Movie Review: Rango

Rango is the story of a chameleon who is on a car trip with his owners when fate lands him on his own stranded in the desert. Rango has a wild imagination, so what better place for him to end up than in the Wild West? Rango walks into the town of Dirt where they are in desperate need of a new sheriff to take on criminals who have taken over the town. Rango discovers he will be treated as a stranger unless he can prove himself to the townspeople of Dirt.

This animated film has excellent voice talent all around, especially the performance of Johnny Depp as Rango, a quirky and fascinating character. Unfortunately the story seems to be missing something, it really didn’t seem to work for me, however the characters were interesting and the animation was sublime. The idea of this wayward chameleon wandering into the old West was a great idea but the screenplay definitely seemed lacking.

I wanted to like Rango more than I did, but the movie is worth a watch even with the uneven storyline. I rated the movie a little higher for it’s excellent cast and animation. Rango is not in the same legion as some of the better known powerhouse animated movies but it is a good movie you’ll want to be sure to see.

2011. Directed by Gore Verbinski. Starring the voice talents of Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Ned Beatty, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Stephen Root, Harry Dean Stanton, Timothy Olyphant, Ray Winstone and Ian Abercrombie.

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