Movie Review - "Rango" (2011) **

     When it comes to things you can count on in life, we always hear about death and taxes. A third item you could add to that list is that a Pixar film would win the Best Animated Feature award at the annual Oscars. Pixar films have claimed the last four Oscars in the category and six of the last seven (all brilliant movies and well-deserved by the way). Then something happened this past year, Pixar bombed. Cars 2 is considered the studios first mistake, despite making over $190 million at the box office. It was greeted to generally negative reviews, including a 1-star result for me. Because of this, Cars 2 did not earn a nomination this year in the category which guarantees another studio will take home the statue on Oscar night. The movie that is considered the front-runner to benefit from Pixar's misstep is Rango. Directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Johnny Depp as the voice of Rango, the film has received lots of positive press and is the movie to beat on Oscar night.

      Rango is the story of a pet chameleon who finds himself accidentally stranded in the desert. He comes upon the town of Dirt, a lawless Wild West town where water is a rare commodity and what the community needs most. The courage needy Rango uses some false bravado to fool the locals and a lucky series of events sees him fell a dangerous hawk that scares off the locals. Because of his actions, Rango is made sheriff of the town by the Mayor, a tortoise voiced by Ned Beatty. As the new sheriff, it is suggested to Rango that he solves the towns water problem. Rango assembles a posse and heads out searching for answers, which leads to several action-packed scenarios involving Rango's team taking on a group of nasties. During his adventure, Rango learns that the water mystery may involve a cover-up and it is up to him to solve the crisis and save the town.

     While Rango may be the odds-on-favorite to win Best Animated Feature on Oscar night, I was not that impressed. The movie sort of falls into three distinct sections and the middle of the three I think is pretty good. When Rango makes his way to Dirt and starts mixing in with the locals, I feel the movie really works here. It's funny seeing him use this false bravado to make himself seem like more of a hero than he actually is. Depp's voice work is at its strongest here and these scenes work. Unfortunately, it is offset by the first and third segments of the film. I thought it started slow and I was a little bored until he gets to the town. The ending is okay, it just felt a bit empty to me. I think by then I was already partially checked out mentally and nothing could really save it. The movie clocks in at an hour and forty-five minutes. I think this would have worked better with about fifteen minutes cut somewhere. I just felt it dragged on a bit too much. The animation is perfectly fine, and the voice work is good for the most part, but the story drags things down a bit. I'd say give it a shot one day if you see it on cable but I can't recommend spending money on it.