Every day I cruise the posts at Dark Horizons, one of the best movie news sites on the ‘net. There is the occasional item buzzing about non-events, but Garth tends to keep the reports straight —- unlike the hyperbolic fanboy bullshit from AICN.
Today, I watched the extended clip of RANGO, the new Nickelodeon/Paramount Pictures cartoon starting the voice work of Johnny Depp, Ilsa Fisher, Bill Nighy, Alfred Molina, and Ned Beatty. Then I watched it again, just to make sure and, yep, looks like a less-than-sly nod to our good Dr. Thompson.
(The video is an MSNBC exclusive, so I can’t imbed it. Click here to watch the clip.)
Film School Rejects though the same thing back in June of last year. Guess I’m a little slow on this one.
Tardy or not, the connections are undeniable: Rango’s lurching gait, Acapulco shirt, speech patterns, and the outrageous detail of his story — along with his aggressive control-the-situation-before-it-takes-control-of-you approach to dealing with the mangy gang in the bar — all seem to add up to a good-timey Gonzhomage. Add to that some voice work by longtime HST pal Harry Dean Stanton, the overall physiognomy of Rango’s face, and a room full of lizards(!) — and it’s hard to not to watch this clip with Gonzo eyes.
I’m trying to talk the wife into going to the show tomorrow night. She says maybe, but I might just smuggle the kid out of the house, anyway.