Dann in reel life: 'Rango' a wrongo

‘Rango' a wrongo

Mr. Gire: I've never bothered to contact a film critic in response to one of their reviews, but in this case I feel compelled to do so.

Your high praise of “Rango” completely baffles and troubles me. How this movie ever received a G rating I will never know. This film is not funny (three collective laughs in the theater), unoriginal (plot a total rip-off), and, most importantly, utterly inappropriate for children.

Never have I seen a “kids” movie where the topic of death is so prevalent. Examples: the mariachi bird band, which not only sings about impending death, but actually is seen hanging from the rafters.

Rango tries to commit suicide by walking across the roadway; and the snake wants to “watch” the damsel's face as she dies.

Of course, what would a G-rated movie be without the main characters saying “hell” and “damn”?

On a subjective note, the animation was first-rate, but visually, all the animals were unattractive and thoroughly creepy in their appearance.

When it comes to movies aimed at adult audiences, I may browse your reviews. Movies targeting audiences still dependent on their parents, I'll take a pass.

— Kirk Gaertner

Dear Kirk: You're a good person to be concerned about the contents of G-rated movies intended for children. “Rango,” however, is rated PG — not G — suggesting that parents should be wary about taking kids younger than 12 years old to see it.

Either way, I'm guessing that you didn't read my review closely. I wrote that this movie “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.”

“Rango” wasn't intended for children any more than the G-rated “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” was for kids when it warped into theaters back in 1979. The G rating doesn't necessarily mean a movie is meant for kids. It just means the movie lacks the rough language and depictions of drugs, sex and violence that would mandate a more restrictive rating or stronger parental warning.

As for your charge that you have never seen a kids' movie where the topic of death is so prevalent, I can only assume you missed the Oscar-winning G-rated “Toy Story 3,” which is obsessed with death. Bo Peep and two other characters have gone off to “the yard sale,” the movie's obvious metaphor for death.

“Toy Story 3” is all about the unstoppable passage of time, growing older (with Andy about to go off to college) and facing mortality with grace. (The hellish incinerator scene pretty much sums that up.)

I also assume that you have missed such animated films as “Bambi,” where a hunter kills Bambi's mother with a single, horrible gunshot. And “Snow White,” in which an evil queen poisons Snow White, and we assume, for a while, she's dead.

These movies came out before the ratings were established in 1968. Had they been rated on release, they'd have been G.

As for your charge that the plot in “Rango” was unoriginal, you are correct. It was intended to be a parody of Wild West clichés, so the movie recycled as many Western conventions as it could make fun of.

The good news is, Kirk, that you can guiltlessly continue to browse my reviews “when it comes to movies aimed at adult audiences.”

Those movies include “Rango.”

— Dann

‘The Illusionist' arrives

The After Hours Film Society presents “The Illusionist” (nominated for an Oscar for animated feature film) at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Tivoli Theater, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove. Tickets cost $9 ($5 for members). “The Illusionist” is a work of animated poetry directed by Sylvain “The Triplets of Bellville” Chomet, based on a 1959 script written by the great French filmmaker Jacques Tati. Go to afterhoursfilmsociety.com. Rated PG. Suitable for general audiences. ★ ★ ★ ½

Reel Life review: ‘Of Gods and Men'

Xavier Beauvois' “Of Gods and Men” (France's submission for the Foreign Language film Oscar) is a carefully measured study in faith as observed by eight French Christian monks living in relative harmony with Muslims in Algeria during the 1990s.

When Islamic fundamentalists start slaughtering foreigners at will, the monks reject offers of protection from the army, preferring to let the Almighty be their defender.

“Of Gods and Men” does not depend on plot, wit or special effects. It is propelled by each monk's personal witness and his struggle to decide what he should do: leave Northern Africa for safety or refuse to capitulate to fear by risking certain violent death in the monastery.

The fact-based story stars Lambert Wilson as the aptly named leader, Christian, and Michael Lonsdale (007's villain from “The Spy Who Loved Me”) as Luc, an aging monk who serves as a de facto physician.

“Of Gods and Men” opens at Chicago's Century Centre, Evanston's CineArts 6 and Highland Park's Renaissance Place. Rated PG-13 for violence. 120 minutes. ★ ★ ★ ½

‘Food, Inc.' maker here

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Robert Kenner makes a personal appearance at Harper College in Palatine at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Building J, Room 143. “Food, Inc.,” his documentary unmasking the secrets of America's corporate-controlled food industry, will be screened (free admission) two times next week: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in J-143 and 2 p.m. Wednesday in E-107. General admission costs $12 for Kenner's speech ($5 for Harper students). Go to harpercollege.edu or call (847) 925-6100.

• Daily Herald Film Critic Dann Gire's column runs Fridays in Time out!