I got to wondering yesterday, as I was on my way home from the cinema, as to whether Rango would exist at all if Chinatown had never been made. So alike are the plots (even their respective villains look the same) that a more apt title would be Chinatown With Animals. Then again, Who Framed Roger Rabbit also borrowed heavily from the 70's classic, thought not so brazenly, and when the end result is as entertaining as this, there's no major reason to complain. Its target audience wont even know what Chinatown is anyway.
One part off the wall cult piece, two parts conventional (kiddie) western, Rango has enough going for it to appease varying demographics. It's a kids film first and foremost but, like the movies from those guys at Pixar, it's peppered with adult references. There are also references aplenty to other movies that would generally go over and above the heads of the kids in the audience: a swarm of bats dive bomb our heroes to Ride of the Valkyrie as well as cameo appearances from Raul Duke and The Man With No Name (the latter in the guise of Clint Eastwood and oddly voiced by Timothy Olyphant).
Yet despite being a tad off kilter at times as well as becoming a little too formulaic toward the end, it rides along on in a legitimately charming fashion. It's a story that's been seen many times before but it's sweet and, at times, utterly hilarious. The voice acting is terrific with Johnny Depp and Isla Fisher as Rango and Bean respectively being stand-outs, but the town of Dirt is littered with memorable and humorous characters.
The animation could also stand up as some of the best in history. The leaps the medium has taken in the 16 years since Toy Story is just staggering.
4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment