Rango (2011)

Number Rolled: 23

Movie Name/Year: Rango (2011)

Genre: Children & Family

Length: 107 minutes

Rating: PG

Director: Gore Verbinski

Writer: John Logan, Gore Verbinski, James Ward Byrkit

Actors: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Ned Beatty, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Stephen Root, Harry Dean Stanton, Timothy Olyphant, Ray Winstone, Ian Abercrombie, Gil Birmingham, James Ward Byrkit, Claudia Black, Blake Clark, John Cothran, Patrika Darbo, George DelHoyo, Maile Flanagan, Charles Fleischer, Beth Grant, Ryan Hurst, Vincent Kartheiser, Hemsky Madera, Alex Manugian, Mark McCreery, Joe Nunez, Chris Parson, Lew Temple, Alanna Ubach, Gore Verbinski, Kym Whitley, Keith Campbell

Rango is a domestic chameleon living among the props of his single-lizard tank. Though he is lonely, he’s unprepared for the accident that sends him into the desert. On a quest to search for water, he comes upon a western town named “Dirt.” There he will face others for the first time and have to figure out who he is.

To be honest, I found the story a little weak at times. The plot seemed to switch gears at an alarming rate and the holes it created were never quite filled for me. If this was as much of a child’s film as it was portrayed to be, it wouldn’t have mattered. However, I found that a great deal of this movie wasn’t for kids at all. I’m not disputing the PG rating, but I am going to say that I think it is very close to being PG-13. One more mature-themed joke would have put it over the line. Either way, the trailers made it look like it was for young children, which I found to be erroneous. I certainly wouldn’t have brought a child younger than a pre-teen to see this.

There were also these owls narrating the entire film and, although it had a couple of cute moments, I thought it was highly unnecessary and actually detracted from what was going on.

Despite all that, I found the movie to be thoroughly entertaining. I enjoyed the animation type and even with a sometimes weak story, it still managed to captivate me. This is definitely a movie parents can enjoy with their pre-teen, or older, kids.

Overall Opinion – 3.5/5