The Lone Ranger Review

I'm still convinced that Disney is searching for another cash cow like Pirates of the Caribbean was. Prince of Persia didn't quite cut it and John Carter was a flop. The Lone Ranger (2013) is their latest attempt. The movie was dragged through the mud by other critics, but I ended up seeing it anyway. Frankly, I think it's a whole lot better than the media made it out to be.

In the 1930's, an elderly Tonto (Johnny Depp) tells a young boy the tale of John Reid, The Lone Ranger (Armie Hammer). An idealistic lawyer, he rides with his brother and fellow Texas Ranger in pursuit of the notorious Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner). Ambushed by the outlaw and left for dead, John Reid is rescued by the renegade Comanche, Tonto, at the insistence of a mysterious white horse and offers to help him bring Cavendish to justice. Becoming a reluctant masked rider with a seemingly incomprehensible partner, Reid pursues the criminal against all obstacles. However, John and Tonto learn that Cavendish is only part of a far greater injustice, and the pair must fight it in an adventure that would make them legend.

The Lone Ranger has a few things going for it that other Pirates of the Caribbean-success attempts didn't have. First, it has Johnny Depp. Depp is type cast a lot of the time, but still excels in comical roles like he did in Pirates of the Caribbean. Second, The Lone Ranger has the same director as Pirates did; Gore Verbinski. He did the first three Pirates movies, Rango, and Mousehunt. He's a very visual director that has made some outstanding family films. It's the fact that both of these Hollywood personalities are present in The Lone Ranger. I'm certain it was the decision of studio executives and film producers to have them involved in The Lone Ranger in hopes that it would be as successful as Pirates was.

The Lone Ranger started out as a radio show way back in the 1930's. There have been a number of television shows and movies based off of it. I've never seen or heard any of these, but I am familiar with the cultural icons. All are present in this movie and they are well incorporated. The catchphrases, well known characters, Even the music from the William Tell Overture, which was used as a theme song in the old radio show, is present.

A lot of the exterior shots were filmed on desert locations in Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. Gore has captivated an excellent Old West feel with gorgeous widescreen spectacles that owe a lot to classic “spaghetti westerns” of the 1960's. Even the action heralds back to Buster Keaton-style stunts. As far as visuals and action goes, this really is great movie to watch since it draws inspiration from a lot of old successful western movies. There had to be at least as many stunt men as there were digital effects artists working on this movie.

Depp and Hammer were great together. Hammer is a ridged, comically straight laced, sheltered, naïve city boy who is completely out of his element. It's kind of fun to watch him learn how the world really is and how he decides to take a stand and make things as good as he believes they should be. Depp is basically the same wacky character he often plays. This rendition of Tonto is similar to Captain Jack Sparrow but with a Native American motif. He's funny, weird, and serves up wacky humor.

The Lone Ranger is certainly not without it's faults. The most blaring of which is having a very white guy portraying a Native American. I love Johnny Depp, but it's so awkward when actors who are obviously of European decent, are playing characters of other ethnicities. Why not just give an actor of the character's ethnicity an opportunity to shine? I think that Tonto's character acts so comically weird that he becomes a politically incorrect depiction of Native Americans, and might offend some viewers. On the other hand, the Native Americans in the movie (actually played by Native Americans) all agree that Tonto is crazy and doesn't represent them. Still, the character makes me cringe a little.

Another problem is the spiritualism theme. It's repeatedly established that “nature is out of balance” and is causing animals to behave strangely. This is occasionally funny such as the scene when John's horse is found in a tree, and sometimes creepy. What causes this is not really established. Is it all the corruption from the outlaws? The western civilization taking over the American wilds? I have no idea. While the idea is repeated several times, it's neither resolved nor explained. It seems that it was haphazardly stuck into the movie here and there in an attempt to create a sense of larger stakes than what was originally thought, or to establish a sense of urgency. The story would have made more sense without it.

Finally, I thought the length of the movie was too long. It's fun, but long. The first forty-five minutes of the movie are excellent. It's easy to get lost in the second forty-five minutes. There ends up being multiple groups of villains that take too much time to explain. By the time it's all sorted out we've stopped caring and we're ready to see our heroes duke it out with the baddies. I think the movie would have been stronger with just one central villain.

