The new delightfully animated movie Rango proves to be not only a delighting and charming movie for the kids, but also one that adults may find entertaining.
Rango is about a lonely yet intelligent pet lizard, voiced by Johnny Depp, who accidentally finds himself stranded in the Moab desert and thrown into a water-deprived critter town, Dirt, that desperately seeks help. The lizard, realizing his opportunity to gain power over the others, establishes himself as tough and qualified and quickly sets himself up as the town’s sheriff.
He soon realizes that Dirt’s situation is dire and they really do need a leader to stand up and help them save their town or else the water will run out and chances of survival will be slim. Rango gathers a posse and they set out to save their town.
Rango, unlike other recent animated kids’ movies, brings out the silly-smartness type of humor, like Looney Tunes, that flies right over the heads of the children but that the adults find hilarious. It does well in keeping both the older and younger audiences entertained and humored.
Rango is also definitely one of the best computer-animated films that I’ve seen in a while. I typically get annoyed with the stupid graphics and the overrated 3-D-ness of recent cartoon movies, but this movie, without the thirteen dollar 3-D glasses that seem to be the craze nowadays, surprised me with its lovely computer-animation. It seemed every detail was paid attention to, from the crazy little critters and their funny features to the streets of Dirt and the dusty detail the surrounding sky and land is given. One little critter had an arrow that was stuck through one eye and protruding out of the side of his head. It gave me the creeps. Other creatures have lopsided heads or very wide eyes that make the animation funny and enjoyable for the viewers.
Rango’s witty style almost feels written for an adult audience and takes us back to the older, more intelligent cartoons, as opposed to Total Drama Island, Chowder, Camp Lazlo or other utterly unintelligent cartoons that the young ones in our generation seem accustomed to. It is a much-needed breath of fresh air from the shallow and stupid Cartoon Network animated cartoons, but it still holds the little kids’ attention.
This was a movie well worth my time. I don’t know if I’d pay nine bucks to see it again in theaters, but maybe a one-dollar Redbox would be a better idea.