Pirates of the Caribbean
director, Gore Verbinski, said that his goal with Rango was to step away from the mega flicks he'd been associated with and do something smaller. By small he must mean only in budget, because Rango is conceptually unique and inspired, with Johnny Depp adding his typical dramatic flair bring the entire animated world to stunning life.At it's core, Rango is a pitch perfect homage to classic Westerns, the types dust bowl towns with villainous mayors and square-jawed lawmen who were always ready with the trigger. It doesn't begin that way, though, as Rango starts off looking like a very simple, straight forward story about a lonely pet lizard. Stuck in the confines of his cage, the at first unnamed chameleon develops a taste for hammy theatrics by imagining himself the most popular figure in his imaginary universe. He has no purpose, no reason to exist. He just is. Then as fate would have it, a random accident sends his cage crashing to the street, leaving him alone in the desert. With his confines shattered, he must learn to find for himself, but also find some meaning to his previously empty life.
His existential quest leads him to the town of Dirt, populated by a downtrodden populace of talking creatures. Their town is in crisis. Being out in the desert, water is always scarce, but not it's virtually non-existent. The town bank has practically run dry. The people are suffering and selling off their lands to the mayor(a perfectly devious Ned Beatty), who doesn't seem to be affected by the crisis at all. At first shocked by all the new faces and animals, our hero decides this is the perfect opportunity to cast himself in the role of a lifetime. He christens himself Rango, a badass desperado who's left a trail of dead outlaws in his wake. The town folk are so desperate for a hero they eat up his every word, but when real gunslingers start showing up Rango must decide what kind of man...er, lizard he truly wants to be.
Rango might be the most beautiful animated film I've seen, which should come as no surprise considering it was produced by the folks at Industrial Lights and Magic. Their first venture into the world of animated features, ILM has already put themselves near the top of the pack. The characters are almost photorealistic, yet they're packed with emotion and full of life. The entire backdrop is a perfect interpretation of classic Westerns. I can almost imagine John Wayne walking through the dusty streets of Dirt, with the empty bottles clinking and chiming in the background. Sergio Leone or John Ford would have a field day.
While the story gets off to a slow start and Rango is initially pretty annoying, the pace quickly picks up. Soon you're caught in a whirlwind of classic movie references(including a hilarious nod to Depp's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
) and zany action. The script does lag a little bit, with the good townspeople upstaged by the villains, in particular the terrifying thug, Rattlesnake Jake(Bill Nighy). Even I was quaking at my boots at the Gatling gun wielding killer, who takes particular offense to Rango's presence. Outside of Depp, Beatty, and Nighy, the voicework is solid but unspectacular. 
It's still early in the year, and we've yet to see just how the animated feature landscape shakes out. Disney, Dreamworks, and yes even Pixar might want to start looking over their shoulders. If Rango proves anything it's that there just might be a new Sheriff in town.
