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MAR2011.087

(2011), PG [R-PG*] (1hr 39min)

Final Score
Analysis Date
Date Posted
Influence Density
MinMax
July 18, 2011
July 19, 2011
51
1.13
-93

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Christian Long Distance

SUMMARY / COMMENTARY:
(While the Scriptural references are certainly not subjective, my commentary may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)

If Scriptural references appear, the full text appears at the end of the Summary / Commentary.



(2011), PG [R-PG*] ... This is a very violent movie.


Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database
Production (US): Blind Wink Productions; GK Films, Nickelodeon Movies
Distribution (US): Paramount Home Entertainment
Director(s): George Verbinski
Producer(s): Gore Verbinski, Graham King, John B. Carls, Tim Headington, Mark Bakshi, Adam Cramer, Shari hanson, Jacqueline M. Lopex, Nils Peyron, David Shannon
Written by: John Logan
Story by: John Logan, Gore Verbinski, James ward Byrkit
Music: Hans Zimmer
Film Editing: Craig Wood
Casting: Dennis Chamian
Production Design: Mark "Crash" McCreery
Art Direction: John Bell
Viewed on Paramount Home Entertainment DVD



First it might be advisable to remind everyone that, regarding influence on the viewer, the CAP Analysis Model does not distinguish between content performed by animated characters or live actors/actresses. Any animated content that can reasonably be duplicated by a child is considered the same degree of influence as if it were performed or demonstrated by a live actor/actress. For example, to the developmental mentality of a child an animated act of killing by gunfire can be as morally acidic as the same act by live performers. To a child, that a demonstration is by animated characters does not insulate the child from the influence.

People used to think the Road Runner™ cartoons were dangerously violent. Now comes Rango. I suspect this is going to be one of the rare R-PG films. We'll see. The number crunching will tell. I'll have the number crunching done in a couple hours.

In the vernacular of the script, yup. This film earned a final score of 51 which places it near the top of the scoring range earned by R-rated films (54 and below out of 100) in the comparative baseline database. It is another R-PG. "RPG" also stands for "rocket propelled grenade." The influence of the content of this film may indeed create an explosion of immoral behavioral choices or expressions in your youth.

Four characters hanging by the neck. One character being shot off a tower. Gunfire to kill repeatedly. Firearms held to faces to control or force. Gunfire to make a victim "dance" to hopefully avoid being shot in the foot. Gunfire to kill. That is not all. Not by a "long shot." There is much, much more.

An area score of zero out of 100 in the Wanton Violence/Crime investigation area revealed the violence/crime content of Rango is beyond any shadow of a doubt equivalent to the violence content in many R-rated films (54 and below out of 100), not so much by the severity of individual examples of assault on morality and ethics but in the sheer number of examples (see our R-13 publication for more information on this content loading technique). The impudence/Hate content (which includes profanity) earned an investigation area score equivalent to the same content in some R-rated films. The use of a term of profanity is profanity whether spewed by a live actor/actress or an animated character. Likewise the Drugs/Alcohol content earned a R-equivalent area score as did the Sexual Immorality investigation area. On a positive note, the Offense to God investigation area (which includes satanism, occultism witchcraft, blasphemy, etc) and the Murder/Suicide investigation area found content to be equivalent to that of most G-rated films.

While this film is one of the most violent PGs I have ever seen, it presents some of the most dazzling animated likenesses of animals and animation of real world things I have ever seen in film.

A pet chameleon Lars (voice of Johnny Depp) is ejected from a vacationing family's car on a highway through the Mojave Desert. What is a city lizard to do to survive in the Mojave? A wise and sage old armadillo, Roadkill (voice of Alfred Molina) with a midsection crushed by a car tire advises Lars to look for dirt.

After several episodes of desert peril, Lars runs into Beans (voice of Isla Fsher) while she holds a shotgun to his face. Beans leads Lars to the dirt for which he searches ... Dirt, California in the Mojave desert. A town dried up and without water. So dried up the cacti die of thirst.

Upon walking into town a group of local kids terrorize the funny looking stranger. One of them is the little mouse, Priscilla (Abigail Breslin). Priscilla warns Lars that strangers don't last long there.

At the town saloon Lars spins a tall tale of him being a bad hombre "from the West, out there, beyond the horizon. Past the sunset. The Far West" ... where they "kill a man before breakfast just to work up an appetite." He continues the tall tale to tell of killing seven men with one bullet. And now Lars becomes Rango, taken from "durango" on the side of a bottle of cactus juice. His bravado lends him up to be the new sheriff of Dirt, CA. His duty is to find the town's water. It turns out that the town Mayor (voice of Ned Beatty) has ulterior motives and has taken secret control of the town's water.

There is so much programming compressed into 99 minutes it seems longer than that. There is not one moment of "nothing."

A cleaver maneuver of the filmmakers was the Spirit of the West (voice of Timothy Olyphant) with the golden guardians and the alabaster carriage. The Spirit of the West was a satirical take on a very famous character known for "Do ya feel lucky, punk?" and "Go ahead. Make my day." Who is he? The star that has played the good guy and the bad guy in so many western movies that he might actually be figuratively called the Spirit of the West since he has helped us for years to 'live' the Old West through his performances. No, it is not John "Thank ya, li'l lady" Wayne.

Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100
There is a lot of gunfire to kill and to intimidate, brandishing of firearms and firearms and a knife to the faces of characters in this movie. At the intro section is a tale of preferring death over life without love. One character is frequently seen with an arrow in his right eye and through his skull. The mariachi band is seen being hung by the neck with nooses. A hostage is taken at gunpoint. This is a very violent movie.

God warned us that violence is "catching" in Prov. 16:29: that violence can lead into "the way that is not good." Even man has chimed in on God's wisdom (2000 years later) by four public health agencies publishing a finding that states "viewing violence may lead to real life violence" and "viewing violence can lead to emotional desensitization towards violence in real life." When are we going to listen?

Impudence/Hate (I) - 29 out of 100
Eleven times the characters use profanity plus one incomplete phrase of profanity. [Eph. 4:29, Eph. 5:4] Lars/Rango uses deception throughout. [Rom. 16:18] On top of the deception is lying. Repeatedly. God has harsh consequences for the unforgiven liar. So harsh that He will not let him/her into Heaven. [Rev. 21:8]

Sexual Immorality (S) - 49 out of 100
There are several minutes showing a nude mannequin at the first part of the show as Lars performs a little "play." If it was not intended by the filmmakers to display nudity then why not use a clothed mannequin. And since a palm tree was one of the "actors" in Lars' little solo play why could they not have used a broom instead of a nude mannequin? Or a stuffed animal? I don't buy it for one second that the filmmakers did not intend to impart human nudity thinking using a mannequin absolved them of any guilt. Not for one second. There is also a bar maid with her gender-specific anatomy squeezing out of her clothing. And another character offers up his sister in exchange for a favor. And that is not all. God never intended for any of us to be anything less than sanctified in His Holiness. [1 Ths. 4:3]

Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 39 out of 100
Smoking. Drinking. Drunkenness. It is all there for your children. At one time I had heard the MPAA was going to consider any movie with smoking in it to be R-rated. I guess I heard wrong. Or they were.

The American College of physicians (ACP) did a study that revealed adolescent exposure to drinking in and as entertainment undeniably leads to abuse of alcohol among underage viewers. The finding entitled Relation Between Parental Restrictions on Movies and Adolescent Use of Tobacco and Alcohol reports that of 4544 youths from grades 5 through 8 of fifteen Vermont and New Hampshire middle schools (90% of the youths were under fourteen years old) only 16% were completely restricted in their entertainment diets. Within the ACP study population, the prevalence of having tried alcohol without parental knowledge was

  • 46% for those with no viewing restrictions
  • 16% for those with partial viewing restrictions
  • four percent for those with complete viewing restrictions. [Eph. 5:18]

    There is nothing to say that smoking in and as entertainment does not carry the same danger of influence as drinking.

    Offense to God (O) - 93 out of 100
    There are a number of references to God and the Scriptures and even use of Biblical names. While some might seem a tad irreligious none seem to be sacrilegious. However, at a campsite on their journey to find the water thieves one of the characters offers up prayer to a false god. Also, the story speaks to evolution.

    Murder/Suicide (M) - 93 out of 100
    One of the characters, the one portraying the Native American Indian which I think was Wounded Bird (voice of Gil Birmingham) was murdered by Rattlesnake Jake (voice of Bill Nighy) with gunfire. While Bird was noted as speaking to Beans after the fall from being shot off a tower, that was the last we see of him.


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    SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S)
    If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ] or bold. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page.

    CHAPTER/VERSE

  • Prov. 16:29 A violent man enticeth his neighbour, and leadeth him into the way that is not good. [The issue is the violence, the 'way that is not good' no matter how "small" or "justified" the violence might seem, and its "leading" effect on the observer. "A violent man" can be any character of any age, any gender, human or not in the act of committing (demonstrating in the case of entertainment) violent behavior/action whether for good or evil OR the violent behaviors/actions themselves. Such exposure can and does embolden the viewer into aggression, especially youth. It took years for the American professional health community to finally affirm, probably without knowing it, that which God told us in 1 Cor. 15:33 below. See also Joint Statement on the Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children: Congressional Public Health Summit for more information. Further, God speaks darkly of violence 56 times in the Old and New Testament of the KJV.]
  • Eph. 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
  • Eph. 5:4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.
  • Rom. 16:18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
  • Rev. 21:8 But the [unforgiven] fearful [cowardly], and unbelieving, and the abominable [vile], and murderers, and whoremongers [sexually immoral], and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
  • 1Ths. 4:3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;
  • Eph. 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. [Since "drunk" is methusko {meth-oos'-ko}: to intoxicate; make drunk; to get drunk; become intoxicated, "wine" can be any intoxicating substance including illegal drugs or abuse of prescription drugs. The issue is do not abuse the body by intoxicating it [1 Cor. 6:19]. Though it is not a sin to drink, it is a sin to get drunk OR to influence to get drunk OR to drink in defiance such as underage drinking.

