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[GhaleonQ]

I hate their starting point (post-Pixar cartoons crammed into a realistic box), but the animation and modeling was made to look lovely by the cinematography. I thought Wall-E and Ratatouille were artistically incoherent, but this was incredibly well-done. I didn't enjoy the movie or writing or whatever, but I think this is the closest I've come to liking a realism-aping C.G.I. movie.

Not entirely a kid's film, though I wonder how a fully animated 'adult' film would be taken by audiences? Seems anything 'animated' automatically gets 'kid-geared' stuck to it.

America has a really bad history with feature-length animation that's not meant to appeal to children at all. Both commercial (say, Princess) and artistic (The Book Of The Dead/Shisha No Sho) get made all over the world, but they barely ever come here. I think they'd bomb.

 

[Dead]

Its a shame they wont just go for the PG-13.

This movie could have totally survived a PG-13 rating I think. Director + Star of POTC, making the movie more obviously tailored to older audiences plus the extremely good quality of the CG would have been enough I think.

 

[Discotheque]

Have you seen Felidae? Saw that a few weeks ago. It's some animated film about a cat investigating the grisly murder of other neighborhood felines. LOL it was enjoyable.

 

[Kusagari]

Its a shame they wont just go for the PG-13.

This movie could have totally survived a PG-13 rating I think. Director + Star of POTC, making the movie more obviously tailored to older audiences plus the extremely good quality of the CG would have been enough I think.

I doubt the movie would have been much different as a PG-13. A lot of stuff in this movie was pretty pushy for a PG 'kids' movie.

 

[Dead]

I doubt the movie would have been much different as a PG-13. A lot of stuff in this movie was pretty pushy for a PG 'kids' movie.

Mostly, I think a PG-13 would offset that perceived "bait and switch"that some audiences seem to be feeling, leading to an overall better reception with audiences as there would be a better idea as to just what to expect out of the film.

 

[Ezduo]

This may just be my favorite animated movie of all time, hell fucking yes. The artstyle alone seemed on a complete other level from anything Dreamworks and Pixar are currently working with. Fucking bravo.

 

[HeySeuss]

This movie was amazing. I took my kids to see it and we all had fun watching it. Johnny Depps personality really came through in the character. The story was fairly predictable, but it was still enjoyable. The animation was amazing.

For what its worth, I went to a family owned theatre and it was packed. This theater never usually has more than 15 people in it for any movie, so this was unusual. Probably a good sign.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I'm hoping the critical buzz is enough to keep Rango in the Oscar discussion. Seeing the rest of the 2011 lineup, I'd be disappointed if it didn't at least make the final nominations:

Rango
Cars 2
Happy Feet 2
Kung Fu Panda 2
Winnie the Pooh
Gnomeo & Juliet
Mars Needs Moms
Rio
Hoodwinked Too
Puss in Boots
Arthur Christmas

I'm assuming stuff like Smurfs and the 3rd Chipmunks flick would have too much live action to be considered.

 

[PokéKong]

All i see is CGI Fear and Loathing drug trip........ which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

That's the first thing I thought when I saw this poster

Like "WTF? are they trying to market this as a Fear And Loathing For Kids?" Although fortunately (or unfortunately?) it doesn't really seem that way from the rest of what I've seen.

 

[NeoForte]

I'm hoping the critical buzz is enough to keep Rango in the Oscar discussion. Seeing the rest of the 2011 lineup, I'd be disappointed if it didn't at least make the final nominations:

Rango
Cars 2
Happy Feet 2
Kung Fu Panda 2
Winnie the Pooh
Gnomeo & Juliet
Mars Needs Moms
Rio
Hoodwinked Too
Puss in Boots
Arthur Christmas

I'm assuming stuff like Smurfs and the 3rd Chipmunks flick would have too much live action to be considered.

Sorry to bother ya but would you happen to know the decision behind the Spirit of the West's voice actor choice? It's the only thing that kinda bothered me about the film seeing as he was basically Clint Eastwood in all but voice.

 

[nib95]

Six-minute preview clip, if you care about spoilers you should probably avoid: http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/exclusive-movie-clip-rango/10762o7jo

The end to that video is just great. Had me laughing out loud. Cannot wait to see this puppy!

