A Shaggy Lizard Story

He's green, but he's not mean

I loved Rango. Like the old Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes, it's a perfect, layered mix of verbal and physical humor that makes it good for kids (I'd say 7 and up would work best, as there's a big snake in it), and with enough subtext that it won't make parents hate this two hours of their life, the way some piece of crap like Marmaduke did (and Hop will do). And the glorious 2D animation is thrilling to eyes of all ages. The images often echo classic westerns (spaghetti and otherwise) and a key storyline is lifted from Chinatown (I kid you not).

Our verdant hero, a chameleon named Lars (voiced by Johnny Depp, showing far more life than he did in The Tourist) lives in a terrarium, where he acts out elaborate dramas of imagination with the headless Barbie doll, dead cockroach, an orange wind-up fish and the plastic tree that bunk with him. At the start of the film, said theatricum terrarium is whizzing through the Mojave, but is tossed from the car during a spectacular near-miss accident (which includes a Gonzo cameo). The cause of the accident is an armadillo named Roadkill (Alfred Molina), who is crossing the road on his quest to meet the Spirit of the West. Directed by Roadkill toward the town of Dirt, where water can be found, Lars begins his own quest across the high desert.

After barely escaping the grasp of a hawk's talons, Lars meets Beans (Isla Fisher), a feisty girl lizard who's trying to keep hold of her daddy's land in the midst of a drought. She gives him a lift into Dirt, and  obeying the law of westerns, Lars makes an appearance at the town's saloon, where he is greeted with the classic antagonistic suspicion ag'inst strangers. 

To blend in ("it's an art, not a science" he pleads as he changes into a rainbow of garish colors to badly avoid the hawk), Lars reinvents himself, taking the name of Rango (derived from the "made in Durango" on a bottle of high-octane cactus juice), and intoxicated on the juice, creates an outlaw persona for his non-bad self. He gets to prove his character's mettle in a second run-in with the hawk, who suffers a demise at the inadvertant hands of Rango. Suitably impressed, the townspeople arrange for him to meet the Mayor.

Naturally, given the climate, water is the currency of Dirt, and the bank has nearly run dry (its vault is a big water dispenser jug). The Mayor of Dirt (Ned Beatty), however, is an ancient tortoise who offers Rango vintage rainwater. Also, he's Chinatown's Noah Cross (in vocal style, and with the hat to match), wheeling around in Mr. Potter's chair from It's a Wonderful Life.

Not worth it, Mr. Rango. Really not worth it.

I don't want to spoil the rest of the story, though it does track along traditional western lines, with some nice twists (Bill Nighy as Lee Van Cleef as a snake, anyone?). But look at the cinematography and the vistas throughout (gorgeous, with a consult credit given to multiple-Academy Award nominee Roger Deakins), enjoy the wry commentary from the owl mariachi band interspersed throughout, and revel in the inevitable reveal of The Spirit of the West (voiced by Timothy Olyphant, but looking like someone else). Of the dozen or so new releases I watched in March, Rango and Win Win were by far the best. Rango is a far-out tale for film lovers of all ages.