Animated Family Film 'Rango' Features Talking Animals in Wes

Johnny Depp reunites with his Pirates of the Caribbean director, Gore¹ Verbinski, for a witty² animated³ western set in a dusty frontier town where all the inhabitants are animals - talking animals, of course. Here's a look at Rango.
"Here in the Mojave Desert animals have had millions of years to adapt to the harsh environment. But the lizard⁴? He's going to die."
'The Lizard' is a pet chameleon⁵ wearing a colorful Hawaiian shirt. This aspiring⁶ actor spends hours improvising⁷ scenes with the toys in his terrarium; but when he is accidentally tossed onto the side of the highway winding⁸ through the desert, he quickly learns that surviving in the wild is real drama.
After a series of narrow escapes, he finds his way to the town of Dirt: dilapidated, parched⁹, lawless and not exactly partial to newcomers.
Ah, but here's where all those hours of improvisation¹⁰ will pay off; and instead of blending in, this chameleon stands out ...and stands tall.
"Who exactly are you?"
"The name is Rango."
Courtesy of Paramount¹¹ Pictures
Rango (Johnny Depp) in RANGO, from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies.
Made-up tales of brave exploits captivate the various creatures in Dirt who pick Rango to be their new sheriff; and his troubles take off from there.
Animated films are traditionally made in two parts: first the voice actors individually record their parts and then the animators create images to go with the dialog. But for "Rango," director and co-writer Gore Verbinski broke the rules by bringing his actors together and filming them as they acted out their scenes on an empty stage with just a few hand props¹². Verbinski calls the technique "emotion capture:"
"We've never made an animated movie before and people keep saying 'for an animated movie this' and 'for an animated movie that' like it's some kind of genre," Verbinski says. "It's just a technique to tell a story so early on we just felt like we're not going to think of this as an animated movie; we're going to think about this as a six foot [2-meter]-tall lizard, I have a camera on my shoulder and I'm photographing him perform this scene with these other people. It's acting¹³. It's reacting."
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Left to right: Rango (Johnny Depp) and Beans (Isla Fisher) in RANGO, from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies.
"The process that we did that Gore created this sort of atmosphere was really, truly ludicrous; I mean, just ridiculous," explains Johnny Depp, who stars as the voice of "Rango".? Depp says the unorthodox technique had him and his costars acting like human cartoons.
"It was like regional theater at its worst and somehow, because of the idea of, not motion capture but, EMOTION capture, certain gestures and movements and something you might have done with your eyes these animators took it and put it in there. So it was very strange, but ultimately it was the right thing to do," he says.
Depp says physically¹⁴ playing out the scenes (instead of just standing¹⁵ in a recording¹⁶ booth) and playing off the reactions of the other actors helped him quickly find a voice for "Rango".
"Early on some of the talks that Gore and I had about the character - we're talking about two middle-aged¹⁷ men discussing the possibility of one of them being a lizard - it starts off on a surreal kind of note; but finding the voice and the character, we talked about [how] when people have a tendency to exaggerate or lie, you notice that their voice goes up quite high to a completely different register," explains Depp. "Then suddenly [higher pitched voice] I'm really nervous about telling you the truth. [normal voice] So that's kind of where it came from: you imagine the character to be incredibly just a nervous wreck¹⁸."
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Left to right: Rango (Johnny Depp) and the Hawk¹⁹ in RANGO, from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies.
The absurdist story delves²⁰ into adult territory with Rango facing existential questions about finding his place in the world and, despite the playful animation²¹, at times the film seems hardly for kids at all. However, director Verbinski says he intended the film for young and old to enjoy together.
"Kids dream. They have a dream logic²² that we seem to not appreciate at adults," Verbinski says. "We kind of take everything at face value. Certainly there's stuff in there for adults, so we get to have a good time as well; but [the kids] really stick with it and I think people constantly underestimate what they can handle."
Rango also features the voices of Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy and Harry²³ Dean Stanton. The animation is by Industrial Light and Magic - the first full-length animated feature created at that renowned²⁴ special effects company.

1 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

2 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

3 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

4 lizard   

n.蜥蜴，壁虎

参考例句：

• A chameleon is a kind of lizard.变色龙是一种蜥蜴。
• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect.蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。

5 chameleon   

n.变色龙，蜥蜴；善变之人

参考例句：

• The chameleon changes colour to match its surroundings.变色龙变换颜色以适应环境。
• The chameleon can take on the colour of its background.变色龙可呈现出与其背景相同的颜色。

6 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

7 improvising   

即兴创作（improvise的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• I knew he was improvising, an old habit of his. 我知道他是在即兴发挥，这是他的老习惯。
• A few lecturers have been improvising to catch up. 部分讲师被临时抽调以救急。

8 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

9 parched   

adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干

参考例句：

• Hot winds parched the crops.热风使庄稼干透了。
• The land in this region is rather dry and parched.这片土地十分干燥。

10 improvisation   

n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作

参考例句：

• a free-form jazz improvisation 自由创作的爵士乐即兴演出
• Most of their music was spontaneous improvisation. 他们的大部分音乐作品都是即兴创作的。

11 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

12 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

13 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

14 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

15 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

16 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

17 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

18 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

19 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

20 delves   

v.深入探究，钻研( delve的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• That delves the grave duly. 误不了你的洞房。 来自互联网
• The exhibition delves deep into the physics, aromatics and even the timbre of flatulence. 此次展览向人们介绍了人体物理、气味甚至肠胃胀气的声音等各方面知识。 来自互联网

21 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

22 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

23 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

24 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。