Don't look now, but Walt Disney
The special effects house has partnered up with distributor Viacom's
You see, Rango is a heck of a proving ground for ILM.
Cartoons have become increasingly eye-catching and realistic over the years, aided by computer graphics fueled by ever-greater hardware horsepower. But this movie takes cartoon realism to a whole new level.
Rango is a paint-by-numbers story of self-discovery and reluctant heroes, acted out by talking animals in a dusty Wild-West setting. Every plot twist is telegraphed miles ahead; it's simple entertainment with low ambitions.
That is, except for the visual department. Early shots in a clean, civilized lizard cage may fool you into expecting just another overly polished pile of mediocrity, but that all changes when our reptilian hero is plunged into the Western desert.
It's dirty. It's grimy. You want to believe in every sand dune and smudge. When Clint Eastwood makes a cameo, it might as well have been the real deal -- the attention to detail is that overwhelming.
Like Peter Jackson's WETA parlayed the Lord of the Rings trilogy into a special-effects powerhouse position, ILM might do the same here in the carton department. Paramount has never done a full-length animated feature before, but might do so again now that there's a terrific production partner on hand. And like I said, that's potentially bad news for Disney and Dreamworks. The old family entertainment dollar only stretches so far, you know?
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