Rango

Movie: Rango

Genre: animated western

Synopsis: Rango (Johnny Depp) is a chameleon without much going for him other than a wild imagination.  When an accident strands him in the Nevada desert, he manages to make it to the town of Dirt.  Dirt is mysteriously running out of water.  The town is run by a crooked mayor.  After Rango makes up a few tall stories about his shooting skills and the citizens believe him.  He ends up becoming the sheriff.  Now he starts trying to solve the mystery of where the water has disappeared to.  This involves fighting a huge family of gopher-like critters, going up against the mayor’s gang, a rattlesnake who works for the mayor and even having a conversation with “the spirit of the west”.  Some of the other actors voices: Ned Beatty, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, Stephen Root and Timothy Olyphant.

My two cents: A very entertaining movie.  It seemed to me that this movie was almost aimed for more of an adult audience than kids.  I was not expecting such an all-star cast of voices.  The movie was a bit long for an animated film . . . but I really enjoyed it.

[56]

Beasty

Movie: Beasty

Genre: romantic fantasy

Synopsis: Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) is handsome, rich and the Alpha male of his prestigious private school in Manhattan.  He is running for a student office on the premise that he will do nothing  . . . but is rich and handsome.  He is intrigued by a very earnest student, Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens), who seems to be immune to his charms.  Kyle manages to really anger Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen).  Kendra is a witch and puts a curse on Kyle.  He is transformed into a bald, hard-to-look-at person covered with tattoos and strange lines and deformities.  To break the curse, he has one year to find someone that will tell him she loves him.  Kyle’s father (Peter Krause) moves Kyle and the housekeeper, Zola (Lisa Gay Hamilton) to a remote apartment where he will live in seclusion.  His father, even shallower than Kyle, chooses to keep living in the city.  Kyle even get’s his own tutor, Will (Neil Patrick Harris).  Will is blind, but manages to be a great dart thrower.

Kyle becomes obsessed with Lindy.  After witnessing a murder, Lindy winds moving into Kyle’s apartment to until the killer is caught.  The  movie follows the development of the relationship between Kyle and Lindy  . . . and the maturing of Kyle and his view of the world.

My two cents: This movie had a lot that I liked: Vanessa Hudgens and the awkward building of a romance between Kyle and Lindy.  The two that I thought stole the film were Lisa Gay Hamilton and Neil Patrick Harris.  Her character was such an inherently good and decent person that it made me smile whenever she was in a scene.  And the tutor was just plain funny.  The movie had a lot that I did not go for: Kyle was just a bit too openly shallow in the beginning of the movie, the witch was just a little too unbelievable, the acceptance of Kyle’s “condition” by everyone was just a bit too easy.

Bottom line: nothing to go out of your way to see.

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