Customer Reviews

Rango

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First of all, this album is short. Really short. Just over half an hour. Now this isn't a deal-breaker for me, since the price reflects that. What does bother me, however, is the inclusion of bits of dialogue playing OVER the music.

When I buy a soundtrack album, I want to hear the music. If I wanted to hear the movie, I'd watch the movie. I don't mind the inclusion of dialogue if it's kept separate from the music tracks (a la the Tarantino albums), but this business of ruining the music cues needs to stop. Who wants to pay money to hear this?

What makes this doubly sad is that this is some of my favorite work from Zimmer in years, recalling the great spaghetti western scores of Ennio Morricone. It would have made a great listen alongside those albums. But apparently, they thought we needed the jokes to punctuate it.

Here's hoping for a special edition soundtrack in the future.

When I first sat down to watch Rango, I was excited. Heck, I was excited ever since I saw the first trailer! The movie did not disappoint me, and as I watched the Gatling gun rattlesnake, the dog-fighting bats, the mysteriously eerie pill-bugs, and even the kooky conversations between Beans and Rango, I was interested in the soundtrack. Formulated by Hans Zimmer, I expected the same quality that I had found in The Lion King, Kung Fu Panda, and even Gladiator/Inception/The Dark Knight for goodness sakes!

Unfortunately, the kind of "quality" I got was the sad collection of annoying burrow owl ballads, some random screaming/pointless audio clips from the actual film, and barely even half an hour of collective track time. This is, by far, my least favorite creation I have ever seen from Hans Zimmer, and I almost can't believe he was behind this. And while I'm complaining, where in the WORLD is that one song that played during Rango's 'suicide' moment where he's crossing the road, and eventually carried off by pill bugs? Or the song that played as he watched all those tall plants uproot themselves and lead him to water? Those tracks caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end, they were engaging and creepy. Why did Hans not include these arguably important points from the film in his soundtrack? He certainly had room for it, the CD holds a LOT more than 30 minutes, I'm sure!

I give this soundtrack 3 ratings, however, because what music does play (without the enraging voice clips and stupid owls), is everything I have followed Hans Zimmer devotedly for in the first place. I think my favorite track from this CD is tracks 12 and 14, with 19 being close behind.

As can be seen from the track listing, this is quite a short soundtrack, totaling only 34 minutes. But, as another reviewer once said regarding Hans Zimmer albums: 'he goes for quality, not quantity'. For example, look at the soundtracks to "The Lion King" and "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" - there was only around 20 minutes of Zimmer's score on each of those CDs, but it was so good that I gladly would've paid the full price just for those tracks.

So, back to "Rango": if you've seen the film, you'll know that the narrative is interspersed with music and singing from an owl mariachi band. All these little episodes are included on the CD, whether you like them or not. The 'Rango Suite' is the longest track, and features variations on his comedic theme. Zimmer fans will recognize similarities with Jack Sparrow and Sherlock Holmes' themes, but it's still an original enough piece to listen to.

As the film is an homage to old Westerns, it only makes sense that the music should reference those sources, too. Zimmer adapted 'Man with a Harmonica' from "Once Upon a Time in the West" in "Pirates 3", and he does so once more in 'Rango Returns'. Funnily enough, the same two actors are facing-off: Depp and Bill Nighy. But, this is the most obvious borrowing, although you can hear a phrase from 'The Magnificent Seven' theme at certain points.

The overall feel of this soundtrack is fun, with 'It's a Metaphor' and 'Lizard for Lunch' being the most wacky and frenetic tracks. Then there's slow, heartfelt tunes like 'Welcome to Dirt' and 'Rango and Beans'. 'We Ride, Really!' is only 50 seconds long, but it really gets your heart racing as Zimmer sets Rango's heroic theme aflame. 'Bats' is another exciting one, its first half including some music by two other great German composers.

'The Sunset Shot' may be music from an alternate ending, as I don't remember it from the film. 'Walk Don't Rango' features the music from the credits, where Rango's theme gets some crazy guitar treatment, with a "Pulp Fiction"-esque riffing in the background. The 'Rango Theme Song' is a brilliant little ballad that tells the legend of the hero in fine Western style. Overall, a great little soundtrack that still has me humming along to it.

Saw the movie in the theatre and loved it. Bought the blu-ray, love it, and found myself playing it just to hear the music. Had to buy the cd. Catchy tunes that will stick in your head and you'll find yourself singing "Rangoooooooo Rangoo-ooo Rango" for no reason at all.Just remember that other people may be near you and will find this odd.

