"Rango" Review

In the world of special effects, no name is bigger than Industrial Light & Magic. Name any of the major effect advancements in the past 20 years, and you can bet Lucasfilm's effects studio has had a part in it. So, when you imagine an entire film created by these masters, you'd understandably get excited. And with good reason: Rango is a visual masterpiece. But on top of that, it's also got a great story on its shoulders.

An unnamed pet chameleon (Johnny Depp) lives a lonely life inside a small glass case, performing plays he writes himself, using his case's inanimate scenery (including a mechanical fish and the torso and right arm of a Barbie doll) as supporting actors. Just as he's wondering how to bring "conflict" into his latest work, conflict comes to him: a traffic accident throws him out of the back of his owner's car and onto the desert road. After days of aimless wandering, the chameleon finally finds the cart of a rancher named Beans (Isla Fisher), who takes him to a small town, populated by numerous types of desert animals, called Dirt. The chameleon, happy to finally have an audience, fashions a new identity for himself- the tough-as-nails gunslinger Rango, who shot seven men with one bullet and his the half-brother of the infamous outlaw, Rattlesnake Jake.

The gullible townspeople are impressed with Rango's stories, and are even more impressed when he accidentally manages to take down the hawk that has been terrorizing the animals. The mayor of Dirt (Ned Beatty) appoints him as the new town sheriff. Rango reaches Inspector Gadget-levels of incompetence at the job (he once mistakes a group of bank robbers for prospectors), but he's also Dirt's only hope: their supply of water is quickly dwindling, and they may soon all die.

As always, Johnny Depp is genius as Rango, who slips into at least four different characters (each with a distinctly different voice) in the first three minutes, and uses a convincing- but also convincingly fake- Texas accent for a good chunk of the film. Also impressive is Isla Fisher as Rango's love interest, Beans. I'm not really familiar with Isla Fisher, so you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that the actress performing the flawless Southern accent was actually Australian.

Interestingly for an animated film - or any film, really - the characters appear to be intentionally designed to be unappealing to the eye. Most hairy characters have filthy fur and some even appear to have fleas, their teeth are crooked and dirty, and their eyes are bloodshot and watery. Even Rango himself is physically asymmetrical and his neck is rather disturbingly crooked. Yet, despite this, it never crosses your mind that they're ugly, per se- they're just animals, that's what they look like.

An unfortunate exception to this, however, is Beans. Not only is she a bit more anthropomorphized than the rest of the cast (I couldn't even tell what animal she was- some type of lizard, I'm sure, but I just don't know), she is the only one who is truly creepy. Her eyes are positively massive, and her constant wide-eyed expression is off-putting, especially in the horrific running gag of her odd "survival instinct" of her whole body suddenly shutting down for a moment. Those eyes staring off at nothing will give children nightmares.

But then, that's the thing- Rango is not for kids. It's for adults- only they will appreciate the beautiful visuals, only they will understand the film's tributes to the Spaghetti Western genre, only they will enjoy the score by Hans Zimmer, who is channeling Ennio Morricone 100% here- and only they will laugh at the surprise cameo from a certain classic Western hero.

But nevertheless, Rango has nothing that kids won't enjoy either, so go ahead and bring them along. No matter how old or young you are, Rango is an absolute treat.

Yee-haw! This here picture's a-wranglin' up an

Awesome!