Um, what we did we just watch? This has to be by the far the most cryptic teaser for an animated children’s film to be released in a long time.
The Gore Verbinski-directed animated adventure has been flying under the radar for a while but it does boast some heavyweight voice talent led by Johnny Depp, who is joined by Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Bill Nighy, Stephen Root, Ray Winstone, Beth Grant, Ned Beatty, Harry Dean Stanton and Alfred Molina. According to Empire, the film is about “a household pet, presumably called Rango (Depp), going on a journey of self-discovery” while the YouTube description says it’s a “story of a chameleon with an identity crisis.” Maybe it falls somewhere in between?
Paramount is trying to get word of mouth started early before it hits theaters on March 18, 2011, but the spot is elusive to the point of irrelevance. We’re not sure what kind of buzz they hope to generate with a minute-long spot with really nothing in it. Even the Web site is sort of boringly empty. Let’s hope the marketing gets a bit more engaging from here on in.