Rango (2011)

"Rango" is a solid entertaining movie which will definitely appeal to all publics. Maybe because it is so, there appears to be a missing link here and there as the screenplay tries to be funny, moralizing, witty, profound and a homage to a lost genre, all at the same time, but the end result is one of the most mature CGI films to appear recently. The first animated film of ILM, responsible for so many advances in special effects technology in the last 20-25 years, and directed by Gore Verbinski (of Pirates of the Caribbean, also in his first animated movie), "Rango" does not seem like other animated features in terms of image and camera use. Some shots seem almost like a real chameleon was in front of the camera, and humans and human objects are only slightly shown, very realistically. Johnny Depp proves that he has a vocal range outside his usual mumbling, and is very amusing as Rango. Rango is a house broken chameleon with stage aspirations, who lives a lonely existence in a cage. In a classic turn, he falls out of the car of his owners, and is left alone in the Mojave desert. A strange traveler points him to an isolated town, and the modern western kicks in. This part is full of the cliches of the genre, but these are cleverly weaved into the story, so they were (at least to me) bearable. The town lives in fear, there is little water (someone is stealing it), and the "Mayor" (Ned Beatty), rules the town, buying all the ranches that go bankrupt, with some land-development scheme up his sleeve. His wheel-chair character has been seen countless times, for example in "Once Upon a Time in the West". Clumsy but with a big mouth and a capacity to improvise, Rango eventually becomes the sheriff of the town by sheer accident, and, infatuated with a female farmer, Beans (Isla Fisher), he vows to find the water robber, at the same time as he follows his own egotistic purposes. These will melt as the adventure goes along, when a higher family moral is achieved, the supposed antagonists become allies, and the real bad guys (including a snake voiced by Bill Nighty) are caught. Along the way, a lot of action, a lot of amusing (I will not say funny) sequences, western-style (the saloon, the ride, the duel) and a lot of monologues for Deep to ramble in exquisite delight. There is a nod at environmental issues but the real nod is at the western, as a lost art of filmaking. In that, "Rango" is special, a gem, despite its box-office-mass-appeal. But don't be fooled by The Spirit of the West, the voice it's NOT Clint Eastwood's (although you have to see it written to believe). The best of the movie is the narrators. Like a greek choir, 4 mexican owls with respective instruments and clothes to match narrate the story with infinite laughing material. A great touch. All in all, "Rango" convinces. It is both a film to watch with the whole family, but also probes a little deeper in terms of meaning. Fans of the western will find it's story predictable, but the whole concept to create an animated movie like this is original enough to deserve attention.