Eh, I think studios would have greenlit ANY animated "family" movie with Johnny Depp's name instantly. This definitely shows, as the team sure pushes the boundaries of what a traditional computer-generated movie actually is.

I felt the story was a bit repetitive and slow. Rango himself was pretty annoying the whole time, and there were way too many side characters to have any shining moments from them. The film's definitely beautiful, but it also extremely odd. Just wait to you see a figure very similar-looking to Clint Eastwood.

C+

Existentialist post-modern westerns were practically a genre to themselves in the 60's and 70's, though High Noon is the most often cited as the original one.

I feel like the term post-modern is getting grossly misused here.

I was referring more to Bradley's categorization of High Noon, but I guess that's the Witherberry for you.

Excellent film.

Very quirky and peculiar throughout, but that's what makes the character of Rango, and the film itself, very charming, unique, and satisfying.

The animation in Rango is some of the best out there, in fact, I'd call it the best of any non-Pixar CGI film. In particular, the amount of detail of the creatures of Dirt raises the bar for all CGI films to come.

Along with the superb voice-acting, witty dialogue (several great references here), and great score (classic Zimmer, with some of Verbinski's own thrown in there I noticed), add up to great experience.

8.5/10

I don't really care what the critical consensus is on a film, but it's nice to see a film like Rango with almost 90% on RT.

B+

Took awhile to get off the ground but once it does it's an exhilarating journey to the finish from its beautiful animation which comes close to besting Guardians of last year, to the imaginative action and fantastic score. I noticed some have faulted its third act, but, I don't see it and as they have said it certainly isn't for kids.

It definitely needs a second viewing to get you to appreciate all at work here, but, it's not an instantly likeable film that that viewing needs to be immediate.

In the midst of an impressive live action career, a career including The Ring, the very underrated The Weather Man, and the first three installments of the mega-popular Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Gore Verbinski has directed his first animated film, the far-out Rango. It is also Industrial Light and Magic's first foray into feature animation.

Johnny Depp, energized and in top form after the crushing mediocrity of The Tourist, lends his voice to the main character, an anonymous chameleon (and philosophical thespian) we first meet in his terrarium, wedged into a car traveling down the highway. Before long, it has been flung from the moving vehicle, and he is freed at last from its glass confines. (Or has he? New York Times critic A. O. Scott posits the subsequent action may be unfolding inside the theatrical lizard's head, an interesting and worthy theory.) Lost in the desert and knocking on Heaven's door, he meets Beans (the unrecognizable voice of Isla Fisher), a farm girl from a parched Old West town called Dirt. In Dirt, after a series of classic coincidences and misunderstandings, the townspeople come to believe our hero is a tough-as-nails, true-grit gunslinger. He assumes the name of Rango and is hired as the new sheriff of Dirt, a position which forces him to face menace and rampant, water-centric corruption.

This film, an exciting and often very quirky ode to spaghetti Westerns and cinema in general, is an unqualified triumph. Verbinski and screenwriter John Logan's (Gladiator) reverence for the films they are paying homage to, including, of course, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as well as Apocalypse Now, Chinatown, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, is evident throughout. And it is important to note this is not a wan, DreamWorks-style spoof-a-thon, reaching without regard into the grab bag of film history, vomiting limp, for-the-parents "references" onto the screen. No, Rango pays homage Quentin Tarantino-style, with wide-eyed charm and intelligence. From the wondrous first five minutes on, it is clear Verbinski is operating from a place of pure passion. The film also has its own very unpredictable sense of humor and a colorful cast of characters, including a fierce, Bill Nighy-voiced villain in Rattlesnake Jake, who has a Gatling gun for a rattle.

ILM's achievement here is one for the ages. I am not sure I have ever seen a more beautiful, convincing, and detailed computer animated film. The animation also feels brave; for example, Rango isn't an adorable creature with enormous, emotion-conveying eyes, as heroes in animated family films so often are. Instead, his lizard eyes are small, shifty, and hard to read, perfect for the character, and he wins our hearts and minds anyway.

Rango is a true marvel of a movie. It hits every note to which it aspires. An atmospheric Western, a half-sentimental/half-wry homage to great films of the past, a veritable feast for the eyes and ears, and so on and so forth. It is hard to imagine there being a better, more entertaining, more surprising animated film this year (apologies, Pixar).