 

[GhaleonQ]

I'm hoping the critical buzz is enough to keep Rango in the Oscar discussion. Seeing the rest of the 2011 lineup, I'd be disappointed if it didn't at least make the final nominations:

Rango
Cars 2
Happy Feet 2
Kung Fu Panda 2
Winnie the Pooh
Gnomeo & Juliet
Mars Needs Moms
Rio
Hoodwinked Too
Puss in Boots
Arthur Christmas

I'm assuming stuff like Smurfs and the 3rd Chipmunks flick would have too much live action to be considered.

Well, 1st, it's not like the Academy has chosen well in the past. They've even botched nominations (Summer Wars was arguably more highbrow than The Illusionist).

2nd, you're forgetting the foreign competition. Even accepting the Academy's distaste for non-English movies, foreign animation, and the unfamiliar and the pitiful number that make it here, you have strong contenders (in the "nomination," not "quality" sense; Fimfarum 3 certainly isn't getting a distributor here).

The Mummi/Moomin movie-that's-just-the-television-show-redone is coming out here
The Borrower Arrietty is
Colorful might
Michel Ocelot's Tales Of the Night might
Satoshi Kon's The Machine That Dreams might
Antoine Delesvaux is adapting the equivalent of Oscar bait, The Rabbi's Cat

 

[Bubs Mugumbo]

That's the first thing I thought when I saw this poster

Like "WTF? are they trying to market this as a Fear And Loathing For Kids?" Although fortunately (or unfortunately?) it doesn't really seem that way from the rest of what I've seen.

I thought this too.. it's that shirt!

 

[Mr. Sam]

Saw this yesterday and really enjoyed it. The plot and script were much better than the buzz had lead me to believe, though it did seem to service how well ILM can do two things; sand and water. Dat refraction.

The

Spoiler

Fear and Loathing

reference during the opening sequence was hilarious but, talking to my friends afterwards, I was apparently the only one that's seen it. Wouldn't be surprised if I was the only one in the room that'd seen it - it was mostly parents and kids. Kids who often got scared and left early. One really young kid in particular seemed terrified, loudly bursting into tears every five minutes. His parents refused to take him out and subjected him to the whole film.

Rango walks a path of exquisitely rendered baby tears.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Well, 1st, it's not like the Academy has chosen well in the past. They've even botched nominations (Summer Wars was arguably more highbrow than The Illusionist).

2nd, you're forgetting the foreign competition. Even accepting the Academy's distaste for non-English movies, foreign animation, and the unfamiliar and the pitiful number that make it here, you have strong contenders (in the "nomination," not "quality" sense; Fimfarum 3 certainly isn't getting a distributor here).

The Mummi/Moomin movie-that's-just-the-television-show-redone is coming out here
The Borrower Arrietty is
Colorful might
Michel Ocelot's Tales Of the Night might
Satoshi Kon's The Machine That Dreams might
Antoine Delesvaux is adapting the equivalent of Oscar bait, The Rabbi's Cat

Well, the higher the viable nomination count the larger the list of final nominations will be (5 versus 3). Adding the foreign stuff to the list means it'll be more likely Rango makes the final cut, knowing the Academy's general distaste for selecting the foreign stuff. The trick though, is that the foreign films have to have been screened/released in Los Angeles at some point if I remember the rules correctly.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Sorry to bother ya but would you happen to know the decision behind the Spirit of the West's voice actor choice? It's the only thing that kinda bothered me about the film seeing as he was basically

Spoiler

Clint Eastwood

in all but voice.

I'd spoiler that.

As for the choice, I can't recall the specifics but I'm guessing it's because they couldn't ensure they could get him during the time of the live recording sessions. If I recall correctly, Verbinski had stated that if people weren't able to make that shoot, they'd have to find someone else to fill in that particular role.

 

[Yaweee]

This movie was amazing. I took my kids to see it and we all had fun watching it. Johnny Depps personality really came through in the character. The story was fairly predictable, but it was still enjoyable. The animation was amazing.

