Don't get roped into 'Rango'
By Matt Grantz, Assistant Editor
April 18, 2011
  “Rango” is the story of a city lizard who gets lost in the desert and must try to survive in a rough and tumble town set in the Wild West of the 1800s.
The film opens with a pet chameleon (voiced by Johnny Depp) falling out of his owner’s van and finding himself lost in the middle of a desert. He then encounters a strange armadillo (voiced by Alfred Molina) that tells him the location of a nearby town where this chameleon immediately travels. Upon his arrival in town, the chameleon assumes the name Rango and tells many lies about himself, lies that make him seem tougher and scarier than he really is.
On the basis of these lies, Rango is appointed as the town’s sheriff with orders to protect the town’s limited water supply. Soon after Rango’s appointment, the town’s water supply is stolen, forcing Rango to chase the perpetrators and attempt to retrieve the water. At the same time, other major issues in the town come to a head because there isn’t any water and because the mayor has been forcing people out of town while buying up their land. All these issues force Rango to battle against a massive rattlesnake, the mayor and the water shortage.
“Rango” may have held some potential, but its final cut essentially repeats every contrived notion about what the Old West was. The brave sheriff who comes into town and then saves the day sounds like something that should be in a ‘50s black and white western, not a modern animated film. The western theme has been considerably overplayed and a new western, with talking animals and silly setting, is certainly not going to help.
Additionally, the story was boring and dry. I found very little humor in “Rango,” especially since the action sequences just aren’t very engaging. Two pluses of the film are that the animation and the voice acting are both very well done. Otherwise, “Rango,” mostly because of its tired plot, does not earn my recommendation.
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