Rango and Unknown

I'm cheating a little this time by not writing full reviews on these two movies I've seen recently. Both Rango and Unknown are new DVD releases. I just have a few words on each, but I will say I enjoyed them.

Rango is an animated film, rated PG, starring Johnny Depp as the voice lead. It's about a nameless chameleon who is accidentally tossed out of his owner's car into the desert, where he attempts to become someone greater than himself to save a town of desert animals from a water shortage. It's funny but somewhat crude. If you took your kids to see this in the theater, I apologize for not being able to warn you sooner. This movie should be rated PG-13 and is an animation for older teens and adults, who will appreciate the humor and storyline. I heard a kid raving about Rango recently and had to cringe because I don't believe it's appropriate for younger ages, despite being animation. It's a bit violent and scary with adult themes kids won't get anyway and inappropriate language. There is some minor innuendo, particularly the top half of a naked Barbie doll. But for adults, this is an entertaining three-star movie.



Unknown stars Liam Neeson as a man who goes to Berlin with his wife to attend a Bio Tech conference and ends up getting into an accident and sustaining a head injury that takes him out of commission for four days and erases part of his memory. When he wakes from his coma without any identification on him, no one believes he is Dr. Martin Harris, especially when his own wife is calling another man by his name and seems not to know him. Things go from strange to dangerous when this other man produces passports and family pictures with his own photos instead of Martin's. Some people have gone to a lot of trouble to make sure Martin Harris disappears from the world, and they're willing to kill anyone who gets in their way. This movie is rated PG-13, mostly appropriately, although I would still advise caution for younger teens. There is a love-making scene in a shower, but nothing is exposed on camera. Also, there is a certain amount of violence and murder. Again, for adults this is an entertaining, suspenseful thriller. Three stars.

The Tourist

I loved this movie! I really like Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, but they do a wide range of movies. You never know quite what you are going to get, except for good acting. But in this case, it was good acting with almost nothing objectionable, and I simply loved it.

In The Tourist, Angelina Jolie is Elise Ward, the lover of criminal mastermind Alexander Pierce. He sends her a letter, telling her to pick a guy at random from a certain train and make everyone watching believe it is him. Meanwhile, British Interpol agents and another crime lord are looking everywhere for Pierce and following Elise, in the hope of tracking him down. Elise chooses a tourist (Johnny Depp), an American math teacher who is awkward and shy but obviously charmed by Elise. But when Frank, the tourist, begins to fall in love with her and is drawn deeper into danger, she must maneuver to find her lost love Alexander while saving the life of the man she is beginning to care for.

This movie had me laughing out loud. Angelina Jolie is beautiful and captivating as always, but Johnny Depp is really good. He plays a character completely foreign to his various roles. I was amazed that he could act so...well, normal. And it was hilarious, to boot. Frank is always trying to speak in Spanish to the locals of Venice, where most of the movie takes place. He's always getting himself into scrapes that are way over his head, and he's falling in love with a woman who is far out of his reach. But it's not embarrassing. It's adorable.

Despite expecting a good movie, I was thoroughly surprised and delighted by this one. If you are picky morally, and I usually am, this movie is rated PG-13. Jolie does remove some of her clothes, only for the purpose of getting changed. There's no sex, and Jolie is still modestly attired, even in her underwear. I believe I told my husband it looked like granny lingerie. I don't mean to be offensive to grannies out there, but you know what I mean. There's also smoking, and some people end up dead in the end. For once, I'm entirely okay with the PG-13 rating. Usually, I think movies should be rated higher than they are, like R for sex.

Having given the moral spiel, I can now return to gushing about what a beautiful, romantic, funny, suspenseful semi-action flick this is. I give it five stars, and trust me, I usually don't go above four. Definitely one to see, maybe even own.