A

I thought it started of very well and I really enjoyed the first half but it took itself a bit too serious in the last third and wasn't as much fun. But the animation was probably the most beautiful I've ever seen. B

Rango is a completely enjoyable ride that fits perfectly for older audiences and does not worry about entertaining kids despite its PG rating. In fact kids won't understand the film anyway so leave them at home. The film definitely is weird but it is not out of this world weird like some reviews want to hint. Johnny Depp's voice work is spot on and he makes the character of Rango so enjoyable. The animation is crisp and top-notch. Not needing 3D to help it, makes the animation that much more impressive. It is the funniest offering so far this year. The fact that it has jokes that are obvious from the start and other hidden ones make it so rewarding. Looking at the rest of this year's animated slate, we may already have the frontrunner for the rest of the year for Best Animated Feature. See it. ***1/2

I finally watched Rango today and here are my thoughts:

I enjoyed it, but I found some flaws, the animation was stunning and beautiful, parallel to what I saw in Ga'Hoole last year, the story was solid but I found some parts of the plot similar to other animated films,, a mixture between A Bug's Life and Chicken Run,,,, the best of it was Rango as the main character and the snake (for an instanse it reminds me of Lord Voldemort), my favorite scene was the bat race fight and the worst was the Western's Spirit scene,,,, just adding that some children screamed and cried during the film, and also some parents left the theater,,, defenitely this is NOT a Kids film,,,,,but overall a fun film,,,, I loved the core message about Water,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

B

I liked it quite a bit.

It still occasionally indulges in the worst impulses of animated film, but it's generally a thrilling, evocative, and thoroughly entertaining work. References abound, but they never feel out of place or forced. When you've got Timothy Olyphant doing his best Clint Eastwood, and it totally works, you know you're doing something right.

It was definitely pushing the boundary of PG, though.

Yeah, pretty much, except I think I liked it a fair bit more than daniel. When the Indian started making prostate jokes I thought we were on a slippery slope but the film keeps the "reaching too far" impulse to a minimum. The existentialist soliloquies worked even more effectively than the guru post-colonial influences. It was a beautiful tapestry of various and seemingly unrelated concepts applied to one very odd formula. Something similar too reading an Allen Ginsberg poem, except not nearly as good in the end (then again, nothing is really.) Anyway, a very strong entry into 2011, certainly will be on my top 10 by the end of the year.

Jake the Rattlesnake is fucking awesome. Can they give him his own movie?

I give it a B- overall. Has good things going for it, but it made me a little sleepy

Upon a second view I realize I was not nearly passionate enough with my comments. Once all of the bizzare disparate parts are assembled into an orderly fashion on the first venture, one can actually watch them unfold in the second. And my what an escapade it is. This is such a brave, confident, honest film. So ruthlessly critical of contemporary culture, so dedicated in attempting to redefine, or at least ignore, the boundaries of animated film. I would go as far to say this rivals the very best productions pixar has ever put out. It is certainly not as clever as ratatouille or heartfelt as Wall-e but it's even more mature and far less restrained than those movies. I could honestly say this is at the same level as the very best films I've seen from the past 3 years, (since 2007).

^I've got a feeling that a second viewing would really elevate this film. It's flaws are the kind that, in the big picture, are almost superfluous to its strengths.

A very not for kids film at all.


It feels like a parody of the entire wild west.

Funny part was having Clint Eastwood as the spirit of the west.

Lol...

seriously, how did this gem slip past my radar? i always had a hunch that gore verbinski (mousehunt is pretty much genius) had the chops to make some serious pictures, and i feel like rango has proved that. this shit is legit. i'm gonna throw myself into the cinephile fire a bit here, but this movie reeks of jodorowsky in a way that fucking floored me. there are entire sections of rango that are pure surrealistic, hallucinatory western bliss. i'm not sure i've ever seen a computer animated movie that takes composition and mise-en-scene this seriously before. the images in this film serve you both ways - they are both beautiful and emotionally/narratively prudent simultaneously. this is a gorgeous, in-love-with-cinema work. and i loved it.

"Is this Heaven?"
"If it was, we'd be eatin' Pop Tarts with Kim Novak."

An animated western Chinatown filled with real darkness? I don't know how or why anyone came up with this, but I know I loved it. Forty thumbs up