retsuko | Movie Rec: "Rango"

It's rare these days that I see a movie for adults that happens to be kid-friendly. It's usually an either-or proposition: you either have to suffer through simplistic writing and crude humor* or risk exposing younger viewers to potentially scary/overly cynical/too complicated humor. But no so with "Rango"! In fact, there's almost nothing that panders to kids too much, except for the physical scale of the characters, which is small. The script contains much more pandering to adults, along with some very snappy dialogue and genuinely witty sight gags, all of which fall squarely into the familiar and solid tropes of the Western genre. In fact, even as I thought I knew where the story was going, there was enough lampshading going on that I didn't feel like I'd seen the whole thing already. But this was a movie that I didn't feel uncomfortable watching with children in the theater, and it's one that I definitely look forward to showing my own child someday. There are enough complicated ideas, but they're balanced with an action-packed story and comedy. It's well worth the time and money to see on the big screen.

And the animation! There was some loving attention to detail here: the porcupine's quills stuck out in different directions and had different stripes; Rattlesnake Jake's scales were individual pieces of animation, not just a uniform covering; and the title character had amazing, perfect chameleon eyes and mannerisms. Whoever put this together took the time to watch how these animals move and interact and all effort paid off.

I am also highly amused at the animators' solution for the snake's ability to fire a gun, despite the notable handicap of not having any hands.

* And speaking as a former child who did not find this sort of thing funny, what's with that trend?