Maps of Movies

Rango (2011)

Where Rango says it takes place, and where it was really shot.

A film set in the Mojave and Las Vegas that was never filmed anywhere: every place on this map exists only in animation

Scenes and places

The fishbowl falls on the Mojave road

A pet chameleon is thrown from his owners' car and lands alone on a hot desert road. An armadillo called Roadkill, who caused the crash while crossing the road, offers to help him find water.

Set in Mojave Desert road — The desert highway where Rango's vivarium falls out of his owners' car. Google Maps · Apple Maps

A desert region in the southwestern United States. The film names it but never a specific stretch of road, so the point on the map is the desert's center.

The hawk in the open desert

Alone in the open, the chameleon survives a close call with a red-tailed hawk. Soon after, he meets the iguana rancher Beans, who leads him to the town of Dirt.

Set in Open desert — An empty stretch of desert on the way to Dirt, where a red-tailed hawk hunts the chameleon.

No real place: the film's desert is computer-animated and does not match a mapped location.

Dirt, the town with no water

Asked who he is, the chameleon invents a tough drifter called Rango. When a hawk crashes the duel he is forced into, an empty water tower falls and crushes it, and the town names him sheriff.

Set in Dirt — A frontier-style town of animals in the Mojave Desert, with a water tower, saloon and bank, suffering a drought.

A made-up town. The film's Production notes say the voice cast performed on real sets only as reference for the animators.

The bat-riding bandits' hideout

Rango leads a posse after the stolen town water and fights Balthazar's bat-riding clan for it. The container is empty, and the bandits are arrested while insisting it always was.

Set in Balthazar's hideout — The hideout of the mole bandit Balthazar and his clan, who ride bats.

No real place: an animated hideout in the film's desert.

The far side of the highway

Run out of Dirt, Rango crosses the highway and passes out on the other side. The next morning he meets the Spirit of the West, who tells him he has to go back.

Set in Desert across the highway — The stretch of desert on the far side of the highway where Rango wakes after crossing heavy traffic.

No real place: the highway and the desert beyond it are animated.

The valve in the Las Vegas pipeline

With Roadkill and some moving yuccas, Rango finds that the mayor has been manipulating a shut-off valve in the Las Vegas water pipeline. That is the real cause of the drought, so he decides to go back to Dirt.

Set in Las Vegas water pipeline valve — An emergency shut-off valve in the Las Vegas water pipeline, which the mayor uses to starve Dirt. Google Maps · Apple Maps

A city in Nevada, in the Mojave Desert. The point is the city center; the film gives no spot for the valve.

Characters

• Rango — A pet chameleon who invents a tough-guy past and becomes sheriff of Dirt.
• Beans — A desert iguana rancher who takes Rango to Dirt and demands he find the missing water.
• Roadkill — An armadillo hermit searching for the Spirit of the West.