Screenwriter John Logan, working from a story cooked up with Verbinski and the latter’s longtime illustrator and conceptual consultant James Ward Byrkit, stirs the pot of genre archetypes, conventions and cliches with a sharp eye for their amusing reusability while also writing flavorsome character dialogue.įor his part, the director has broken with convention by recording the vocal performances, not separately in the isolation of studio booths but with the actors working together on a prop-laden and partly dressed stage for 23 days, during which time their work was shot by HD cameras so that animators could later reference their facial expressions and bodily gestures for inspiration. In this case, it’s happily the former that prevails. When filmmakers who have never before worked in animation jump into the deep end, the result could range from the freshly innovative to the downright clueless. But before Rango faces his high noon with the serpent, he has an inspiring encounter with an iconic character called the Spirit of the West who bears an uncanny resemblance to an aged Man With No Name. His henchman is the giant Rattlesnake Jake (Bill Nighy), memorably equipped with a rapid-fire Gatling gun where his rattle normally would be. While some distracting sideline villainy triggers some busy chases and battles, the real bad guy is the mayor, who has been hoarding water in preparation for the day when he will have bought up all the surrounding land for cheap. The wheelchair-bound, seemingly genial old tortoise mayor, who is voiced by Ned Beatty and looks like him too, promises everyone that good times lie ahead and attempts to co-opt Rango, who furthers his invented legend by killing a giant, metal-beaked hawk, by appointing him sheriff. Ushered on his way through the arid landscapes by a mordant mariachi owl band, Rango encounters female lizard Beans (Isla Fisher), with whom he stumbles upon the aptly named town of Dirt, which is occupied by a wide range of vividly realized critters who share one thing in common: They’re all thirsty and can’t hold out much longer without water. The compositions, especially in this stretch, are imaginatively bizarre, as are Rango’s free-associative musings, some of which go by so fast that it’s hard to take them all in. That “Rango” has something different in mind from the general run of animated features is clear in the preliminary philosophical banter between Rango (Depp), a bulging-eyed chameleon who’s normally blue, and a Don Quixote-like armadillo (Alfred Molina) whose midsection has been flattened by a truck’s wheel. In the process, he becomes sheriff of the dried-up desert town of Dirt, which is presided over by a fat, old tortoise who controls the ragged community’s water supply, a situation that neatly allows the film to accommodate a child-friendly ecological theme while, for buffs, also summoning strong memories of Chinatown. Unquestionably the first kids’ toon to feature a homage to “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” within the first 10 minutes, Rango pivots on the pilgrim’s progress of a mild-mannered pet chameleon who finds greatness thrust upon him when he pretends to a past of accomplished gunslinging in the name of justice.
Verbinski also enjoys the advantage of some highly gifted playmates, including technical wizards at Industrial Light + Magic (working on the firm’s first animated feature), some of his “Pirates” effects cohorts and visual consultant Roger Deakins, who helps make the picture look as much shot as animated. “Rango” has the feel of a lark, of a film-lover’s spree in a playpen equipped with some of the world’s most expensive and expressive toys. But the presence of Johnny Depp in the title role virtually assures muscular returns for this Paramount/Nickelodeon production, which opens Friday. The verbal flights of fancy will often sail right over the heads of rugrats, as will the innumerable references to and twists on classic movies, making this one animated feature some adults might enjoy more than their kids. Reconfiguring the spaghetti Western into a fusilli con camaleonte, Gore Verbinski’s surprising escape picture after years in the Caribbean is eye-poppingly visualized in a hyper-realistic style that at times borders on the surrealist.
Cast member Johnny Depp, who voices the titular character "Rango", arrives at the premiere of the animated film in Los Angeles, California February 14, 2011.
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