Cinema Alliance Movie Reviews

I’m a big fan of animated movies like this and usually like them. For some reason, I just found Rango to be a bit flat and uninteresting…

The story unfolds with our reluctant hero Rango, a chameleon who’s thrown into the desert unexpectedly while traveling with his family. During his travels to find water, he stumbles onto the town of Dirt, which just so happens to be in the need of a new sheriff. Rango, being the hustler he is, manages to work his way into this position and win the hearts of the town in the process…

The story is ok, and this is perhaps where it fell a bit short for me. but it’s one we’ve seen a million times and this one in particular is no exception. It’s a very formulaic story without any major surprises. After about the first half hour or so, I found my attention wandering.

The design and animation are beautifully crafted with a great amount of detail. They did a great job capturing the desert / wild west kind of vibe. The characters are also well done making them fun to watch. It was cute to see the character of Beans freeze into her defensive stance whenever she felt threatened.

There’s some great talent in here too; besides Johnny Depp as Rango, the lineup includes: Isla Fisher, Ned Beatty, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone and Timothy Olyphant among others.

Even with the amazing cast involved, the film still was boring at times and just kind of un-interesting all around. It’s worth seeing just for the sake of the artwork behind it but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it again.

reviewed by Sean McKnight

Yep, this is awesome.

From the get go, the movie doesn’t stop until the whole thing has played out before you even know it’s over. It’s assumed that you know who everybody is as there’s not a lot of backstory other than to fill in some gaps here and there, particularly between Hawkeye and Black Widow, although I have to admit I didn’t find their story especially interesting or necessary. Gratefully, they don’t belabor the point too much…

No, instead most of the story revolves around Loki, his quest for vengeance, and the army he’s bringing to Earth to carry out his plans for dominance and power. Luckily SHIELD has been preparing for such an invasion since Loki’s last visit in the Thor movie. Hence the Avengers initiative to unite the world’s heroes and save the planet.

I’ll let the story speak for itself from here on out. Suffice it to say that watching The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow alongside Nick Fury all kicking ass is much fun. Part of the good times is watching how the Avengers try to get together in the beginning but end up beating the crap out of each other in the process. Watching Thor vs The Hulk, Captain America vs Iron Man vs Thor, and so on is pretty much most comic book fans’ wet dream. I know I enjoyed it very much as these were all heroes I collected the comic books of when I was a kid. Watching them interact and fight both each other and together is something I’d never thought I’d see that life-like on a big screen. I was very happy to see this movie realized as it is a blast to watch.

The humor is there too and hits you unexpectedly at times. You expect Tony Stark’s quippy one-liners, so that’s a given, but some of the more subtle moments is where the more engaging humorous moments occur. I especially enjoyed the exchange between the Hulk and Loki.

The effects are of course, top of the line. The battle in New York is wonderfully epic. My only complaint is that some of the alien force and the Hulk look decidedly CG at times. I have yet to see anyone really nail down the Hulk in a way where he doesn’t look CG. I would like to see Peter Jackson’s WETA take a crack at it.

Overall, it’s a great movie with a great lineup of talent. Joss Whedon writes and directs and has turned out a film you really should catch in the theater if you can. Then there’s the actors: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Gwyenth Paltrow, Powers Booth, Harry Dean Stanton and Paul Bettany as the voice of Iron Man’s AI buddy Jarvis.

Don’t forget to stick around through the credits and keep your eye out for Stan Lee.

reviewed by Sean McKnight