Rango

Cartoons go western in Nickelodeon movies latest, Rango. Johnny Depp stars as the title character, a pet chameleon that gets lost in the desert. Then through a series of lucky breaks and lies, he gains the trust of a small settlement town and is named sheriff. His first task, solve the mystery of the water shortage. Depp is able to successfully voice the confused character to a childlike innocence. Being that Rango is the main character, it helps that he is the most complex personality. Though that is no excuse for the lack of multi-dimensional support. Every other ugly, deformed critter has a handful of funny lines and is a bit slow. It’s all quite generic.

Much more impressive is the lifelike animation. More so with the landscapes than the characters, Rango is probably the best looking animated feature in recent memory. It’s very dreary, but good-looking. I hate to be a broken record when talking about cartoon features, but this is one of those movies that is more concerned with drama than appealing to its target audience, children. Characters die, smoke cigarettes and swear. I don’t underestimate the ability of kids to understand a complex plot, but there is just no need to put these elements in a movie whose target audience is still learning their multiplication tables.

Rango is a well-written movie but is quite slow moving. It is by no means long, but it certainly feels that way. The desert setting is the main reason things drag along. But then when answers finally seem on the horizon, the protagonist goes on a weird trippy trek through the desert where he meets a Clint Eastwood character and the story takes a preachy dig at urbanization. The film constantly appears to be on the verge of something special, but it ultimately falls short as weird cartoon for adults. (7.0 out of 10)