For what its worth, I went to a family owned theatre and it was packed. This theater never usually has more than 15 people in it for any movie, so this was unusual. Probably a good sign.

I stopped by a local theater while out for errands to try to see a matinée, and it was sold out. This was the 12:30 ($3) show.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

A few more ILM articles:

Hal Hickel interview:

Q: Obviously, ILM has done digital character creation before, but in the past, those characters have had to work off human reference points to be able to click. Here, you're populating the entire film. Is there a difference when co-ordinating the interaction between two animated characters and a human and animated character? Because I've no idea which would be easier.

HH: You know, it's a trade off. I've thought a lot about that since we started the project. Visual effects, typically, there's a higher burden of realism, which can add a lot of effort to the work, as you try and make everything feel weighted, and all that.

But there's less of a burden with something like this, when it's one-hundred percent stylised. There's also no effort needed in terms of integration.

We spend a lot of time with visual effects work trying to make our stuff feel like it's really in the live-action footage. Integrating stuff is a whole slew of problems that has to be overcome.

On the other hand, we're creating everything in the frame. It's more of a blank slate. There is a framework. There's a storyboard and a layout, which they get from a layout department. So, they'll get a scene that has the town in it, and has Rango in it, just gliding along like he's on ice, with the camera moving with him at some speed. So, they have some foundation that they're building on.

And, of course, they'll have Gore's direction. He usually keeps it light. He'll explain what a shot, or an individual group of shots' function is in the story. Where the character came from, where he's heading next, what his mental state is. The kind of acting notes you might expect.

But beyond that? It's kind of up to them to go for it. It's awesome, particularly for the animators to be able to do stuff. For one thing, visual effects is generally more action driven.

Q: You're on a quest to capture imperfection, really?

HH: Absolutely. That was always the goal. "Advocating anomaly" was Gore's favourite expression.

The other thing you mentioned about the stillness of the characters, that was a really important thing for Gore. There was an expression we used on the Pirates films, which was, whenever we were animating something that was supposed to be funny, as close to a gag as Gore would ever get, he would say, "Make it odd, not broad."

He always wanted that awkward, weird, uncomfortable feeling, rather than broad slapstick. I mean, there are some broad moments in Rango. There are a lot more moments where characters are standing there looking at each other. That was a tricky thing to get to for the animators. It was a case of don't just do something, stand there. It doesn't have to move all the time.

Another example is like the mariachi sequences. There was classic appeal in the design. They're probably some of the most appealing characters we have in the film. The choices on that particular score, particularly from those who come from a classic cartoon animation background, is that people might look at them and go, "That's not how I would design the character."

But those guys have classic appeal. So, right from the start, there was a tendency to animate them bouncing as they play their instruments. Gore would say, "Go out," and fortunately we have a lot of good mariachi groups that play in the San Francisco district at night. And there's a lot of reference online.

The thing you see over and over again is how proud these guys are, and how serious they are about what they do. They're not playing around. It's a serious business to them. They're proud of what they do. And they're here to tell the story of the hero. It's a very important job that they do.

That's what he really wanted out of these guys, that they look totally serious. That was another of those little journeys we had to take.

Q: One thing I wanted to talk to you about is eyes. Rango, as a central character, isn't an easy one to sell to us. He doesn't look conventional and cute in any real way, and when you look at some of the things he does throughout the film, he's not painted as a goodie-goodie character either.

Yet, I really felt strongly that it was the very controlled use of eyes that you used to sell him to us. It's the old animation adage that, if you're going to make a mistake, don't make it in the eyes. Was it the hardest thing for you to hammer down?

HH: It absolutely was. It was the scariest thing. Right from the beginning, they had those great drawings of Rango and he always has those eyes.

Tim and Gore had gone to a vivarium in Southern California, right when they were just starting out. They took a couple of pictures of a chameleon they saw there, and talked at length about how great those eyes are. So, when we started with Rango, I was worried. I loved the design, but I was concerned with having his eyes almost entirely covered with flesh.

