I was frankly quite happy when Gore Verbinski’s apprehensions about traveling to Australia imploded the Bioshock movie. Not that I thought the movie couldn’t be any good (though I would say there is an inherent ceiling in its potential), but given the track record of video game adaptations, I would simply rather see Verbinski not tempt the cinema gods and instead tackle something different. Like many here at CHUD, I am a Mouse Hunt fan. Verbinski is one of a handful of directors who can infuse genuine, yet appropriate, edge to kids/family cinema, and I have been eager for him to return to the kids playing field. So it was with no small excitement that I embraced the news that he was directing an animated feature, Rango.
Very little info about the Johnny Depp voiced film was coming out at first. Then this teaser hit the scene…
This bad boy let us know, well, nothing at all really. But it did indicate one thing: the film might be very, very strange. Another trailer hit this summer, showing us our hero, Rango, and giving us a montage of random action and choice imagery. My excitement ebbed a bit, as the trailer was mainly emphasizing wackiness. Well, Yahoo has a new Rango trailer that finally digs a bit deeper, showing us more characters and laying out the basic story.
My excitement has returned. I for one like what I see here. I love the character design and voice casting. And the look is really excellent. Obviously it remains to be seen how the story will actually play. I am hoping this turns out to be an anachronistically weird and grim kids’ film, like Babe 2: Pig in the City.