'Rango' stands tall in the saddle as a Wild West spoof
Just when we all thought Pixar might be the top rung on the animated feature film ladder forever, along comes Gore Verbinski's radical neo-retro-three-dimensional-non-3-D-Western-tribute-spoof “Rango,” starring Johnny Depp as a thespian lizard deputy.
As Depp's chameleonic law man changes colors and tactics, “Rango” likewise constantly shape-shifts by twisting itself into a marvelous, merry mix of moods and movie genres.
Kids will be greatly entertained by “Rango,” but it has been made primarily for adults who love movies and have seen enough of them to catch the zillions of film references that fly off the screen at the speed of light.
“Apocalypse Now”? It's in there. Except that helicopters have been replaced by bats being ridden by bad-guy critters who play Richard Wagner's “Ride of the Valkyries” on their own instruments as they head into battle.
“High Noon”? “The Road Warrior”? “The Wizard of Oz”? “Chinatown”? They're in this movie, too, along with Sergio Leone's spaghetti Westerns.
There's even a mysterious character called the Spirit of the West who looks suspiciously like Clint Eastwood, and sounds just like him. (Timothy Olyphant's voice is an audio dead-ringer for the Man With No Name.)
Listen carefully to the soundtrack. You'll hear a musical homage to “The Magnificent Seven” and other Westerns.
“Rango” is like a self-aware Wild West cartoon written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Quentin Tarantino, except this film is rated a safe PG. (Note: It features guns, shooting and characters “dying,” an extraordinary deviation from most family animated films.)
The story opens with Depp's green, bug-eyed character, a family pet, amusing himself by staging and starring in his own plays inside his terrarium. It's in the back of a family car apparently in the middle of a cross-country move.
An accident causes the terrarium to fall out of the car on to hot pavement. There, the poor lizard is left to fend for himself in the harsh desert landscape.
He imagines himself to be a great Western hero, and he takes his name Rango from a city name: Durango.
Rango eventually winds up in a thirsty town of strange varmints under the control of the mayor (Ned Beatty), a corrupt leader secretly diverting the precious water supply away from the tiny community so citizens will move out — and sell their land to him cheap.
The lizard decides to play his role to the hilt by becoming the legend in his own mind. With comical results, of course.
Don't get bogged down by the deliberately conventional plot. “Rango” is all about innovative storytelling.
It combines the tortured physical absurdities of a Saturday morning cartoon with a cinematic, widescreen look of a Roger Deakins movie.
The nine-time cinematography Academy Award nominee (he shot the Coen brothers' “True Grit”) served as a visual consultant on “Rango,” which looks like stunning 3-D, although it's traditional 2-D.
Verbinski, who directed all of Depp's popular “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, puts lots of love into this strange and wild animated motion picture, stuffed with great “performances” by well-designed and detailed characters.
Isla Fisher plays Beans, Rango's odd, obligatory love interest. Bill Nighy is hissably engaging as the villainous Rattlesnake Jake (channeling Kid Shelleen's evil twin from “Cat Ballou”?). Alfred Molina lends real character to a critter called Roadkill.
Does this movie make a lot of sense? No. And yes.
Because anyone who's seen a classic Western, or even a bad one, will instantly recognize why the iconoclastic Depp slapped on the chaps and googley eyes — to play a lizard that reminds us of the heroes who dwell inside us.
<b>“Rango”</b>
<b>3.5 stars</b>
<b>Starring:</b> Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Bill Nighy, Abigail Breslin, Ned Beatty, Alfred Molina, Timothy Olyphant, Ray Winstone
<b>Directed by:</b> Gore Verbinski
<b>Other:</b> A Paramount Pictures release. Rated PG. 104 minutes