    ***Selected Scriptures of Armour against the influence of the entertainment industry***
  • Jer. 37:9 This is what the LORD says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, 'The Babylonians [the destroyers from within] will surely leave us.' They will not!
  • Ps. 12:8 The wicked freely strut about [e.g., create progressively vile/offensive entertainment with impunity and no consequences and present it to younger and younger audiences every year] when what is vile is honored among men [when enough people continue to defend it, embrace it, enjoy it, want it, submit to it. I call attention to Ps. 12:8 to warn of the creeping desensitizing power of "entertainment."]
  • Col. 2:8 Beware lest any man [by his influence] spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
  • 1 Cor. 15:33 Be not deceived: evil [kakov: of a bad nature, not such as it ought to be] communications corrupt good manners.
  • Rom. 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
  • Jude 1:4 For there are certain men* crept in unawares [secretly slipped in among us], who were before of old ordained to this condemnation [whose condemnation was written about long ago], ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [a license for immorality], and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. [*men: anthropos {anth'-ro-pos}, generic, a human being, whether male or female]
  • Matt. 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
  • Luke 17:2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. [Offend: skandalizo {skan-dal-id'-zo} - scandalize; to entice to sin; to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey; to cause to fall away.]
  • Ps. 119:133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me [let no sin rule over me].
  • John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
  • 1 Thess. 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. ["Evil" includes all things that are sinful.]


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    As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie.
  • FINDINGS / SCORING:
    (The objective heart of the CAP Analysis Model, independent of and insulated from the Summary / Commentary section.)


    Rango (2011) CAP Thermometers

    Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100
  • gunfire to make hole in a stone "O"
  • tale of preferring death to life without love (suicide)
  • action violence, frequent, of varying intensities
  • scene with armadillo with mid-section crushed by care tire
  • song of gore
  • threat to kill
  • dreamstate horror sequence
  • firearm to face, repeatedly
  • adolescent mischief
  • tale of killing a man, cooking him then eating him
  • gunfire to intimidate (make the victim "dance")
  • knife to face
  • character face on fire
  • firearms to settle conflict, repeatedly
  • civil violence and unrest
  • additional gunfire to intimidate, repeatedly
  • living character with arrow through eye and through skull, frequent
  • dead character
  • talk about body gore
  • beating, repeatedly
  • gunfire to kill, repeatedly
  • character deaths in action violence, repeatedly
  • four characters hanging by the neck by noose
  • attempted suicide
  • firearm threat, frequent
  • assault, including to kill
  • hostage at gunpoint

    Impudence/Hate (I) - 29 out of 100
  • 11 uses of profanity
  • incomplete phrase of profanity
  • flatulence in face
  • lies, frequent
  • threat to kill with crudity
  • deception throughout
  • dung humor

    Sexual Immorality (S) - 49 out of 100
  • innuendo re: sexual attraction
  • nude mannequin, repeatedly
  • sequence of imitation inappropriate touch
  • anatomical reference in Spanish
  • offer of performance by sister to male character in exchange for favor
  • imitation strip tease
  • innuendo re: mating
  • "gay" reference
  • excessive cleavage and breast exposure

    Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 39 out of 100
  • smoking, repeatedly
  • bar
  • booze, repeatedly
  • drunkenness
  • drinking, repeatedly

    Offense to God (O) - 93 out of 100
  • reference to evolution
  • prayer to false god

    Murder/Suicide (M) - 93 out of 100
  • character murder by gunfire















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    There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings.





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    * CAP Equivalence to MPAA Rating Scale:
    Please note our new manner of indicating a film's Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating in comparison with the CAP equivalence such as "PG-13 [R-13]." The first term is the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) rating. The second term [in brackets] indicates that which the film earned under the CAP analysis model. In the example, "PG-13 [R-13]" indicates the MPAA rated the film PG-13 but the film earned a CAP final score in the scoring range earned by R-rated movies in the comparative baseline database. Other comparative terms used might be "PG [13-PG]", "G [PG-G] or even 'PG-13 [PG]" as was the case for Alien vs Predator. I doubt there will ever be a "G [R]" used, but only time will tell. The CAP analysis model is Rock-solid. The MPAA is not.

    The current CAP to MPAA** nomenclature is:

    For G rated Films with
    G equivalence: G
    PG equivalence: PG-G
    PG-13 equivalence: 13-G
    R equivalence: R-G<
    For PG rated Films with
    G equivalence: G-PG
    PG equivalence: PG
    PG-13 equivalence: 13-PG
    R equivalence: R-PG
    For PG-13 rated Films with
    G equivalence: G-13
    PG equivalence: PG(13)
    PG-13 equivalence: PG-13
    R equivalence: R-13
    For R rated Films with
    G equivalence: G-R
    PG equivalence: PG-R
    PG-13 equivalence: 13-R
    R equivalence: R
    For NR rated Films with
    G equivalence: G-NR
    PG equivalence: PG-NR
    PG-13 equivalence: 13-NR
    R equivalence: R-NR
    ** G, PG, PG-13 and R are registered trademarks of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).




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