Does Johnny Depp's Animated 'Rango' Feature Too Much Smoking?

By Moviefone Editors Posted Mar 9th 2011 04:02PM

Johnny Depp's 'Rango' hit theaters last weekend, and according to USA Today, the animated PG western is causing a stir among anti-smoking advocates who deem the number of times characters light up unacceptable.

"A lot of kids are going to start smoking because of this movie," said Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco.

Breathe California's project "Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!" has been keeping a tally of instances where characters in 'Rango' smoke, and Kori Titus, CEO of the nonprofit, says the numbers are up to 60. Titus says the only other animated film to match 'Rango' was '101 Dalmatians,' whose cruel character, Cruella De Vil, was a total chain-smoker.

Glantz's group and other smoke-free organizations are renewing efforts with the MPAA to slap an R-rating on any film that shows smoking. In late February, Smoke Free Movies (another one of Glantz's projects) ran ads in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter that panned studio execs for approving a PG-rating. "If we had known it's as bad as it is, this ad would have been even tougher," Glantz said.

Critics and audiences are praising 'Rango' for being a grown-up cartoon, making references to spaghetti westerns (lots of smoking in those films) and other adult-friendly movies, which really isn't anything that animated flicks like 'Shrek' haven't done. Disguising mature humor and situations in kids' films isn't the same as taking a puff, but as Virginia Lam, a spokeswoman for Paramount, says, "The images of smoking in the film ... are portrayed by supporting characters and are not intended to be celebrated or emulated."

Should the MPAA have upped the rating on this one since most audiences view 'Rango' as a kid's movie?

Get more at Moviefone >>

See a 'Rango' clip:

Big Deal or Fussing Over Nothing? Tell Us on Facebook

Tags: cigarettes, Johnny Depp, Rango

Comments

(26)

Wednesday 09 March

By Lisa

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Smoking tobacco is LEGAL!!!!!!!!!!

By icycle1933

It's rated PG for a reason...

By Ashley

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

It was supposed to be a children's movie. It should not have had swear words in it. And yes tobacco is legal, but we should be steering these kids away from it not promoting it more.

By samwise246

If a child starts smoking because they saw a cartoon character do it in a movie, they have a worse problem than smoking. There are many other things people should start worrying about than cartoons smoking in a movie. I grew up with WB cartoons, and a father who smoked. I never picked up the habit. So there.

By madeline

Get real and get a life! Its only a movie for Gods sake.What about all the smoking in movies from the 30s, 40s, 50s,60s, 70s, 80s? What are we going to do about that? Digitally remove it and sanitize film history? As far as I can remember, smoking is still legal.If images of smoking lizzards offend you, don`t go to see it. Before long, movies will have warnings saying that they contain scenes of cigarette smoking. Just wait and see.

By Polar Patrol

Good Lord, how much do we need to coddle children these days?! Smoking is a fact of life, some people do it, get over it! From sanitizing every damn surface a kid touches to sanitizing every movie they see, we're going to be raising a bunch of unhealthy, texting, ADD, "me me me" little brats with no perspective on anything.

By Jef

If following by example will make more kids smoke,let's pray they never find anything out about sex!!!! lmao to funny

By Shawnk

I think that people could find something more constructive to do than count how many times a cartoon character lights up. Can anyone honestly believe that a child will pick up smoking because RANGO did it. If they do, maybe that says a lot about the home life they are being brought up in. Look to the parents to raise their own children and not some bunch of pencil pushing, see how much drama they can cause, make everyone around them miserable, anti everything desk jockies.

By Nocmaut

Vote down Vote up Report this

In a world where smoking is discouraged almost to the point of making it illegal, any smoking is to much.

By Neil

An even better idea for these people: Encourage parents to raise their children.

By gregula

CHEECH AND CHONG WERE SMOKERS AND THERE FIlMS GROSSED MILLIONS
its up 2 parents to teach kids about smoking
i think rango will be a flop . depp is best in character not simple voice overs .

By joe

This does not sound like a movie for children. Not if they are smoking and using profanity. If it is rated PG then it is definitely not a childrens movie. Not unless you want to teach children to smoke and curse. Seeing cartoon characters smoke and carry on makes children think it's cool,so they are more likely to try it themselves. Just because people did something a long time ago doesn't mean it's ok now. When those older cartoons were made they didn't even know smoking was bad for you. America seems to be good at raising rude little no manners, brats, just look here on AOL for the proof.

Will movies involving drinking be rated NC-21?

By Bob B

I sometime get so damn mad at the no smoking Nazi's. A lot of these groups should get a life. Masy they should sit down and have a good cigar to relax themselves.

By mindaluz

Rango is one of the best animated for me. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I did not even think of the characters smoking. Besides, parents need to teach their children, using movies that they see as a family. There!

By jeff

I grew up watching looney tunes, but I never thought it was a good idea to drop an anvil on someone's head...people need to grow up, and parents need to stop relying on external influences to raise their kids for them!

By David

You are so right Jeff, I remember a few years ago a group was trying to ban The Three Stooges and Popeye for too much violence. People need to get a grip, this is a cartoon. If they don't like it they need to move to an isolated island and live in a cave.

By Red

This movie was no worse than some of the saturday morning cartoons.

By Kim

These people need to get a grip! I dont care who you are or how great you think your kids are, if they want to smoke they will. If these people want to shelter their children from the real world they should keep them in a bubble at home.

By bell

THE SMOKING WAS MINIMAL, AND WE DIDN'T MAKE A BIG DEAL OUT OF 'fantastic mr.fox" AND THAT HAD WAY MORE SMOKING. Leave Johnny alone... his character didn't even smoke.

Page 1 of 2