Rated PG for rude humor, language, action and smoking
Cast: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone, Timothy Olyphant
Director: Gore Verbinski
Yeah, I suppose if I lived my life in an encased menagerie with little more than fake sand and some relics from the garbage can to keep me company, I’d probably be as histrionic as this lonely pet chameleon.
He fancies himself an actor, though that’s likely more out of necessity than desire. He has no friends, but does manage to carry on surprisingly meaningful conversations with himself. He has a knack for tall tales, mostly involving himself as the star.
After his glass tank of a home falls from a moving car and shatters (he has been haphazardly packed with his owner’s other possessions to be relocated), our hero finds himself stranded along a blistering Nevada Las Vegas
This is the first of many such allusions which appealed greatly to me, though I imagine will soar over the heads of many in the movie’s target demographics. (Personally, I loved the scene where Rango engages in a conversation with fresh roadkill who attempts to school him in what lies “on the other side of the road,” though a couple children nearby were understandably bewildered at my reaction.)
With no idea where he’s headed, Rango eventually finds himself in the town of Dirt
After a string of Rango’s self-aggrandizing tall tales, he is made town sheriff. This does come with a pinch of foreboding. (The tombstone of the prior sheriff reads: “Sheriff Amos, Thurs. – Sat., R.I.P.”) His personal theatrics now taking the form of Gonzo journalism, Rango must form a posse and locate the water before the town runs dry with hysteria.
“Rango” is a lot of fun. It’s the first feature length film from Industrial Light and Magic, and it’s refreshing that the studio opted not to cram a box office ticket surcharge down the throats of the movie-going public with a 3D conversion… a rather depressing trend in animation. More and more movies seem to be released only in 3D, which really sucks working families dry.
This movie doesn’t need it, as it’s a colorful, clever, action-filled, off-beat, sometimes dark, generally funny adventure that’s not afraid to pluck references from a deep well of movie history. The town’s mayor, for example, is voiced by Ned Beatty. At first, it seemed like he was simply transferring the role of the cuddly yet sinister Teddy Bear in “Toy Story 3” into his slimy and sinister role here. But with hints of haughtiness embedded within the mayor’s crusty voice coupled with his movements limited to a haphazardly-constructed wheelchair contraption (not to mention the whole water-depletion angle), he seemed inspired more by the John Huston role in “Chinatown .”
Dirt is chock full of colorful personalities. Notables are Beans (Isla Fisher), a fellow lizard with a curious catatonic defense mechanism, Priscilla (Abigail Breslin), a possum who befriends Rango mainly to lay claim to his boots once he’s dead, the Lee Van Cleef-ish villain Rattlesnake Jake (Bill Nighy). And of course, we have Rango’s inspired chance meeting with the Spirit of the West (voiced by Timothy Olyphant), which I cannot say another word without spoiling the film’s best visual moment.
The director is Gore Verbinski, who has pretty much run the gamut in his Hollywood career. Everything from mainstream (the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean ” movies) to family comedies (“Mouse Hunt”) to horror ("The Ring") to more quirky fare (“The Mexican,” “The Weather Man”) has made its way onto his resume. I’ve never really considered him among the directorial elite, but I do have tremendous respect for his consistency in a variety of genres. His movies are almost always entertaining.
It’s not every day I get to end a review by commenting on an animated movie that combines gritty Western movie references with Hunter S. Thompson and Roman Polanski into a rollicking fun adventure. And what do you know… it didn’t even need to be in 3D.
* * * 1/2 out of * * * * stars
