Rango is the titular protagonist of Paramount•Nickelodeon's 2011 animated feature film of same name. He is an intelligent and eccentric chameleon who is initially the pet of a human family, but after an incident with the car he falls out of his tank and the car leaves him behind. He arrives in the frontier town known as Dirt, where he becomes the new sheriff and a great hero.
Quick Answers
What incident leads to Rango becoming a sheriff in the town of Dirt?
How does Rango transition from being a pet chameleon to a hero?
What are some of the eccentric characteristics of Rango?
How does Rango adapt to his new life after being abandoned by his human family?
Overview[]
Rango, whom was a family’s pet chameleon, finds himself alone after a car accident and is abandoned in the middle of the road in a desert. He then meets an armadillo, whom was injured by the accident, and he guides Rango on how and where he should go to survive.
Although “Rango” is not his real name, he got the name idea from a beverage in the town of Dirt, which the townsfolk believe is his actual name.
Personality[]
Rango is a very comical character, but also lonely as he remains isolated in his box and is actually seen conversing with inanimate objects such as a headless mannequin, a dead cockroach, a toy fish and a decorative tree; however he actually believes he has friends and a very active social life only to be corrected by Roadkill claiming him to be a very lonely lizard.
Throughout the film Rango is seen suffering from an identity crisis. He is constantly seen saying, "Who am I?", to himself and doesn't even know his own name causing him to create his own identity. Rango is an actor and expects his "friends" to be the same, he describes Victor, an inanimate tree as wooden and his toy pet fish Mister Tibbs, good - too good. After arriving at the town of Dirt, Rango he was able to create his own identity and name. He also has a tendency to go over-the-top as he said where he came from they kill and cannibalize a man before breakfast just to wake up an appetite.
Rango was at first cowardly, such was shown during the desert scene when he caught the eye of a hawk and ran away screaming in terror. This also happened again during a showdown with Bad Bill and his crew, when the hawk returned which caused Rango to cower in a latrine and then flee. He was also in clear terror when Rattlesnake Jake entered Dirt, however so was everyone else. He later became brave and fearless at the end of the film where he threatened to shoot Rattlesnake Jake with one bullet.
Despite his stories claiming that he was the one who killed the seven Jenkins brothers, Rango had never had and was always reluctant to actually kill someone. This was shown when a hawk was close to eating him, and Rango aimed the gun at the hawk, but hesitated and shot the rope that was restraining an old water tower which crushed the hawk, but made the town believe that Rango was the one who killed it. This changed when he became reluctant to kill Jake with one single bullet.
After the Mayor made Rango the Sheriff of Dirt, he was shown to be very clueless almost shooting a child in the face when he only wanted an autograph and then handing him a gun. He also came across three bank robbers and mistaked them for miners then actually gives them a prospecting permit and directions to the Bank of Dirt.
Despite this Rango can also be intuitive and intelligent. When him and his posse captured Balthazar and his family, he was able to realize that something ominous was happening in Dirt and that Balthazar's family found the jug of water empty and didn't murder anybody. When the Spanish Daggers were seen walking like the legends Rango remembered that they go towards water and discovered Las Vegas where he realized that the Mayor's true plan was to buy up all the land and then bring back the water when Dirt was washed away.
After being humiliated by Rattlesnake Jake, Rango shamefully leaves Dirt, but after a pep talk from Roadkill, and uncovering the Mayor's true plan he returned to Dirt and showed true bravery and made an alliance with Balthazar's family, then confronted Rattlesnake Jake. He became a well-known legend and hero to the townsfolk of Dirt after returning the water.
Appearance[]
Rango is shown to have green scaly skin (which can change colors when he blends into his surroundings). He once wore a red Hawaiian shirt, until he wore Western clothing. His sheriff clothing is a white shirt with brown pants, dark brown waistcoat and his silver sheriff badge. He wears a yellow white hat, but later a brown hat when he returns to Dirt along with a brown blanket cape.
During their ambush with Balthazar and his gang, Rango wore Beans' gown while she wore Wounded Bird's blanket cape.
Trivia[]
- According to Donald Schultz on the "Real Creatures of Dirt" feature from the Rango DVD, Rango could possibly be a flap-necked chameleon.