Rango is a chameleon, I think (though he may be iguana) who has lived in a fish tank all his life. One day, his whole world (i.e. the fishtank) falls off a lorry in the middle of the desert and he finds himself running for his life from birds of prey in the scorching heat.

It's not long before he meets Beans, she is a local land owner in a town called Dirt. She doesn't like Rango (Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Carribbean) very much, and neither does anyone else. That is, until he accidently defeat the bird who has been pestering them for quite some time.

Soon, he finds that he is the new Sherriff of a town that has a severe water crisis - and worse still, there are outlaws out to steal what little water remains!

This is clearly based on a Western, or perhaps westerns in general, but given that the only Western I've seen is Back to the Future Part III the references are probably lost on me.

I suspect that they are also lost on the film's target audience, i.e. kids, who probably only watched this film because Captain Jack Sparrow was in it. Depp, was his usual spaced out character, so his fans won't be disappointed.

The film wasn't too bad, there was certainly enough story to keep you interested throughout, but you did leave the cinema thinking just how weird it was. Not Dr Parnassasus weird, but a little odd to say the least.

One to see when it's cheap or on tv, not one I'd buy full price though.

see also:
Arthur Christmas, Up, Flushed Away, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

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photo © Nickelodeon Movies.