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Director Gore Verbinski is known for combining pirates and Johnny Depp to create a massive movie franchise. Now, while his franchise moves on without him, he’s trying something different: a quirky animated feature about a lizard in the Wild West. But don’t start planning your kid’s big lizard-cowboy-themed birthday party quite yet—because this bizarre little adventure is sure to leave kids (and adults, for that matter) feeling more than just a little perplexed.
Rango is the story of a lonely chameleon (voiced by Johnny Depp) who spends his days acting out original plays in his glass terrarium. But then, on a cross-country trip, he’s thrown from the car, and he suddenly finds himself all alone in the desert. Desperate for water, he wanders into the tiny Wild West town of Dirt.
After he tells a few tall tales at the local saloon (and accidentally kills a hawk that’s been menacing the town), Rango is named the new sheriff of Dirt. But he soon finds that the job will require more than just swaggering around town wearing a hat and a badge. The town’s water supply is dwindling—and unless Rango can solve the problem, Dirt will turn into a ghost town.
Rango is definitely an imaginative little adventure. It’s quirky and clever, with madcap characters and a bizarre sense of humor. In fact, for the first half hour or so, it’s insanely brilliant. The animation is strikingly lifelike, the writing is witty, and Rango is like an animated version of some of Depp’s wackiest (and most memorable) characters. Kids will love its kookiness, and parents will appreciate its smart sense of humor.
Unfortunately, though, its brilliance is short-lived. The story eventually loses its focus—and the longer it plays out, the stranger (and more perplexing) it gets. It seems to forget where it’s going—and what it set out to do—and, after a while, it becomes so random and bizarre that it’s just not all that interesting anymore.
At the same time, while the wacky animated characters may make it look like a kids’ movie, Rango isn’t really appropriate for younger audiences. As you might expect, it’s pretty violent—with loads of Wild West shootouts. And the language is pretty questionable, too.
Perhaps more importantly, though, kids just won’t get most of it. The film is filled with jokes and references that are targeted to adults. And it’s not just the occasional pop culture reference or innuendo-loaded line to give parents a laugh, either; it’s just about every obfuscated, multi-syllabic word that comes out of Rango’s animated lizard mouth. Sure, the dialogue is clever—but even the grown-ups in the audience will have to stop and think about what it all means. Kids, meanwhile, will just give up.
Rango had so much promise—and if it had just kept its focus, it would have been a smart family film with the same wacky charm of Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Instead, it’s a random reptilian riddle.
Blu-ray Review:
The Blu-ray release of Gore Verbinski’s Rango is absolutely loaded with extras—but, like the film itself, they’re not really for kids.
As is often the case, Rango’s special features say a lot about how the movie turned out the way it did. In watching the two-part, 49-minute making-of feature, you’ll get a feel for the filmmaking process—from the inspiration to the gorgeous animation to Hans Zimmer’s score. You’ll even get to see some behind-the-scenes footage of the voice cast acting out their parts. But you’ll also understand why the movie ended up being so dark and grown-up and absolutely perplexing for young viewers—because, as the filmmakers sip their bottled water on the patio of their Hollywood Hills home/office, they throw out references to all kinds of classic westerns (as well as movies like Mad Max), discussing how they don’t need to worry about what kids will like; they just need to worry about what the kid in them would like.
Other extras include ten deleted scenes (featuring an all-new extended ending with a meta reference to Rango riding off into the sunset), an interactive map introducing the characters, and a kid-friendly, Rango-themed half-hour TV special that looks at the animals of the desert, from bobcats and prairie dogs to armadillos and rattlesnakes.
For more behind-the-scenes features, you can also choose from two special viewing options. With the theatrical version, there’s a picture-in-picture storyboard reel, which shows the original storyboards. And, with the extended version, there’s a commentary track with Verbinski and his team discussing the process, the various drafts of the film, and more.
If you’re watching the movie with kids, check out Real Creatures of Dirt. It’s a bit long-winded (with a little too much about the movie), but the quirky host makes it both educational and entertaining. Grown-up fans, meanwhile, will enjoy parts of the making-of feature. Just keep in mind that—unless you’ve got a good scan feature on your Blu-ray player—you’ll need to set aside a pretty big chunk of time to get through it all.
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