Rango (2011)

Rango is an ordinary chameleon who accidentally winds up in the town of Dirt, a lawless outpost in the Wild West in desperate need of a new sheriff.

Director:

Gore Verbinski

Writers:

John Logan, John Logan (story)

Stars:

Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Timothy Olyphant

Won 1 Oscar. Another 45 wins & 25 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Johnny Depp	...	Rango / Lars (voice)
Isla Fisher	...	Beans (voice)
Abigail Breslin	...	Priscilla (voice)
Ned Beatty	...	Mayor (voice)
Alfred Molina	...	Roadkill (voice)
Bill Nighy	...	Rattlesnake Jake (voice)
Stephen Root	...	Doc / Merrimack / Mr. Snuggles (voice)
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Balthazar (voice)
Timothy Olyphant	...	Spirit of the West (voice)
Ray Winstone	...	Bad Bill (voice)
Ian Abercrombie	...	Ambrose (voice)
Gil Birmingham	...	Wounded Bird (voice)
James Ward Byrkit	...	Waffles / Gordy / Papa Joad / Cousin Murt / Curlie / Knife Attacker / Rodent Kid (voice)
Claudia Black	...	Angelique (voice)
Blake Clark	...	Buford (voice)

Storyline

Rango is a pet chameleon always on the lookout for action and adventure, except the fake kind, where he directs it and acts in it. After a car accident, he winds up in an old western town called Dirt. What this town needs the most is water, but they also need a hero and a sheriff. The thirsty Rango instantly takes on the role of both and selfishly agrees to take on the case of their missing water.

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Plot Keywords:

water | sheriff | chameleon | lizard | desert | 

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Taglines:

From the director of 'Pirates of the Caribbean'

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for rude humor, language, action and smoking

Did You Know?

Trivia

The pursuit scene in the canyon draws visually from the Death Star attack in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). The score parallels that of the helicopter attack in Apocalypse Now (1979). It is Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries"; Valkyries are female Norse warriors who fly over battle and carry the nobly fallen to Valhalla.

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Goofs

Rattlesnake Jake is shown blinking and narrowing his eyes. In reality, snakes have no eyelids - their eyes are permanently open.

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Quotes

[the Mayor is intending to shoot Jake while Rango and Beans are in the bank vault that's filling up with water]
Mayor: You and the sheriff are more alike than you think. You're nothing but legends. Pretty soon, no one will believe you even existed.

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Alternate Versions

The DVD and Blu-ray releases include an extended version, which adds one scene after Rattlesnake Jake drags the Mayor off into the desert. Due to the water that has flooded up from the ground, the town of Dirt has become a beach resort and re-named itself Mud. As the locals enjoy the new scenery, Rango gets news that Bad Bill is causing trouble in another town. He decides to make a dramatic exit, delivering an inspired speech to the town while mounted on a roadrunner, but falls out of the saddle before he can finish it.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 20 Best Animated Movies of the Last Decade (2020)

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Soundtracks

The Banks Been Robbed
Written by Rick Garcia, Kenneth Karman, Gore Verbinski, and James Ward Byrkit
Performed by Rick Garcia
Produced by Kenneth Karman and Rick Garcia

User Reviews

Rango is a creative, dazzling, and funny tribute to classic spaghetti westerns, but it's definitely not a kid's movie.

A couple days ago, I started 2011 off on a solid note with The Adjustment Bureau, but that solid note has now risen to a brilliant note with the release of Gore Verbinski's Rango.

Johnny Deep provides the voice of the title character, a chameleon house pet who gets lost in the middle of the Mojave Desert, and through a series of effective fibs, as well as killing a lethal hawk by accident, winds up the sheriff of the town he wandered into known as Dirt, a town low on water supplies, and on the brink of total drought and dehydration. Rango decides to investigate the mystery surrounding the low supplies, and quite often bites off more than he can chew.

The direction by Gore Verbinski, who garners enthusiastic and terrific performances from his voice cast, is wonderful, and the screenplay by John Logan pays tribute to the classic spaghetti westerns of yesteryear, right down to pre gunfight stand offs, important events happening at high noon, and the decision to have a Mariachi band narrate, and make comment on the film's events. Sure, a couple scenes seem to overstay their welcome, but in spite of that one flaw, the film is fresh, and funny, and the film quite often got a good laugh from myself. I also loved visual references to characters played by Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

I must also praise the technical crew. This is the first animated feature designed by the legendary special effects company Industrial Light & Magic, and John Knoll does a good job at supervising the film's many grand, colorful and photo realistic images. I have just as much praise for the audio crew. Sound editor Addison Teague does a good job at handling classic western sound effects such as gunfire and galloping hooves, and Hans Zimmer (whose music score pays delightful homage to the scores of Ennio Morricone) does a great job at heightening the excitement and wit.

Before I sign off, I must make a final point. I'm normally not too vocal about censorship, but take the facts that the film is animated, and rated PG with a huge grain of salt, because Rango is NOT a kid's movie. The images are quite quirky, and sometimes even trippy, some of the subject material is rather violent and foul mouthed, and some of the jokes may fly way over kids' heads, but that's exactly why I think the film's so special. The film makers stuck to their guns, and didn't wimp out in order to get a bigger audience of children. It's a movie almost strictly for older viewers, and should be treated as such.

Needless to say, I loved Rango. I give it ***1/2 out of ****

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 March 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled Gore Verbinski Animated Project

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$135,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$38,079,323, 6 March 2011

Gross USA:

$123,477,607

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$245,724,603

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Blind Wink Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1 (HDTV)