Entertainment : Rango: Originality combines wild west, animation

By far, my biggest complaint about modern American movies and TV is the utter lack of originality.

In his most often-misquoted work, "Tale of Two Cities" a few paragraphs after the misused "best of times, worst of times" is one of my favorite Dickens phrases: Supernaturally deficient in originality.

That's us. Our politicians. Our movie and television writers. We seem to have a supernatural inability to think of something new. This is the biggest reason for government shutdowns, water shortages in states that border the ocean, and the deficit, not to mention boring movies and television shows with the same plot week after week. In a society where our politicians want to be reality stars and our reality stars want to run for president, I imagine the rest of the world watching us the way millions of Americans like to watch court TV shows and saying, "Wow, can you believe that?"

"Rango," the animated western movie on the Palace screen this week, is a pleasant exception.

Set in the fictional western town of Dirt, "Rango" includes a vending machine (I will bet you never saw a vending machine in a western movie before), rodents flying bats armed with missiles and a headless Barbie doll. The originality probably comes from the fact that the producers are the same ones who brought us "Pirates of the Caribbean."

I saw the movie Sunday night from the front row of the Palace, where I dragged my three youngest daughters on a Daddy date night. We used the Palace Bucks we received from Betterton Chiropractic during the Vinton Unlimited Mini Masters event. Thanks, Scott and Matt!

The Story

Rango, a lizard, is happy living in his aquarium dream world, playing imaginary games with the headless doll and plastic fish. But then a highway mishap leaves him stranded in the desert, where a run-over armadillo (there was an armadillo recently run over in Iowa, according to a conservation officer I spoke to recently) sends him across the desert to look for water.

Rango winds up in Dirt, where (while being followed by a mariachi band of owls foretelling his impending demise) he encounters a group of other creatures who are also facing a growing water crisis (caused, of course, by government, specifically, the Mayor of Dirt).

Rango likes to brag about being a hero, and the dry desperados of Dirt need a hero, so they make him the sheriff. He promptly uses his authority to ignorantly abet the theft of the very last water from Dirt. The residents of Dirt, including Beans, the lady lizard, are trying to find out if Rango is a true hero, or an imposter. Whether or not he brings the water to Dirt will answer that question.

Why you should go:

"Rango" is not like anything you have seen on the big screen, which alone makes it worth going to see. While there is no big inspiring message, it is simply good fun.

What you should know before you go:

"Rango" is rated PG for its western-movie language and violence.

My favorite part:

The owls.

"Rango" continues until Thursday at the Palace, where "The Adjustment Bureau" is next. That one, too, seems original. I'll let you know next week if my impression is correct.