The Ballad of Rango: The Art and Making of an Outlaw Film

Rango is the movie that proves that "Animation" and "Cartoon" are not synonymous.

The Ballad of Rango describes in detail how director Verbinski and his production staff came to that decision, and how they and ILM carried it out.

Cohen presents the story of the making of Rango from the earliest suggestions to live-action director Verbinski to consider an animated movie, to the decision against making another childrens'-oriented cartoon, the assembly of the creative staff and the key production staff, the partnership with ILM, and the making of the movie.

The last half of the book is devoted to close-ups focusing upon every character in Rango, and there were many more characters than you realized.

There are the key sequences: Rango's terrarium, the Salvador Dali-inspired giant goldfish, the hawk escape, the saloon, Rango's shootout with Rattlesnake Jake.