Westerns - They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To

I haven't seen True Grit -- either the original or the remake -- but we took the kids to see Rango over the weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My wife was a bit less enthusiastic -- she can be a little harder to please than me when it comes to movies, or perhaps it's that she's a bit more discerning. But the kids both liked it as well.

For me, what was most dazzling about this fine little film was the array of references to other movies. I'm sure I missed a lot of them, but here's a partial list of specific scene references: Chinatown, Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, A Fistful of Dollars. And then there's the story line itself, which echoes Three Amigos, Ants, and (evidently, though I missed this) a Don Knotts vehicle called The Shakiest Gun In The West.

Then there's the animation. It's so great that it's almost invisible. It's easy to forget that these anthropomorphic creatures aren't real, to forget the incredible advances in animation that CGI has made possible. That a movie like this simply couldn't have been made, say, ten years ago.

But beyond the movie references and the animation is the film itself, the characters, the story, and -- for lack of a better term -- the "look and feel" of the movie. Our hero, Rango as voiced by Johnny Depp, is an actor -- well, an aspiring actor -- who finds his role of a lifetime playing hero to a small town on the verge of extinction.

Depp brings his versatility to the role, and Rango is a compelling and sympathetic character, and even if the story does get a bit tangled and hard to follow from time to time, we want him to win and of course, this being a Hollywood film in the 2010 (the 20teens?), he does. The villians get their due, the town is saved, and --presumably -- Rango lives happily ever after with the heroine, Beans.

Some scenes are a bit scary for small children, and a lot of the movie's humor is directed at the adults, but there's plenty of action and slapstick for the kids. It's an odd, quirky movie, but then what Johnny Depp film isn't? This one will has plenty of enjoyment for all ages, and I expect that when it comes to video, my 10 year old will watch it again and again.

See it on the big screen now to appreciate the beauty of the animation, and if you have kids, be prepared to see it a few more times later. I'm sure it won't disappoint, and it's rich enough that it should hold up for repeated viewings.