RANGO REVIEW

Many moons ago, Industrial Light & Magic released an animated short called Work In Progress, which for the time was incredibly impressive. But as most may know, ILM never really went down the animated feature route ala Pixar. That is, until now.

Lars is a chameleon who, due to a little accident (in part,wonderfully nodding and winking to Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas) ends up in a little town where he names himself Rango to a wide and varied bunch of critters. Before long, Rango becomes the Sherriff and finds himself in the middle of a water shortage controversy, with a few shady characters keeping the townsfolk in the dark. Ultimately this is a story about a lonely chameleon who attempts to find himself by masquerading as something he’s not, coupled with the help the town and a few green issues about water conservation. Either way, Rango is a little bit more than just your average wham, bam animated feature.

From a casting perspective, Gore Verbinski seems to have got this spot on. Depp plays Rango, and after about 5 minutes, you forget it’s Depp as his voice seems incredibly suited to that of our colour changing gun slinger. Isla Fisher works well as Beans and the rest of the cast including Bill Nighy and Ned Beatty (as the towns mayor, who is surely inspired from Tony Curtis) all seem perfect for their parts. The soundtrack also get’s a special mention here as well. Besides the singing troupe of semi depressed owls, it’s catchy and at times quite epic and adds immensely to the over all movie.

The visual style of Rango is nothing short of amazing. Using Renderman (which is a Pixar product) ILM have really raised the bar here. Dreamworks Animation and Pixar both have their unique styles, but ILM have also kept true to their own “WIP” animated origins. It’s hard to describe, but it’s far more photorealistic than Pixar or Dreamworks. Again, it’s unique and absolutely breath-taking. While I haven’t seen the 3D version, Rango is a must watch in a digital cinema and this will surely be Blu-Ray demo material when it arrives. Again, I can’t say enough good things about how this looks. Prepare to be amazed!

The movie itself, rollicks along at a fair old pace but the story tries to be a bit more than it is. At times it can a bit complicated and, while it is very funny in parts, it won’t (and didn’t) have the kiddies laughing from start to finish, as it lags a bit in the middle. And to be honest, it’s might be a bit too complicated for the very young kiddies. That said though, it is very entertaining and the wide variety of characters, each with their own unique personality will keep everyone engaged. It’s a pity the story tries a little too hard, otherwise we would be looking at perfection.

ILM have raised the bar very high here for the competition and here’s hoping they keep producing some more animated features. Overall Rango is pretty near perfect, thoroughly entertaining and a must watch!