Reviewed by Alicia Glass

Rating: 8 Beans

Rango is a chameleon housepet with aspirations of becoming a famous actor, who finds himself a newly appointed Sheriff off in the Wild West, in the appropriately named town of Dirt.

It’s actually a pretty good movie, all things considered. Kind of a The Quick and the Dead done with animals in the lead roles. And for those who complained that it wasn’t a movie made for children to watch, I declare shenanigans and say pay more attention already! It’s a western, and to my knowledge those are movies that were never designed with children in mind. Sure the animals in human clothes look nifty in the trailer, but please bear in mind a great many of those animals are predators and they’re carrying guns. It doesn’t take an Einstein to figure your 9-year shouldn’t be watching that.

So Rango, who apparently didn’t actually have a name per se until he finds himself in need of a persona inside the town of Dirt, can talk a damn good talk. And when it comes to it, he at least tries to walk the walk of a real Sheriff of a town in desperate need of water and protection from lawless bandits. The trouble is, a few of those major bandits happen to be either in the town already, or trying to control it from the highest level. So armed with friends and wit and charm aplenty, Rango sets out to find out who stopped the water into Dirt, and stop them from sending the good townsfolk into starvation!

Rango gets himself aid in the form of Beans, a pretty female…something, I’m guessing she’s some kind of lizard, I don’t think they ever said. We all know Rango’s voice, Johnny Depp, that’s one of the main selling points of the movie. But Depp’s incredible versatility as an actor comes across clearly with just his voice, it’s awesome. Beans is voiced by Isla Fisher, who brings a great twitchy depth to the character. Ned Beatty is the turtle Mayor, he does manage to make it almost sinister and grandfatherly at the same time. Bill Nighy is the voice of Rattlesnake Jake, now there’s a villain I can get behind – and keep running until I’m out of sight! And seriously, we have Timothy Olyphant as the voice of the Spirit of the West, yes the armadillo who got run over at the beginning of the movie – does that sound kiddie-watchable to you? Personally, I greatly enjoyed The Quick and the Dead, and even for someone who doesn’t care much for Westerns in general, Rango is a fun romp for us adults who are still violent-cartoon-loving kids at heart! Rango gets a rating of 8 Beans!