Rango

Rango is a pretty odd film, and one that even after so many years, is still hard to pin down. Released in 2011 and distributed by Paramount under the production of Nickelodeon, this computer-animated western comedy directed by Gore Verbinski got people perplexed right away with the first teaser trailer showing nothing but a weirdly designed wind-up toy fish swimming across an open desert field in complete silence, stating quite clearly that it wanted to show off its weirder side. When it was eventually released, people seemed to really enjoy it as it satisfied both critics and audiences, was a commercial success at the box office, and even won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, making it the first non-Disney or Pixar film to win since 2006’s Happy Feet (although Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse would eventually take the title). What’s really disappoint is that in spite of being promised a movie that was going to go all out with its oddness, the strangest thing about it is that it isn’t that strange at all. A theatrically minded pet chameleon with no name (voiced by Johnny Depp) is knocked out of his owner’s car and stranded in the Nevada Desert, quickly learning how life-threatening the environment is through the various climate conditions and larger predators endangering him at every turn. After being instructed by a mostly squashed armadillo named Roadkill (voiced by Alfred Molina) to find an old desert town called Dirt, he, upon arriving, uses his acting skills to convince the town he is a tough drifter known as ‘’Rango’’. After accidentally killing a hawk, the town believes his story and declare him sheriff, which he has to uphold almost immediately as he is informed by Mayor John (voiced by Ned Beatty) that the town’s water supply is running dry. Forming his own posse out of the townspeople including a rancher he has feelings for named Beans (voiced by Isla Fischer), Rango tries to do his duty for Dirt and find the cause of the missing water supply, which proves to be closer to home than expected once he discovers the mayor’s true dark intentions. Despite the amount of praise it received, Rango sadly has very little fresh material to offer, especially in regard to its narrative, characters, and choice of messages. It has strengths to recognize and still results in a decent film, but its potential was not tapped into.

Considering what could’ve come from this project through that ambiguous teaser and with an eccentric person like Verbinski at the helm, it’s bizarre to see how safe this movie plays itself. This isn’t the case in every department, as you can feel from pieces of the atmosphere, visual style and just from how gooey and disgusting some scenes are, that the film has a hard-core edge to it that even dabbles in the realms of introspective existentialism during some of the quieter moments, but none of that is reflected in the story created by Verbinski, John Logan (who also wrote the screenplay) and James Ward Byrkit, which is incredibly bare bones, predictable as anything and chalk full of lame cliches. Since the is an animated movie from the 2010s as well as a western (which are known for having recycled plot lines), it’s no surprise that the story isn’t the most original, but the movie doesn’t act as a satire or flip on the genre and instead just delivers the usual formula just from the perspective of these uniquely designed animals, and that isn’t enough to distract from how tired this script actually is.  John Logan seems to be an incredibly divisive writer, working on great material like Sweeney Todd, Sindbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Skyfall, and Hugo, but has also worked on stuff like Star Trek: Nemesis, The Last Samurai, Spectre and Alien: Covenant. With how he handles himself here, it isn’t all bad as there’s an occasional funny and/or creative moment, the brief occurrences when the film does get more abstract and icky does make a difference when presented, and even though the characters and story are generic, they aren’t the worst to suffer through, it just really holds back what could be an incredibly creative and different kind of experience. The opening is pretty good, with a bizarre but still grounded atmosphere that presents the story as maybe going above what you’d expect it to, especially for a movie handled by Nickelodeon (showing a still-living Armadillo with its middle-section run over immediately followed by a cameo from a character from the drug-ridden 1998 movie, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, is pretty unique for a PG kids film), but the second the film enters the town, everything just kind of becomes incredibly mediocre and predictable, not helped out by a drawn-out third act that follows through with a ‘’liar revealed’’ plot point that essentially acted as a the basis for this entire premise. Out of the many overused cliches that are frequently utilized within kids’ media, this is one of the most recycled of this era, just wastes a lot of time and doesn’t even feel like it was required for this story, it does sour a good chunk of the experience.

