Review of Rango (2011) by Brandon W — 16 Dec 2016

Rango is directed by Gore Verbinski, and it stars Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Ned Beatty, Alfred Molina, and Bill Nighy in an animated film about a chameleon that wants to be an actor that got himself in the desert and has found a town called Dirt, and once people saw that he killed a hawk even though it was more of an accidental situation that lead towards the demise, people cheered him for it and made him new sheriff, which he uses that to his advantage.

I'm a fan of the director's work as I like The Ring, first three Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Weather Man. So I wanted to see it again, and maybe because I grew up, but I enjoyed this more than I did as a kid apparently.

Johnny Depp is terrific that gives in his quirks that works in this film and is hilarious. When Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, and Alfred Molina showed up, I didn't think it was actually them because the accent they put in is thick enough for it to be unrecognizable, but you can still tell that it's their voices, and Bill Nighy is very intimidating, even threatening at times that is creepy in some moments.

This is actually Industrial Light & Magic's first animation they've done in terms for special effects, and it seems like they did it effortless as it has one of the most realistic animations that I've seen as every detail of the animals look really good that it honestly looks real.

The characters are very colorful with a lot of humor put into it, and the score by Hans Zimmer is really good that fits the western in, while also being on the joke too with some funny references. Speaking of references, there's a lot of them in this while still keeping focus on the plot, and they are really well done, unexpected, and will roll off the kid's head which gives the adults something to laugh at without it feeling forced in.

The writing by John Logan is well-written, and when it does the reveal that you know is coming, it's very long which can depress some viewers, but it's worth it as it gets to one of the coolest cameos in this movie.

There are a lot of stuff in there that are actually adult, whether it be cursing, smoking, chewing tobacco, or sex jokes, it's unexpected when you see that from a kids film, which I'm glad to see that it has the right to be a PG movie, even though it could've easily been a PG-13.

It's really smart, and has enough funny humor in there that doesn't make the film boring. Rango is the type of western that I'll keep rewatching like Django Unchained because I love the film so much that it's Gore Verbinski's masterpiece.