There was a whole process of modelling first, and then rigging, and then you can start to move the character. But when we were first able to start doing animation tests with him, it became apparent very quickly that those concentric rings around his eyes were really more of an opportunity. We could deform them, and make his eyes really expressive using those, rather than the conventional approach of the opening of the eye. That alleviated some of our worry, and as we started animating him a little more, and learning how to treat him as a character, we got more comfortable with him.

The worry we had, though, was are we getting used to him? We loved the idea, and we went for it, but I was absolutely worried.

One thing I worked out was that we animated a sequence right near the start, and his pupils were just a little too small. Just bumping those up a bit made him a lot more accessible.

Animation World article on ILM and Rango:

"As Gore started to download his vision, we realized it was going to be perfectly suited to ILM," admits Hickel, ILM's animation director. "And the reason for that was it boils down to one thing: we've been making pictures dirty. To begin with, we knew it was going to be a unique project coming from Gore. It was not going to be group think. It was going to be a very small, creative nucleus of Gore, [production designer] Crash McCreery and [artist] Jim Byrkit. And the rest of us surrounded that. It was a personal filmmaking experience.

"What he wanted was something very different from the neat and tidy and colorful mainstream feature animation that we've become accustomed to [with computer animation]. He wanted something dirty, grimy, dusty, fuzzy. And it wasn't just an exercise in weirdness for weirdness sake. It was a real intention stemming from a love of the Sergio Leone westerns and the actors always looking so gritty and sweaty. And also it was just toward the goal of crafting a well-intentioned, deliberate, tactile world that you can believe in: something not photo-real but photo-surreal. So this concept of Dirt, which was our working title at ILM, was also the name of the town and how it should feel."

But it's not easy beating perfection out of computers. Still, ILM worked wonders in keyframing a very, parched, tactile world peopled with a bizarre gallery of desert creatures.

For the animators used to working on VFX films, it was a matter of now creating something out of nothing, even though they had the performance footage as reference as well as their own reference they created for themselves. "They're used to reacting to the live-action footage as a framework," Hickel suggests. "But here it was closer to a blank slate. It's funny, they [couldn't wait to get in there] and act and not worry so much about having to integrate with the live action. But as soon as they got in there, they realized how much work was involved."

It was the same with the lighters, too, because they suddenly had so many creative options at their disposal. To help them along, ILM developed some new tools, especially for earlier and more accurate QC'ing before lighting among the various departments. The Previewer enabled the lighting TDs to interactively check where the light's going to fall, and the Sequencer allowed them to load some or all of the shots in a sequence in one file for easier lighting and relighting. For instance, a campfire sequence comprised of 56 shots was lit by two artists.

In addition, ILM created a new team right before lighting called preflight: this group took all the shots and rendered frames to make sure the shot was operating correctly.

In terms of characters, Tortoise John, the mayor (voiced by Ned Beatty), was especially challenging, but, fortunately, the similarity to John Huston's Noah Cross from Chinatown proved instructive. There was just something about him that wasn't working. "His shirt looked a little rumpled and he didn't look like a man of power," Hickel explains, "and so we went back and looked at that scene in Chinatown where Noah Cross is sitting and eating lunch, and we noticed that his shirt had this stitching on it that made it look rich, so that got added and we firmed up the modeling of his collar so that it had a bit more starch. We cleaned him up and made him up a little more impressive."

And some more shot progressions:

 

[Odoul]

First movie I saw all year and it was pretty damn fine.

And I wish all the success on the world if it leads to PG-13 cartoons one day.

Rattlesnake Jake clearly stole the show. Beans crazy ass was cool too.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

And I wish all the success on the world if it leads to PG-13 cartoons one day.

Hopefully a studio will take a chance and do just that some day. The main issue will be the financial risk, given how expensive CG films can get.

 

[Ezduo]

Does anyone know what the dialog was during the Fear and Loathing cameo? I assumed he said, "I knew it!" and that it was a reference to his drug induced bat hallucination.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

Man, this movie was pretty fantastic. Really detailed, fleshed out world, lots of different and refreshing ideas, well captured characters and cameos that felt truly earned, engrossing action, nicely layered, simple story. It was quite a packed experience, hard to imagine somebody not being impressed by atleast something going on here. Definitely worth checking out.