The Lone Ranger is fun. Everyone told me it was crap, but I genuinely enjoyed it. There's tons of deadpan comedy and witty humor, lots of exciting action, some impressive visuals, and fun characters. It runs a bit long and might lose its audience from time to time, but that train scene at the end makes any confusion well worth enduring. I don't think it's quite as good as the first Pirates of the Caribbean was, but it is by far much better than critics were saying it is. I highly recommend renting The Lone Ranger, you may even consider purchasing a copy if you enjoyed other Gore Verbinski films.

Did you see The Lone Ranger? What did you think? Would you be up for watching a second installment? Comment below and tell me why or why not!

MouseHunt Movie Review

Dreamworks Studios was started in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffery Katzenberg, and David Geffen to create a new Hollywood studio of which they would own 72%. Dreamworks has gone on to make movies, video games, and television programming. In 1997, they released  their first family film, MouseHunt directed by Gore Verbinski.

 After the death of their father, Rudolph Smuntz (William Hickey), Ernie (Nathan Lane) and Lars Smuntz (Lee Evans) inherit the family business, an old string factory. Ernie wants to sell it immediately in hopes they can get any kind of profit from it. Lars wants to keep the business running in honor of their deceased father’s wishes. The brothers also inherit an old mansion their father never mentioned before. Upon getting the house apprised they learn that is the last house built by Charles Lyle LaRue, which was until then thought to be a rumor. The house dubbed “The Missing LaRue” draws the attention of architectural enthusiasts and LaRue collectors. The Brothers agree to restore the house and put it up for auction in hopes of earning millions of dollars. But the house is inhabited by a very intelligent and mischievous mouse. Fearing another vermin-related incident that caused Ernie to lose his restaurant job, the two set out to get rid of the mouse. This proves to be an insurmountable challenge, pushing the Smuntz brothers to more and more extreme tactics as the auction draws ever nearer.

MouseHunt is unquestionably a comedy; it’s full of physical humor and slapstick. Part of the appeal of MouseHunt is that it uses common physical gags that you would normally find in an old cat-and-mouse cartoon in a live action movie. It’s like Home Alone (1990) meets the Tom and Jerry cartoons with a dash of The Money Pit (1986) thrown in. A cat the Smuntz brothers purchase chases the mouse into a piano, playing musical notes as they run around inside it. Lars gets a mousetrap caught on his lips.  Ernie is fired out of the chimney like a cannonball due to a gas leak. Various characters are hit with frying pans. There are also explosions involving a septic tank; what family comedy is complete without potty humor?

The characters in MouseHunt are amusing, but simple. Normally simple characters are a weakness in a film, but not in this one. MouseHunt really is going for a simple Saturday morning cartoon quality. Having deep, dynamic characters that end up falling downstairs, out the front door, and sledding down a snowy hill in a Jacuzzi tub would just be stupid. While the characters are simple, they are not annoying or pointless. Often times child characters are thrown into films in an attempt to appeal to child audiences. There aren’t any major child character in this movie, and there doesn’t need to be. Kid characters are always depicted as being more intelligent than the adults and manage to avoid any pratfalls. That would have weakened MouseHunt considerably. The characters are all adults, but they are expressive and interesting enough to keep child viewers interested.

Kids may recognize Nathan Lane’s voice as Timon from The Lion King (1994). MouseHunt makes a couple of subtle references to this role. Ernie Smuntz bows to a sheik who is attending the auction of the house. In doing so, he greets him with “Hakuna Matata,” referencing a song he sings in The Lion King. The actor Ernie Sabella, the voice of Pumbaa, makes a cameo appearance as the pound owner where the Smuntz’ purchase “catzilla” to help rid them of the mouse. Young viewers probably won’t catch these details, but it’s worth noting.

The only weakness in MouseHunt is a lack of a villain. You’re never quite sure who to be rooting for; The cute little mischievous mouse or the down on their luck Smuntz brothers. There is plenty of conflict, but who do we want to win? The movie itself doesn’t seem to know, and by extension, neither do we. This is a fairly trivial detail, the movie doesn’t take itself any more seriously than a Tom and Jerry cartoon, and neither should we.

MouseHunt is a fun movie. It has funny characters, wacky comedy, slapstick, and some amazing visual effects. Kids will want to watch it again and again. It is directed by the same director who did Rango (2011) and the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, if that is any indicator of MouseHunt’s quality. There are a couple of scenes that might be a bit scary for younger viewers; the cat is pretty funny, but might scare some youngsters. It’s probably good for about ages six and up. If you have kids, this is worth purchasing. If not, it’s still a fun movie to watch sometime.

