Rango Review: Pixar, Meet the Competition

The actor and director pairing of Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski has already succeeded in creating one of the most indelible cinematic characters of the past decade in the form of Pirates of the Caribbean‘s Captain Jack Sparrow, so its fitting that the two of them should try again. But instead of covering Depp in more eyeliner or outrageous costumes, they have opted for an entirely new path of creation in the form of computer generated talking animals. And while Rango may not be as memorable as that certain drunken, sexually abstract pirate, it is certainly a worthwhile Saturday matinee that leaves most of 2011′s cinematic offerings thus far in the dust.

Up until now I have considered Pixar the unrivaled master of computer animation, so it shocks me to say that Rango’s greatest achievement is proving that the people who brought us Finding Nemo and the Toy Story films might finally have some competition in the visual splendor department. Under Verbinski’s astute direction, the animation team at Industrial Light & Magic have put forth a film that is so rich to look at that I occasionally found myself marveling at the richness of the characters rather than what was coming out of their mouths. The fur and scales of the animals who populate the desert town of Dirt were so lifelike and tangible that I wanted to reach out and touch it – and it didn’t even require the film to be in 3D.

But beyond the striking visuals, the film succeeds on the strength of a wonderfully bizarre script by John Logan (Gladiator, Sweeney Todd) which introduces us to a house-pet lizard (Depp) with a penchant for acting and a deep desire to be loved. While being transported by car through the Mojave desert, an accident sends his home tank crashing to the ground where he is left behind to fend for himself in the wild with only a Hawaiian shirt and his wits to protect him.
He soon finds himself in the town of Dirt which is about as charming as the name makes you think it is. With buildings made from scrap wood and mailboxes and a population more motley than than a Sergio Leone film, our lizard hero must adapt quickly to survive in this rough and tumble town. To do so he gives himself the name Rango along with a back story that he is a fierce gunslinger known for killing a whole posse of evil-doers with a single bullet. And when he haplessly kills a hawk that is threatening the town they immediately crown him (or is it badge him?) Sheriff.

Being Sheriff of Dirt is not a cushy job though. In a plot line straight out of the Roman Polanski classic Chinatownwe learn that the town is suffering from a debilitating drought even though mysterious amounts of water are seen being dumped in the middle of the desert. Helping Rango crack this mystery is his lizard love interest, Beans (Isla Fisher), who suffers from a spontaneous need to freeze up thanks to an uncontrolled self-defense mechanism.  But she’s tough as nails and happily throws a rifle around her shoulder to join the posse when the town’s only remaining water reserve is stolen.

Most of the film is an action-packed battle bonanza to recapture the water as they deal with a duplicitous Mayor (Ned Beatty) and machine gun-toting rattlesnake (Bill Nighy). One chase scene in particular shows an intense fight in a canyon with animals of all shapes and sizes fighting it out on land and in the air thanks to a platoon of armed and dangerous bats and it is truly eye-popping. Many aspects of this scene were reminiscent of the great truck chase in Raiders of the Lost Ark which happens to be one of my favorite action scenes of all time so I guess you could say it cheated, but I’ll allow it.

There are actually many other nods and winks to classic films throughout the entire movie that make watching it a pure joy for any true film buff. From The Grapes of Wrath to Timothy Olyphant voicing Clint Eastwood’s memorable Man Without a Name from The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly, there is almost no genre that goes unmentioned or unhonored here. In fact, there are moments where it felt like these nods were an attempt to make up for lulls in Rango‘s storyline but there are certainly worse ways to accomplish that so again, I’ll allow it.

The voice cast is rounded out superbly by the likes of Abigail Breslin, Stephen Root, Alfred Molina, Harry Dean Stanton, and Ray Winstonebut it should come as no surprise that Depp steals the show. His character of Rango is like a bizarre combination of his Willy Wonka and Ed Wood, which you’ll know is a treat if you’ve seen him in either of those previous roles. Happily, this level of weird permeates the entire movie and makes it a wonderfully absurd and surreal diversion from your everyday life.

The film is little long for the relatively low complexity level of the plot and it doesn’t exactly stick to your ribs in the way you might hope, but overall Rango provides enough goofy charm and visually stunning action to justify an expensive trip out to the movies with the entire family. There are a lot of animated films slated for release in the coming year and with so many of them being sequels or spin-offs I can’t stress enough how much you should take advantage of something original like this. I think you’ll thank me later.

Grade: B