Rango

I had heard that Rango was a good animated movie for people besides little kids, but I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It's probably the best non-Pixar American animated movie I've seen since The Iron Giant, which is a lot of qualifications, but it's still a solid accomplishment. It's definitely not a movie designed to appeal directly to children; I'm sure plenty would like it, but the story and characters have enough maturity and older-skewing references built into them to make it probably appeal more directly to someone with at least more knowledge of the history of film. There's a lot of Western character archetypes and homages to a bunch of different sources, the stuff that's supposed to be fun for parents who brought their kid to the theater. It goes beyond that here, though. The whole movie seems more designed with the parent in mind than the kid.

Again, not that I don't think kids would like it at all. It's a pretty silly movie in places, and not very difficult to follow. I just thought it was aimed at me more than I expected it to be. The cast is pretty outstanding and varied, with the right idea being used when the voices were picked - they do use celebrities you've heard of, but they're cast to play characters, not to be famous and recognizable. I know Johnny Depp at least was moving around on a set to help create the character, and his Rango is pretty loveable. He's a pet iguana who ends up stranded in the desert and meets up with a small community of wild animals who are struggling to find water. There's a love interest played by Isla Fisher, and a cute little girl played by Abigail Breslin, and a wise but suspicious authority figure played by Ned Beatty. It could pretty much have been a live action Western with the same general characters and worked the same, and that's what's interesting about it. The animation enhances the movie though, providing great opportunities for little moments of humor and some pretty spectacular action sequences. There's just something about complete freedom and control of moments of excitement that really brings out the potential of the form. It's kind of a simple and predictable story, but it works because of the solid humor and charming cast. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it dethroning Pixar in the Best Animated Feature race early next year.

Zombieland

Zombieland is a good Dawn of the Dead to Shaun of the Dead's Night of the Living Dead. It's not about the outbreak and early rise of the zombie hordes, it's about a few people scraping to survive in a world already torn apart by their menace. I wasn't sure about the movie before I saw it, because it almost seemed like it was trying too hard to get me specifically to like it. But it ended up being a pretty enjoyable film with plenty of likable characters to keep you interested in what was happening. It lack's Shaun's British subtlety and completely spot-on satire, but makes up for it with a real sense of fun and extremely over the top violence. I've rarely seen zombies die as well as they do in this movie, and the gore isn't even the goal. Since the movie is based on what was initially planned to be a televised series, the purpose of the characters is to grow and connect with each other, not die horribly every once in a while.

And the cast is strong. Jesse Eisenberg has drawn comparisons to Michael Cera, but it's clear he's more than just a copy. He's done a lot more legitimate acting, and does a solid job here as Columbus of explaining the world to the audience through narration while taking the lead as a lovable loser. Woody Harrelson is enjoyable in whatever sort of movie you care to stick him in, and plays one of cinema's greatest ever pure zombie killers in Tallahassee. Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin are recognizable from Superbad and Little Miss Sunshine respectively, and play a couple of con artist sisters who you like despite their actions for a lot of the film. Emma's good because she can consistently pull off the part of the stone cold fox that you can still somehow buy being possibly attracted to a dork like Columbus, and Abigail is surprisingly good for her age. And the secret celebrity cameo is one for the ages. It's hard to mind the slight halt in forward momentum when they get so much humor out of just a few minutes. The climax at an amusement park is probably the most purely enjoyable sequence I've seen in a horror-related context, and I would love to see the creators continue the story of four strangers with towns for names.