Movie Review Monday #3

This year on my birthday, my husband wanted to take me to a super nice theater in Hampton called CineBistro. When I say super nice, I mean you have to reserve your leather seat in advance and waiters come and take your order and serve tiny portions of food on oddly shaped, fancy plates before the film starts. Since this is not something we were going to do often, I wanted to pick a good film and really take in the experience. My choices were basically The Adjustment Bureau and Rango, and one of the friends who was coming had already seen the former. 

I was looking forward to Rango for several reasons:

1. Johnny Depp. Yes, he's a bit overrated, but I find him entertaining. (Although, that is no excuse for a fourth Pirates when the second one wasn't even good.)

2. I knew they used an interesting new kind of animation. Something about emotion capture. I don't really remember.

3. It had 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, which I tend to follow blindly. Specifically, Roger Ebert loved it, and I also tend to agree with him. 

My end opinion:

1. Yes, Johnny Depp was entertaining. And his little chameleon character was super cute.

2. The animation was fascinating and there was something new and different about it, though I can't quite put my finger on what that was exactly.

3. It turns out I can disagree with 89% of the movie critics out there - even my beloved Ebert. I was constantly aware of the time and bored to bits with this slow film. I know I missed out on some inside jokes because I've only seen a handful of Westerns, and the majority of the critics mentioned being impressed with all of the Western parodies. The problem is that I loathe Westerns. I find them dismal and hopeless and devoid of humor. (True Grit being a notable exception - loved that.) 

The good news is that the theater served a delicious chocolate raspberry cake that almost held my attention long enough to call it an enjoyable experience.

I give Rango two claws down, Lobsters. And I give Hampton CineBistro two claws up!