Rango (2011)

Director: Gore Verbinski

Cast: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Ned Beatty
Rating: ***

Irrespective of whether you love or don’t care for Westerns, you must see Rango. It takes all the clichés—the stock characters, plot and action—of a classic cowboy film and turns them into a parody that’s as hilarious as it is intelligent. So take your kids, mum, dad (especially if he’s a Clint Eastwood fan. You’ll see why), cousin, uncle, aunt...whoever...for this one’s a family entertainer if there ever was one.

It’s back to good old 2D animation without the pathetic excuse of dim 3D images and silly glasses for an extra Rs. 100. One of the first things that strikes you is the clarity and brilliance of the animation. On the iMax screen, I was genuinely startled as Rango the chameleon’s colourful, scaly face filled the entire screen.

In his first shot at animation, director Gore Verbinski (of the Pirates fame) delivers a visual masterpiece, bringing to the film his signature exaggerated characters and imagery. The bombastic and animated protagonist Rango inhabits the same mock-epical space as Jack Sparrow. Little wonder then that Johnny Depp should lend him his voice.

By an extraordinary turn of fortunes, a pet chameleon finds himself in the arid desert town called Dirt. With some comical histrionics and a catchy made-up name—Rango—he’s soon made the sheriff and the hero who must find water for the thirsty inhabitants. He goes up against gun-toting outlaws and evil politicians, falls for an oddball female lizard called Beans (Isla Fisher), rides dramatically across the canyon and in the end plays out the incidental hero’s role to comic perfection.

Rango is not as much a satire on the Western as it is a tribute. Yet, you will not feel stupid or bored if you don’t know all the references. It doesn’t matter if you have seen Chinatown or The Man with No Name. Rango is funny and goofy on its own. The oddest characters—snakes, lizards, armadillos, a hawk, a rattlesnake—play out the age-old tale of good, evil, love, heroism. A quartet of mariachi owls are the chorus to the picaresque plot.

It ends as all Westerns do. With a whole lot of shouting and shooting. And some heroic saving-of-the-day stuff. Certain serious issues, such as the politics over resources and real estate, aren’t resolved or explained. Then again, this is a kid’s film adults will enjoy, and not the other way around. 

- Sarit Ray

17 Apr, 2011

This review was originally written for gqindia.com (Click here to see...)