Rango

So, Rango came out 2 days ago in the theatres here. Having watched the trailer on TV a few times I was sure I needed to check out Rango soon. And boy, I was not dissapointed.

The trailer didn't show much of the actual story itself, and though it was funny, there were many other great moments in the movie which made me chuckle. Because of this it didn't feel like the trailer only collected the wittiest moments to catch your attention and leave you with nothing special to watch in the theatre. (like some other trailers tend to do)

                                                
                                           Have a little taste of what you can expect.

The name is Rango
The story starts when Johnny Depp's chameleon falls off a pickup truck and finds himself in the middle of nowhere in the Mojave desert. After receiving directions from a roadkill animal and having a dangerous encounter with a hungry eagle, he meets the female lizard Beans. (yes, you heard that right, apparantly her daddy had a thing for beans) Beans is on her way to the city of Dirt, hoping to talk to the major to ask for some water to save her ranch.


You better run Mojito!

Arriving at Dirt, our nameless chameleon quickly notices that the citizens are not so fond of strangers. But, with his fine acting skills and after lots of bragging he manages to convince the suspicious citizens that he is Rango, the most fearsome beast of the West. When the eagle he met before is terrorizing the city he manages to kill it with one bullet, tipping over one of the coal reservoirs onto the birds head. Living up to his selfmade name, he gets promoted to the sheriff of Dirt.
 

The bank is suprisingly empty.

As can be expected in the desert, it soon becomes obvious that the water in Dirt is very scarce. With the big tap to the water supply being broken and the reservoir in the bank running dry, many of the citizens are getting restless and it's up to Rango to fix it. While struggling between keeping his act up and finding water to keep Dirt alive, Rango discovers that there just might be more going on than meets the eye...


Beautiful graphics
Being made by Industrial Light & Magic and the same director from Pirates of the Carribean, Rango is not necessarily targeted at children. Although not explicit, there are many adult themes and the humor has an adult edge as well. The story might be a bit cliché when it nears the end, but Rango has enough good elements to keep it interesting.


One thing that can be said is that the animation is just stunning. The movements are very fluent and the details are simply amazing, from dirt in the animals' fur to every single particle in the eyes, it's all there. Not even one animal looks alike, but that is one of the main reasons they have so much character. The environment is also breathtaking. Many times I was wondering if it was animated or real.

The voice actors also did an excellent job, I thoroughly enjoyed Johnny Depp and Isla Fischer (Beans) in particular. Every voice matched his or her respective animal and gave the character much more depth.

Those eyes!

All in all, I really enjoyed Rango. Although not the best I've ever seen, Rango is a visual masterpiece and certainly worth the watch.