Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Rango Review

Last week Jake rented Rango. The kids have been wanting to watch it for a while so we finally got it for them. I sat down and watched it with them and, I'll tell you, after it was over I kind of regretted letting them watch it. It's supposed to be a kid movie but I felt like it was seriously lacking in that department. It was fine for an adult movie. It was funny. It was an entertaining story, even if it was a little weird, but for kids, I thought it sucked. Here's why:
  • 1. It was depressing. Kid movies are supposed to be light and fun not depressing and gloomy. Rango was depressing and gloomy. In my opinion, kid movies should be full of positives. The characters should be happy, the themes should be good, the morals of the story should be something beneficial. I just didn't see any of this in Rango. To be fair, I wasn't looking for a moral so there may have been one that I just didn't click on to, but overall I thought it was too negative to be a good kid show.
  • 2. The villains were nightmarish. When you watch any show you know it wouldn't be good without a really good villain. But in a kid show the villains need to be portrayed differently. Less dark, I guess. Take Mother Gothel in Tangled. She was a villain. She was selfish and willing to do whatever it took to keep herself alive, even if that meant killing somebody else. But though they showed all that, they did it in a way that wasn't going to frighten any poor child or scar them for life. They weren't quite as delicate with the villains in Rango, particularly Rattlesnake Jake. He was ruthless. At one point he tries to force the female lead into doing what he wants. When she won't do it he coils himself around her, dangling her body in front of him, and cries "Look into my eyes. I wanna watch you die!" Umm, what? That's a bit much for a kid show, don't you think? He also says "I'm going to blow so many holes in you your guts will be leaking lead!" and "Do what he says, or by all the fires of the black hole I'll squeeze them pretty brown eyes right out of your head!" Maybe it's just me, but I find that a little disturbing, especially when my five-year-old is watching it!
  • 3. The swearing. I've heard some swearing in kid shows and I don't like it. Granted, I swear... a lot. Much more than I should. Still, I don't like to hear it in my kid's movies. It is in this one. It's not a ton. But it was enough that I took notice. I don't mind one swear word, maybe two, depending on the word and how it's presented (as in, did the character say it so low I could barely hear it). But in this movie, it was blatant. I noticed repeated swearing. The worst time, however, Rattlesnake Jake screams it at the female character "Sign the damn papers!" Blatant. Obvious. There's no questioning what he said. I just didn't like it. I don't want my kids hearing that influence from their movies.
  • 4. Sacreligious. Okay, this next point is debatable. I'm not even sure how I feel about the whole thing, but it bothered me so I'm putting it in this post. The characters in the movie pray to the Spirit of the West. They hold hands and say a prayer which sounds a lot like something I'd say in my daily prayers, asking for protection and guidance or whatever, but they offer it up to the Spirit of the West. Something about it just rubbed me wrong. I guess you could use it as a lesson to teach your kids about what you believe, but without that lesson it seems like it might influence them negatively. But that's just me. Like I said, this one is debatable because everybody has a different opinion. I'd love to hear some of those opinions.
  • 5. The last thing that bothered me was that there wasn't a lot of compassion in the characters. It was a lot of looking out for number one while forgetting numbers two, three, four, five, etc. There wasn't a complete lack of compassion; it was there. But there just wasn't a lot. I like my kids' movies to show characters with compassion, hope, charity, love, and all those wonderful positive emotions that make life better.
So, there is my opinion on Rango. I'd love to hear some of your opinions, especially those that see my points in a different way or those that found more positives in the movie. I'm not opposed to seeing the movie differently. For those of you with kids, at least you know a bit about the characters before you watch it with your kids. I would have liked to have known, then I would have skipped through a few parts. Anyway, there you have it. That's my opinion of the movie Rango.

6 comments:

  1. how was that sacrilegious? Oh no, it's the EVIL SPIRIT OF THE WEST!!! GASP!!! HOW DARE THEY POTRAY ANY OTHER BELIEF THAN JUDEO CHRISTIANITY!!!
    you're an intolerant moron.

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  2. Hello anonymous... Thank you for sharing your opinion. I'd like to point a few things out. When I added that in my post I was sure to say a few things such as..."The next point is debatable (the point of the sacrilege), I'm not even sure how I feel about the whole thing (if I feel that it is sacreligious), that it rubbed me wrong but I wasn't sure why so I put it in the post, and then I reiterated that it was a debatable point. I also asked for other people's opinions, because I want to see what other people thought and how they felt about that particular scene. Obviously I was looking for other beliefs. Now, you come onto my blog, post as an anonymous poster so nobody can find you or respond, and rip me a new one because I am an "intolerant moron". You don't know me. You don't know my background. You don't know my belief system. You don't know what I've done or how I live. You don't know anything about me and yet you feel, after one paragraph of writing, that you can define me. I'd like to put the shoe on the other foot. You, not willing to look at my opinion (which I repeatedly stressed was my opinion and something I was willing to hear other more positive opinions on), unfortunately paints you in the same light. As an intolerant person I must be unwilling to consider any viewpoints other than my own. It is apparent that you also are unwilling to consider any other viewpoints. So I guess we are both intolerant morons. But how about this? I have my opinion and you have yours. Why not share yours in a positive way, in a way that might make people think, and add value to what I've already posted, instead of assuming you know me as a person and slamming me for my opinion. Because guess what! It's my opinion. I never said it was right or wrong, I said it was mine. I also said it was a point that I thought was debatable. And guess what else? Everybody has opinions. We all live. We all think differently. We all create a belief system that is built on our experiences in this life. Are they all wrong? No. Are they all right? No. But they are all ours. Intolerance goes both ways. You have shown your intolerance by slamming me for an opinion I expressed that was different than your own.

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  3. Calm down. Don't go defining me either from one angry comment. the internet can bring out the worst in us - I just found it ridiculous that you even mentioned it, especially as "sacrilegious", which would not be the appropriate term for that at all.

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  4. Sacrilege: The violation or profanation of anything held sacred.
    The stealing of anything consecrated to the service of God.
    It is, in fact, the proper term. And I consider prayer very sacred. So it does, in fact, apply to me and my beliefs. Mine. Does that make me intolerant? No. It means that I have a value system that is different from yours. Doesn't make me right. Doesn't make me wrong. Doesn't make you right. Doesn't make you wrong. So thank you for expressing your opinion so vocally. Please remember next time around that we are all people living different lives with different experiences. Hurtful and mean comments only cause damage, regardless of where they are said. One mean comment isn't going to kill me. I'll respond yes, but it's not going to ruin my day. But it might really hurt somebody else.

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  5. "Sacrilege: The violation or profanation of anything held sacred.
    The stealing of anything consecrated to the service of God."
    It escapes me completely how anything in that movie even came close to doing that.
    If the movie presented a belief or religion that wan't yours, it is not violating yours, it is unrelated to yours. It had nothing to do with your particular faith or creed.

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  6. And there you go. An opinion that's logical and not defiled by anger. Thank you. That is what I was hoping to get when I posted that. Somebody else's viewpoint. And your viewpoint does make sense. I wish you would have started your post with that. It would have made for a much better, more positive experience for both of us.

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