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Rango (2011)
Director: Gore Verbinski
Synopsis
Johnny Depp voices the titular cowboy chameleon in this offbeat animated adventure.
Movie review
From Time Out London
Existential westerns are nothing new, but it’s hard to recall one in which the conflicted hero was a chameleon. In this animation from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ director Gore Verbinski, Johnny Depp voices Rango, a pet and wannabe actor who is marooned in a desert and stumbles across a frontier town running low on water. Reinventing himself as a hero who killed seven outlaws with a single bullet, Rango becomes sheriff and starts to tackle the drought problem.There are some wonderful things in ‘Rango’: the dialogue is witty, the animation is dizzying and the action is stunningly choreographed. It’s a film of astounding detail, from the marks on Rango’s skin to countless little in-jokes and references. But there’s the problem: the film is so convinced of its genius, throwing in a twist from ‘Chinatown’ here, a cameo from Hunter S Thompson there, that it feels pleased with itself. The idea of the tortured thespian chameleon seems deep at first, but it becomes laboured. ‘Rango’ would have worked well as a ripping, family-friendly tale packed with incident and humour; in trying to be too clever, it risks alienating its audience.
Author: Tom Huddleston
Time Out London Issue 2115: March 3 - 9, 2011
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