Did you see MouseHunt? Did you like it? Was it too “cartoony” for your tastes? Comment below and tell me why!

Movie Review: Rango

Nickelodeon Studios primarily makes television shows targeted towards kids. These include Rugrats, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly Odd Parents, and Avatar: the Last Airbender. Later they started producing movies that were based off of their best selling television programming. This is how we got Good Burger (1997) and The Rugrats Movie (1998) among others. They did a few films that were not blatant advertisements for their television show such as Harriet the Spy (1996), Snow Day (2000), and Charlotte's Web (2008). Most of their movies have been less than stellar. Then along came Rango (2011), directed by Gore Verbinski. Given Nickelodeon Movies’ running streak of mediocrity, Rango didn’t even make it on my list of movies to see. Fortunately, I ended up seeing the movie anyway.

Rango (Johnny Depp) is a sheltered chameleon living as an ordinary family pet. He keeps himself entertained by being a method actor, acting out his own plays with inanimate objects as other characters. While traveling, the family car hits a bump sending, Rango and his cage flying off the vehicle and out into the desert. After wandering in the desert for some time, he comes across the gritty, gun-slinging town called Dirt. Dirt is populated by a host of wacky, lawless desert creatures, which makes the timid Rango stick out like a sore thumb. Rango uses his acting skills and conjures up an old west style character to help him try to blend in; this is where he comes up with the name “Rango.” This new persona is welcomed as a last hope for Dirt, which is slowly dying of thirst. Rango is made Sheriff to help figure out why the water is gone. Sheriff Rango’s efforts stir up some nasty villains and political intrigue.

I think the most blaringly obvious positive quality of this movie is the animation. This is some of the best CGI I’ve seen, comparable to the quality of animation that has made Pixar so successful. There’s so much detail in the characters: you can see the scales on the lizards, distinguish the feathers on the birds, and most impressive is the animation for the water. Water played a significant driving force in this story so it needed to look good. Water is very difficult to animate well; it needs really detailed control over the particle effects and lighting. Rango pulled this visual effect off brilliantly. The characters are designed to be zany and exaggerated, but still have lots of detail and care behind them. They just bring to mind some of the hand drawn characters from classic animated features. Another great thing about the animation is the color. Rango used such vibrant colors that it was almost difficult to take your eyes from the screen at any point. It is obvious that Rango was created with loving attention and detail by the artists involved in its production. Computer generated imagery can be a quick shortcut in animation, but shouldn’t be an excuse for creating low quality animated films.

The character Rango, himself, is quite interesting. He’s good natured, and hilariously naïve, but makes his way through his problems apparently by drawing inspiration from western movies he must have seen. He lacks confidence, but does his best not to let the townsfolk of Dirt see it. As a chameleon, Rango is meant to blend in, which he tries to do. But great responsibility is placed on Rango; how do you aim high when your purpose in life is to blend in? Rango (not Johnny Depp) really does improvise as he makes his way through the story, sort of inventing his character as he goes. I don’t particularly believe that the “fake it ‘till you make it” philosophy is a very good one to approach a problem, but Rango does just that, and he does make it; ultimately becoming the character he made up for himself at the beginning.

The story in Rango is absurdly creative! It kind of pays homage to a lot of old western movies, but includes a lot of comedy. The more westerns you’ve seen the funnier this movie will be. If Blazing Saddles (1974) was CGI animated with silly desert animals as the characters, you’d basically have Rango. It is delightfully non-formulaic. I kept thinking to myself, “yeah, here’s the part where they realize he’s not the gun-slinger he says he is.” But the movie didn’t do it. I kept expecting cliché story elements to pop up, but most of them didn’t; and the ones that did were done in a creative, unpredictable way. This gave the movie an invigorating, fresh quality to it.

I’m glad I ended up seeing Rango. It was fun, creative, humorous, and well designed and executed. It's a satire of a lot of old westerns. I'm sure if you're a fan of westerns you'll get a big kick out of it. And if you're a fan of silly comical animated movies, you'll also get a big kick out of it. It’s a good, clean family film that is intelligently written to keep viewers of all ages entertained. I am not the center of the target audience for Rango, but for those who are in the target audience, I recommend adding this movie to your DVD/Blu-Ray collection.

What movie have you seen in the last year that significantly exceeded your expectations? Why did it surprise you so much?