I watched it over the weekend. The animation is top tier and so is the blu-ray presentation. I really enjoyed the level of quirky detail and imagination in the character designs.
The plot is pretty straightforward once the movie gets into it but there's a certain level of disturbing, almost surrealistic sadism throughout that I would warn parents of very young children to perhaps check this movie out on their own before letting them watch it. One character has an arrow through it's eye, one character is basically roadkill while giving Rango advice and several characters suffer (bloodless) deaths from large falling objects among other things. It's all handled in a cartoonish, almost Merry Melodies-sorta way but the amazing level of detail in the animation adds a very strange feel to such proceedings. Let's just say this movie has a harder edge than any Pixar film.
Overall, I liked the movie a lot, but the harder edge and the occasional lapses into an almost druggy abstract mode of storytelling (even Hunter S Thompson makes a brief cameo) that often just seems to be padding time without advancing the story to the point it may lose both kids and adults.
I know 3 kids that go friggen bonkers watching the movie because they love to enact the scenes in realtime. There is something new every 5 mins to keep them absolutely engaged.
Personally, I couldn't get past the mental block of being reminded of how much I utterly F'ing hate living where it is hot or anything to do with the desert. It depresses me, and seeing other people stuck in that environment depresses me.
...and there is one music track in there that only reminds me of when it was used in The Kingdom. So it just feels weird to relate to when it is used in Rango, even though it seems like a reasonable choice.
It is interesting to see how they play on a socio-political theme of "control", if you want to read into it to that degree.
. In this case, the object of control is water.
All in all, a rich production that has many levels of enjoyment between children, adults, and intellectual pondering. I just couldn't get past my aversion to desert life to really submit to the content.
Granted, the movie isn't for everyone, it's not your "usual" animated film by any stretch. But it does wrap itself up nicely in the end, and it definitely looks amazing.
A bit concerned with the mixed reviews since this is going to be a blind-buy for me. Should be around $10 at Best Buy after this (active 7/8) and the $5 BB coupon floating around. YMMV, of course.
First animated feature done by ILM and they did an AMAZING job with the animation. I thought the story was great, really enjoyed it. The BD looks far better than the theatrical presentations I saw too, reference quality all the way.
Amazing animation, but a movie more for movie buffs than just plain film-goers, as the buffs will be too busy trying to identify all of the references to other movies to realize how forgettable and boring the plot is.
Aw, forgot this was an animated Paramount release = ringing around the letterbox bars and other hard edges. Not sure I want to pay that much for it anymore. Would be nice if the Amazon price dropped to $15 with the coupon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thegage /forum/post/20656350
Amazing animation, but a movie more for movie buffs than just plain film-goers, as the buffs will be too busy trying to identify all of the references to other movies to realize how forgettable and boring the plot is.
I'm not a big fan of western genre and did not notice many references other than few obvious ones, but I loved the film itself. So far I've seen only two films from 2011 that I'd like to have in my personal collection: Rango and Hanna.
I'm not a big fan of western genre and did not notice many references other than few obvious ones, but I loved the film itself. So far I've seen only two films from 2011 that I'd like to have in my personal collection: Rango and Hanna.
Quote:
Originally Posted by paku /forum/post/20658619
Aw, forgot this was an animated Paramount release = ringing around the letterbox bars and other hard edges. Not sure I want to pay that much for it anymore.
Haven't seen anything like what you described here with this title. Reference quality video through and through.
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