Straight out of the gate "Rango" is unafraid to be strange, though it does soon cower back to motions of wide appeal. Director Gore Verbinski knows well how to weird out movie-goers by playing with expectation and molding environments on whim, but his practices here are weighted in favor of general audiences. Where we have a modest handful of surreal sequences in line with and often identical to Davy Jones' locker in Verbinski's "Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End", the picture is moreover an underwhelming investment in what should be relegated to sub-plot status. You see, once our lead lizard assumes his title role, he's launched into a ruckus over a drought imposed by any number of unsavory suspects. This thread exists as a path to the overarching internal journey's fulfillment, but just like Rango becoming caught up in his performance as a wild west sheriff, the film gets caught in what is ultimately inconsequence.
