Rango

It may be too early in the year for such a brash prediction, but I think Rango deserves best animated feature. It was a great movie with some great voice work, comedy, story, and music. One of the biggest surprises to me was how adult this movie was.

The story was my favorite part because it’s basically Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but with a lizard. Rango is a lizard who doesn’t know what his purpose in life is and after an incident leaves him stranded in the desert, he goes on a journey of self discovery. It almost felt like a parody of western/adventure films.

The voice acting was incredibly strong. Johnny Depp stole the show as Rango. I think Depp has a strong future in the world of voice work. He perfectly portrayed a lost in life lizard. The love interest Beans, played by Isla Fisher, also does a great job. She’s a very strong willed lizard. The villain Rattlesnake Jim, played by Bill Nighy, was one of the best villains I’ve seen in awhile. I honestly got a tingle in my spine every time he delivered a line. Think of a deep menacing voice responding to “Go to Hell!” with “Where do you think I came from?” I wish I could mention the rest of the supporting cast, but there are just too many of them. Needless to say, they were all fantastic.

I went into the movie knowing I would love the soundtrack, and surprise! I loved it. Hans Zimmer never disappoints. For Rango, he uses a great mixture of western and modern music and has some throwbacks to the classics. Music is an ongoing “joke” as the story is told by a band of fourth wall (talking to the audience) breaking mariachi owls. Overall, the music was appropriately action packed and westerny. Plus, you get to hear a banjo based version of Ride of the Valkyries, do you really need anything else?

Overall, this was a great movie. It has something for people of all ages and wonderfully animated.