Much like the plot, the characters should feel pretty memorable through how bizarrely and even grotesquely they are designed, but in this by-the-numbers narrative where the roles are kept incredibly generic, they aren’t allowed to be anything more than the basic archetypes that come with the genre. Rango is your typical hapless innocent dreamer who is thrown into a situation out of his control and through experience and confidence in himself, proves that he is capable of more than what he believed himself to be, and that just isn’t fun for a character that’s designed in such a fun weird way, with his large irises with small pupils, his bright but still sickly green coloration and his bent almost crocked neck that almost looks mauled and broken at the same time. Depp plays the role well and no one isn’t trying when it comes to the voice acting, but it’s just that there’s very little that can be done when most of these characters don’t even feel like they were given anything more than one-off gags to work with. Isla Fischer as Beans barely stands out outside of a thick southern accent and a weird quirk that forces her to freeze in place (which only results in weird perverted moments for Rango), Abigail Breslin plays a young cactus mouse who has a fun look and an occasionally funny deadpan delivery, but she doesn’t contribute much to the overall film, Ned Beatty plays the mayor as so obviously evil that you can tell from his first few second on screen everything his character is going to say, do and represent, and despite the multitude of side characters present with crazy looks, only a handful actually manage to offer something of worth. A mariachi band that seem to exist both in and out of the movie’s realm of reality have some cute bits, there’s a villain that appears later on named Rattlesnake Jake voiced by Bill Nighy who has a cool menacing look and intimidating presence, Alfred Molina as this armadillo who acts as some form of spiritual guide leaves a decent impression, and even a character known only as the ‘’Spirit of the West’’ voiced by Timothy Olyphant cleverly pays reference to the genre in many ways, down to who voices him, how he’s portrayed, and what he stands for in the realm of the movie.

For a movie that came out in 2011, it is a fantastic looking CGI movie. In a year that had specific bad spots in terms of visual effects (Mars Needs Moms came out the same year), it’s amazing how well these visuals have held up in terms of lighting, texture, and motion. Apparently, this film used a new method that Verbinski called ‘’emotion capture’’ where he had the actual actors mime out the movements their animated counterparts would do, which just feels like a completely pointless inclusion that honestly just wasted more money and gave the film an air of pretentiousness. While it didn’t add anything though, it thankfully didn’t take anything away either as the characters do at least have great motion, the color palette is dry but not unpleasant and dull, and while the dialogue and characters may not match this vibe, it definitely has a grittier feel that comes through the visuals and how icky and slimy they can feel. 3D animation really is great at creating and showcasing environments, and while nothing about this desert is especially interesting, it is shown off in a very visually appealing and cinematic way. The film’s cinematography is handled by acclaimed cinematographer, Roger Deakins, and you can see what he’s bringing to the table with a lot of inventive and fun shots that display the action and even some of the trippy moments in a frantic but still flowing manner. You can tell that the people working on this movie aren’t mistreating the art form, and they genuinely want to achieve something fresh and new through how it looks, sounds, and feels, but a lazy premise can sour a good chunk of that effort and it kind of does in certain parts. The music by Hans Zimmer is nice enough as he is incapable of producing a bad score, but it isn’t the most memorable either and doesn’t have many stand-out moments (although featuring a banjo version of ‘’ride of the Valkyries’’ and ending with a rock mariachi version of ‘’Miserlou’’ is pretty great).

Rango above all else, feels disappointing because of what could’ve been if it just went further with some of its ideas instead on relying on lazy tropes. It’s hard to say that it missed the mark because a lot of people did like it and it won all the praises it needed, but despite that, no one really talks about it anymore, and that more than likely comes from it not being able to last long outside of its brief window. It’s not mature enough to be thought-provoking or deep, but it also isn’t innocent enough to be charming and cutesy, so it exists in this awkward middle ground where it doesn’t perfectly fit into either camp. There have been tons of animated movies that have pushed the boundaries of what can be shown to kids from an intellectual or even maturity level, and while this film claims to be like that, it really doesn’t feel like it when watching. It isn’t a bad film by any means, as the visuals are impressive, there’s a good moment of comedy and action every once and a while, the actors do a good job, and when the film just lets its weirdness and obscure nature shine through, it does feel distinct and captures the tone of that original teaser, but the forgettable characters, weak middle and final act, an abundance of cliches and a stale narrative, makes people thirsty for a lot more. You’ll get a good time, but if you’re looking for something as crazy as originally promised, you aren’t going to find it here.