Rango

To start off, this movie took me by surprise. I remember distinctly when I first saw the trailer for Rango that I was not terribly impressed. I even said to myself, "I don't think I am going to watch that movie." But, obviously, I did. And, in truth, I'm glad I did. The only reason why I took a chance on this film was because a friend of mine recommended it to me. Hopefully I can do the same for you.

Rango is being marketed for children, and to be perfectly frank, it shouldn't. That's not saying that it's inappropriate, because it is entirely kid-friendly and appropriate for the youngsters. But the entire film is saturated with adult humor and jokes that next to zero children will get. Heck, there are even some references that may go above the heads of certain adults. With blatant references to Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, homage to Raising Arizona, and the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns, these things are clearly not meant to make the child laugh, but the parent, or young adult who takes a chance on a "kids' movie". However, the movie still have more than enough to cheesy, slap-stick, and non sequitur jokes to remind us that need reasons to laugh out loud. Take them with a grain of salt and maybe a small eye-roll, and just go with it.

Hidden-humor aside, the story is actually pretty impressive, and substancial. If you think that this is going to be a Mr. Chicken scenario where a meek and cowardly nobody gets thrust into a position of power and responsibility due to a case of misunderstanding, you would actually be wrong. I was shocked too. It's actually more along the lines of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, where there's mistaken identities, sure, but the protagonist actually embraces it, and rolls with it. It's a classic Western, sure: a town has been overrun by a villainous group, and only the law and its noble sheriff is the only hope for the poor and powerless townspeople. But there's enough new spins on the story and philosophical questions of identity to keep things interesting. The story's loaded with Western clichés, put coupled with all of the homages and valid life lessons, it has some definite merit.

Finally, I just have to give praise to the animation of this film. It was impress. I mean, really impressive.

This wasn't the greatest movie I've seen in awhile, and it certainly won't be up for next year's Best Animated Feature, but it was entertaining and better than I assumed it would be. Maybe this will have given you just enough encouragement to give it a shot.