Overview
A chameleon finds his true colors in a dusty town desperate for a hero.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- witty
- irreverent
- surreal
- family movie night
- lazy sunday
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film as a visually inventive, unusually witty animated western whose genre satire works for both children and film-savvy adults.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Rango invents a gunslinger identity and accepts the sheriff role before learning what genuine responsibility requires.
The film uses sheriff mythology, saloon politics, desert duels, outlaw villains, and visual references to classic western cinema for comic commentary.
Dirt's missing water supply determines the town's survival and exposes manipulation by its leaders.
The Nevada desert and town of Dirt are rendered with highly detailed textures, dramatic perspective, and oversized action set pieces.
Films like Rango, and why
The Bad Guys
animated adventure comedy with genre satire, eccentric characters, and inventive visual world-building
Shrek
family-friendly animated comedy built around an outsider improvising a heroic identity amid danger and deception
Blazing Saddles
comic western that parodies genre conventions through absurd humor, theatrical bravado, and frontier archetypes
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
stylized western mystery with arid landscapes, missing resources, and film-literate genre revisionism
Movie Details
- Director
- Gore Verbinski
- Release Date
- 2011-03-02
- Runtime
- 107 min
- Rating
- 6.9 / 10 (7340)
Cast
- Johnny Depp
- Isla Fisher
- Ned Beatty
- Bill Nighy
- Abigail Breslin
- Alfred Molina
- Stephen Root
- Harry Dean Stanton
- Timothy Olyphant
- Ray Winstone
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Rango about?
- A nervous pet chameleon reinvents himself as a desert sheriff and discovers that saving a thirsty frontier town requires more than theatrical bluffing.
- What is Rango like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Rango as brisk, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Rango violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Rango as mild.
- What did critics think of Rango?
- Critics broadly praised the film as a visually inventive, unusually witty animated western whose genre satire works for both children and film-savvy adults.
- Which films are like Rango?
- Films with a similar feel include The Bad Guys, Shrek, Blazing Saddles, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
- How long is Rango?
- Rango runs 107 minutes.
- Where can I watch Rango?
- In United States, Rango is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