 

[G-Bus]

Saw it last night and liked it. First time in a while I felt like it was worth the price of admission.

 

[Meier]

The Spirit of the West was done by Timothy Olyphant. I recognized him immediately. He does a very good

Spoiler

Clint

impersonation..second guessed myself for a second.

 

[SilentProtagonist]

Strange that they decided to give Beans hair, but otherwise kept the designs in line with the actual animals.

 

[Johnlenham]

One is riding side saddle, one has ... an enlarged prostate

Who needs a check up!

Film cracked me up so many times and I also saw the fear and loathing nod in the beginning.
Been trying to convince people to see it since Friday! Rattle snake Jake and Beans also get mentions for being awesome!

Also is that other thing supposed to be Stranger for strangers wrath?

Ohh the thespians bit had me chocking with laughter

 

[Road]

This movie is an impressive CGI tech demo with "adult jokes" and a plot for 5 years-old.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I've read that Disney is giving The Borrower Arrietty a 2012 release? It would be a shame if true.

I believe the US release is set for Feb 2012.

 

[shortyme]

Man, this movie was pretty fantastic. Really detailed, fleshed out world, lots of different and refreshing ideas, well captured characters and cameos that felt truly earned, engrossing action, nicely layered, simple story. It was quite a packed experience, hard to imagine somebody not being impressed by atleast something going on here. Definitely worth checking out.

This is everything I came in here to say.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

The only definitive negative one could lay on thi movie is that Beans is dangerously close to having a Jar Jar Binks face.

 

[Bentendo]

Who was the actor that did the voice for "Clint Eastwood"?

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

Who was the actor that did the voice for "

Spoiler

Clint Eastwood

"?

I think I'm one of the only few who picked it up as Timothy Olyphant right away.

And man, what a ballsy cameo. A movie really has to have built up some serious credit to cash it in on a cameo like that and make it fit, and this movie sure as shit earned it.

 

[Treefrog]

The visuals were very impressive. My girlfriend's jaw dropped like 5 minutes into the movie. I agree that it didn't have enough heart. Something about it just wasn't clicking with me. I don't feel like the main character was someone I could relate to.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Entertainment Weekly - The Top 6 Classic Movie References in Rango

Some spoilers, and there's a lot more than 6 references in the film obviously.

 

[methos75]

I was reading where PETA was trying to get this movie banned cause it depicted keeping Reptiles as pets LOL

 

[ghst]

as a shameless leone fanboy (ouatitw>>>>>>>>>>>tgtbatu), i'll go ahead and call rango the best cgi animation i've ever seen.

"cinematographic consultant: roger deakins", no shit.

 

[Palmer_v1]

This movie was fantastic. Slightly predictable plot, but well done nonetheless. The animation was incredible. I don't think I've ever seen such great light and shadow effects.

The whole thing was just a fantastic homage to so many great Westerns.

For some reason, the part that cracked me up the most was when (minor spoilers)

Spoiler

the moles were chasing them on the bats, and for no apparent reason, one of them catches on fire when it's shot, as if it was a WWII era Spitfire. It quickly explodes when it strikes the side of the canyon too.

It just seemed like a deliberate use of the trope, and it made me laugh.

 

[BigJonsson]

I loved it

Some of the lines in the movie were things I'd never expect to hear in a movie, let a lone a kids movie!

Spoiler

I found a human spine in my fecal matter

SO RANDOM and awesome

 

[polyh3dron]

We did sound mixing for this movie at my work and yeah, initially there were a few curse words in it, I was pretty surprised.

 

[gofreak]

I just saw this without knowing anything about it before hand - and omggraphicshavecomesofar,realtimehassofartogo.

The last animated I had seen was how to train your dragon and I was not overly impressed by it visually or whatever, but this was AMAZING. The sand and the water and the photorealism of some scenes (if that makes sense) was incredible.

As for the movie itself, a slightly strange movie. As kids' movies go. I think the humour and dialog passed over the heads of the kids in my theatre 99% of the time.

 

[Carton]

Man, this movie was pretty fantastic. Really detailed, fleshed out world, lots of different and refreshing ideas, well captured characters and cameos that felt truly earned, engrossing action, nicely layered, simple story. It was quite a packed experience, hard to imagine somebody not being impressed by atleast something going on here. Definitely worth checking out.

My sentiments exactly.

I particularly liked the dialogue too.

 

[Oli]

Saw it today. Really dug it. The CGI was amazing.

 

[nib95]

Saw this a few days back. Enjoyed it but wasn't blown away. Don't get me wrong, it had it's moments, but something about the script and plot just didn't have the soul and witt that recent CGI movies have (TS3 and HtTYD). The start of the movie was a bit disjointed and hard to warm to, but it certainly picked up towards the middle and end. Aside from a few breathtaking moments here and there, it didn't really demand my attention.

The CGI itself was simply sublime mind. Lighting especially.

 

[AlexMogil]

I'm so glad I went to see this. The dialog respected the audience. The subtle asides and off remarks were precious. Like little gifts for paying attention.

I'm also thankful that they didn't go slapstick and allowed the characters to stand still so they could be seen.

 

[JDSN]

Great movie.


And Christ, stop requesting a higher MPA rating on any fucking movie for no reason at all.

 

[Kill The Bat]

Loved this movie. Animation was top notch, as was the voice work. I really only recognized Depp and Olyphant right off the bat.

Does anyone else love the theme song too?

 

[Lionel Mandrake]

Loved this movie. Loved everything about this movie.

I loved the animation. So amazingly detailed, yet so classically cartoonish.
I loved the weirdness. There were times where it took a moment for me to register what I was seeing.
I loved the music. All of it was great.
I loved the performances. Depp was at his best, and the supporting cast all brought something great to the table. I could barely even recognize Bill Nighy; he was really giving it all in his voice.
I loved that it didn't pander to anyone in particular. It was so wonderfully goofy, but at times surprisingly dark. It didn't pull any punches. I'm not one of those "It's always better if it's rated R," kind of guys. I think that different movies work best with certain content. But that said, there was something enjoyable about hearing a few "damn"s and "hell"s thrown around. It really did add to the tone.
I loved that it's a western. I mean... This movie is crazily western. It's a love-letter to westerns. That's awesome.

Funny, exciting, and charming. With Pixar churning out Cars 2, I'd say it's a safe bet that this will be the best big studio animated movie this year.

I noticed that one of my favorite moments from the TV spots ("Gun-lotion") wasn't in the movie, and thinking about it, I'm not actually sure where it would fit in the movie, given that it didn't really seem like Beans (I think it was Beans) would remind Rango about lotion. I don't know. I guess it'll be on the Blu-Ray.

Man, I liked this movie. I actually want to see it again soon.

 

[Tizoc]

I just got back from watching it and it is THE MOST EPIC MOVIE I HAVE SEEN THIS YEAR ALONE!
Also for those that felt that

Spoiler

Rattlesnake Jake's first appearance making Rango chicken out to be rushed, I too felt that at first, but upon reflection and after seeing Jake's later scenes...I would've chickened out as well. Jake also seemed to call him out and the way he on Rango in that scene was very strong.
Also, THOSE EYES.

Seriously don't miss out on this, even if you don't find it as epic as I did, it's still a great movie.

BTW you guys saying it

Spoiler

WASN'T CLINT EASTWOOD WHO DID THE VOICE?!?! WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?!!? I WON'T BELIEVE THIS SHIT, IT WAS CLINT!

Oh and...7 with one blow

 

[Yaweee]

BTW you guys saying it

Spoiler

WASN'T CLINT EASTWOOD WHO DID THE VOICE?!?! WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?!!? I WON'T BELIEVE THIS SHIT, IT WAS CLINT!

Oh and...7 with one blow

The voice was pretty clearly somebody else, and a recognizable voice at that. The replacement is good, but he still has a pretty distinct voice even when he is trying to impersonate somebody else.

 

[Tizoc]

Hmm I read about the voice actor and now I'm interested in watching the shows he appeared in lol. Oh well seeing how well received the guy is...it's cool....but that was still

Spoiler

Clint Eastwood

who did the voice!