“I will blow that ugly right off your face!” —Rango
Today’s quick review: Rango. The life of a pampered pet chameleon (Johnny Depp) takes an abrupt turn when he falls out of the family car, leaving him stranded in the Mojave Desert. Traveling to the parched town of Dirt, he reinvents himself as Rango and impresses the locals with tales of his prowess as a gunslinger. But when the town’s water runs dry, the townsfolk turn to Rango for help, forcing him to become the hero he’s pretending to be.
Rango is an animated family Western comedy starring Johnny Depp. Rango is set in a Wild West inhabited by anthropomorphic desert creatures, where water is the only currency, townsfolk like Beans (Isla Fisher) struggle to hang onto their land, and bandits like Rattlesnake Jake (Bill Nighy) terrorize the populace. Into this dire situation walks an unlikely hero to set things straight.
Rango has plenty to offer in terms of story, character, setting, humor, and action. The plot is an inventive mystery about Dirt’s missing water, which works nicely with the film’s setting and holds back just enough to keep the audience guessing. The jokes cover a lot of ground, ranging from Western references to innuendo to straightforward family humor. The movie is topped off with chaotic action that takes full advantage of the animated medium.
The main drawback of Rango is that it has an odd flavor to it. The characters and setting are scraggly, with none of the cuteness typically associated with family films. The sense of humor is often mature and sometimes macabre. The dialogue is wordy and rapid, with jokes tripping over one another before they can be fully processed. The script also has a meta streak that will intrigue some viewers and put off others.
The end result is a unique movie that will suit some viewrs more than others. Those willing to either look past Rango’s offbeat style or embrace it will find that the movie successfully combines old ideas with new ones, putting its own comedic spin on the Western genre. Viewers expecting a more straightforward, superficially charming movie may want to approach Rango with caution.
For a Western action adventure with the same lead and director, try The Lone Ranger. For an animated family adventure with a similar story setup, try Flushed Away, Bolt, or Monsters, Inc. For another animated comedy with mature humor and a sizable upside for the right audience, try Megamind.
[7.2 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1192628/). I give it a 7.0 to 7.5 for clever humor, a satisfying story, and a rough but fully realized world; your score will vary.