Rango (2011)

Rango is a delightful animation movie for mature moviegoers which acts as a homage to western cinema in a smart, creative and amusing manner. It has so much going for it- vibrant colorful animation, sapid characters and a beautiful Wild West theme with a Mexican flavor coupled with shrewd humor.

Rango (Johnny Depp) is a thespian chameleon who gets landed into the Southwest desert highway after falling from his terrarium in a car accident. In the burning environment, he finds a run-over armadillo in his quest for Spirit of The West, who informs him about the town of Dirt. On the way, he befriends a female lizard- Beans (Isla Fisher) who takes him to Dirt, a forgotten town inhabited mostly by reptiles and rodents.

Rango tries to blend in among the town folk, using bravado and improvisation by faking himself as a rootin’-tootin’ gunslinger.  After accidentally killing the hawk preying on Dirt, he is promoted to Sheriff by its narcissistic mayor, an old turtle, John (Ned Beatty).  Things begin to get dirty in Dirt when the water in their bank is stolen by moles. Rango dutifully organizes a posse and tracks the robbers to their hideout. They fight the robber’s clan over the stolen water bottle in a ‘Ride of the Valkyrie’-chase through the canyon before discovering the bottle to be empty. Despite the robbers asserting they had already found it empty, the posse brings them to town for trial.

Rango suspects the Mayor on his water-controlling notions to which the Mayor reacts by summoning Rattlesnake Jake (Bill Nighy) who humiliates Rango in front of the town and makes him admit that he is no more than a fake and a coward. He walks away ashamed and doubting his very identity. Then he meets the Spirit of The West, as a cowboy-with-no-name who drives his golf cart . Now, personally I wanted Clint Eastwood to do this voice-over  but nonetheless, Timothy Olyphant lives up to the expectations by brilliantly inspiring Rango telling him “No man can walk out on his own story”.

In his quest assisted by mystical yuccas, Rango learns about the water-supply scenario which the mayor had been manipulating. With the aid of his friends, Rango returns to town with a plan to call out Jake for a duel with a single bullet and turns the water-valve to flood the town with water. In the climax, Dirt is renamed to Mud and Rango is recognized as their Hero.

The movie indeed has innumerable cues to old time favorites like Chinatown, The Shakiest Gun in The West, Blazing Saddles and of course, the dogfight scene inspired by Star Wars. The animation is mind-blowing and so precise that it would make you wonder at the marvel of 2-D animation. Hans Zimmer’s music is wonderful, though some of it has been derived from the western flavor viz. Once upon a time in The West. The duel scenes are unforgettable and the chorus-providing Mariachi owls that appear throughout the movie are very enjoyable. Actor voice-overs are class-apart and Johnny Depp pulls it off very well in a suave style. The director, Gore Verbinsky of Pirates of the Caribbean fame, has done a remarkable job as his debut in animation field.

There is no denying the lure of this Oscar-winning movie. The message conveyed is simple: ‘How high can you aim when your whole purpose in life is to blend in ?’