a persona, making himself seem like a sort of Clint Eastwood style badass, and he is quickly promoted to sherrif. After complaints from the townsfolk, he begins to investigate the water shortage. I would go on and describe the entire

story, but I am not a one for spoilers. Not that it would make a huge difference, the film is fairly predictable. The predictability is the film's one flaw, I literally called the ending, including who the villain would end up being, within the first 15 minutes. However, it is told in an immensely

enjoyable and engrossing way. The movie included several movie references (in case you are a film junkie who appreciates such things) including a cameo appearence of the main characters

from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

driving down the highway in a drug induced rage.

The movie is directed by Gore Verbinsky, who previously worked with Depp on Pirates of the Carribean. The movies feel very similar. Both of them take a classic genre and twist them into something quirky, modern, yet still staying true to it's origins (in this case, Rango is still very much a western, similar to Sergio Leone)

The only other animated film remotely like this is last years Fantastic Mr. Fox. Both movies did not feel like they were truly aimed at kids, not afraid to make jokes or references that go over their heads. On those grounds I can recomend this movie to anyone who Liked Fantastic Mr. Fox. Or anyone who likes Johnny Depp, or...Hell. I would recomend this movie to anyone. It is just two hours of pure engrossing fun and beautiful animation

4.5/5