Nice mix from Los Lobos -"The Lizard? He is going to die" and the soundtrack composer.

I really love the prarie dog banjo picking version of "Ride of the Valkyries". Priceless!

This is a great score, I only wish it were longer, as I believe the total run time is 34 minutes and change. I was busy enjoying the movie, so I am unsure if they had just simply repeated the motifs, but it's hard to justify a full price album sticker for something that is essentially an EP. Had we gotten at least an hour's worth of music, this would easily have been 5-stars:)

CD arrived fast. Hans Zimmer does a wonderful combination of western and cartoon style music, with snippets of dialog in between. Nice, light listening music. I could listen to it all day.

Though I am usually not one to buy soundtracks these days this one will be an exception. The movie is amazingly well done and the music pairs so well with the outstanding visuals it made me come home and order the CD. 'Nuff said.

Yet another great soundtrack from Hans Zimmer. He does an excellent job of capturing the feel of the old West while still putting a unique spin on it. Anyone who has listened to the Sherlock Holmes soundtrack might find some familiar sounds in this one, but they are few and far between. The music is intense when it needs to be, but the dialogue and playful melodies bring out the lighter side of this compilation. It compliments the movie quite well and comes highly recommended to movie music buffs!

Peppered with key bits of dialog from the film to go along with the musical cues, this soundtrack helps bring the memories of seeing this amazing film fresh to mind. The keystone moment is of course the "Ride of the Valkyries," but there are so many great moments here that you can find something in every track. I give this one my highest recommendation.

Sergio Leone is my favorite director and Once Upon A Time In The West is my favorite film. So when I heard that Gore Verbinski was working on an animated spaghetti western with desert animals I got extremely excited. The main reason was that I knew Hans was gonna score it and I knew it was gonna be filled with Ennio Morricone homages with that Hansy style. The music for Rango is a unique palette of sounds and talents indeed. Hans didn't approach the score alone. Los Lobos took the reigns for writing a few original comedic ballads and of course the "Rango Theme Song". Let me get my one gripe out of the way first. The album's arrangement is terrible. The presentation is littered with dialogue from the film and I absolutely HATE when soundtracks do that. If I wanted to listen to the dialogue I would see the movie (which I did). The whole point of a soundtrack is to have the music separate from the film.

Okay, got that out of the way. Now to look at the music while trying to ignore the dialogue sprinkled throughout. Hans' score is a waltzy Morricone tinged approach that incorporates the genre as well as the character of Rango. This is indeed a western score, but at times it doesn't feel like it. It feels like... well, a Hans Zimmer score. I mean, that's a good thing. I wouldn't want it to be a whole big Morricone rip. The score has that quirkiness that only Hans can bring like he did for Jack Sparrow and Sherlock Holmes.

The music has a Mexican flavor to it that kicks it up into overdrive. The track "Lizard For Lunch" sounds like a Mexican arrangement of Raising Arizona. I loved it. The Rango theme was actually written by John and David Thum (produced by Hans) and the theme song is performed by Los Lobos. The theme has traditional spaghetti western elements but it feels like Robert Rodriguez got his hands on it (a compliment). Oh yeah, and don't mind The Magnificent Seven nod in that track as well. I mean, the score is plain fun. What more can you ask? It honors a genre and still has a fresh feel. It's Hans' ode to Ennio while still making the music his own. My favorite besides Hans' quirky Rango motif has to be the "Ride Of The Valkyries" medley. The whole sequence in the film is fantastic and the arrangement of Valkyries is stupendous. Where else will you hear Wagner played with a banjo? If you recall Ennio Morricone used "Ride Of The Valkyries" heavily in his score for Il Mio Nome E' Nessuno (My Name Is Nobody), which is a fantastic western by the way. The end of the film actually ends up keeping a piece of the temp track. The road scene at the end was actually "FInale" from The Kingdom by Danny Elfman and is not included on this soundtrack obviously.

So, is Rango all that I dreamed it would be? Yes and even more so. It was the most fun I had in a theatre in quite some time. I had a big ol' grin the entire time and loved every minute of it. The western genre has flourished over the past twenty years and we've seen some great ones. Rango will go down as one of them as an ode to what Sergio Leone crafted a long time ago that changed cinema for the rest of time. Go enjoy Hans' score to Rango. You shall not be disappointed.