Rango (2011) [Blu-ray]
Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Western

Rango... yes it is a play on the classic Western Django.

Get ready to tango with Rango, a winner with critics and audiences that's "like nothing you've ever seen before" (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone). Johnny Depp is spectacular as Rango, a kooky pet chameleon who gets tossed into a wild and raucous town in desperate need of a hero. Refreshingly original with eye-popping animation, Rango is "loads of fun and genuinely funny" (Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times).

User Comment: Rob Wilson (RobW720) from Minnesota, 27 February 2011 • I mean... wow.

*insert slow clap for ILM folks*

Last night my wife and I had the pleasure of checking out an early screening of Rango here in the twin cities. It was a blast! This movie was a great deal of fun. The jokes all hit the right marks, the story was solid, sweet and not too formulaic, and the visuals were outstanding.

There were times that this movie looked 100 percent photo real. outstanding job modeling and texturing and lighting on this. the little tiny attention to detail in the world you guys built had my wife and I in awe throughout most the movie. The animation was fun and eccentric. Over the top but at times subtle and felt meaningful. The only little nit pick was the mouths on some of the characters. in the attempt to make the animals look more like the animals they were representing the mouths were quite small and at times the sync was a bit odd. Though it provided for some goofy looking characters that were fun.

At just over an hour and a half, at times it felt it was a little too slow paced. well, that was my wife's critique. I looked at it more so that they were going for the slower feel of some classic westerns. I thought the long stretches of little dialog, epic music and visuals, and great cinematography worked in the films favor.

The crowd dug it too. I think the youngest person in the theater was about 6 (which i found odd for a late night screening, but whatever) and the oldest was probably in their 70's and everyone was engaged.

I was kind of surprised what they could get away with in a PG rated movie. Im no prude or anything, but there were enough adult jokes snuck in there to give me the giggle fits. Couple of lite swear words, references to more... ehem, adult type themes, but overall pretty tame and enjoyable.

Hats off. If this doesn't win awards I don't know what I believe in anymore. This is one of the more entertaining movies I have seen in a long time.

Summary: Awesome.

[CSW] -3- The animation was outstanding with enough attention to details like lighting and texture that every character was completely believable. The only reason this didn't get a -4- was that I really wasn't expecting a parody of every western that I have ever seen to be the plot. Although totally amusing and entertaining, using just a parody as the plot didn't rate that high with me. The unbelievably believable animation is a must-see and afterwards you can makeup your own mind as to the plot. So do see it and just relax, sit back and be entertained.
[V5.0-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.

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