This document is a compare and contrast essay analyzing the animated films "The Rango" and "Finding Nemo". It summarizes the plots of both films, noting that while both are adventurous, they have different reasons for their adventures. It also contrasts the divergent settings of the films, with "Rango" set in the Mojave Desert and an old western town, while "Finding Nemo" is set underwater. Finally, it analyzes the main characters of each film, Rango the chameleon and Marlin the clownfish, noting their different personalities, and discusses the moral lessons conveyed by each story.

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SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT
NAME: CHEAH TECK WEI
STUDENT ID NO: 0315215
FILM SELECTED: “THE RANGO” & “FINDING NEMO”
WORD COUNT: 939
ENGLISH 2 (ENGL 0205)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 2: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: 5th DECEMBER 2013
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Everyone has their own ways to spend their time during the school holidays. For
me, I would like to spend my time cuddling on my bed with my lovely blankets, with
some snacks along enjoying movies downloaded online as I hate the crowd in the
cinema. Lately I have been assigned for an assignment which required me to write a
compare and contrast essay about a romantic comedy or animated movie. It sounds so
challenging for me as watching movie is my all-time favourite! An animated movie was a
movie that individual drawings, paintings or illustrations were photographed frame by
frame, making them alive. This method had allowed movie directors creating more
phantasy movies such as fairy tales in an easier and cheaper way. The animated
movies were more likely appealed to children but it can also be enjoyed by all ages. I
have decided to write a contrast essay about two animated movies on top of my favorite
list, “The Rango” and “Finding Nemo”. They have many in differ but having a similarity
which is an adventurous movie.
Although they are both adventurous movies, but they have different reason of
going on to an adventure. “The Rango” is a movie about a chameleon named Rango
which is stranded in the Mojave Dessert when his terrarium falls from his owner’s car
during a car accident. The adventure started when Rango met an armadillo named
Roadkill which was seeking the Mystical Spirit of the West. Roadkill directed Rango to a
town nearby called Dirt to find water and there was some accidents happened on the
journey such as Rango being attacked by the red-tailed hawks. It was a narrow escape
as Rango was almost eaten by the hawks. For the movie “Finding Nemo”, it was a
movie about an over-protective clownfish named Marlin, searching for his abducted son,
Nemo during an attack from their predator with a regal tang named Dory all the way to
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Sydney Harbor. It was a great distance from where they live which is Great Barrier Reef
to Sydney. Undoubtedly it was a dangerous journey for the two fish in the lower level of
the food-chain. Although they were both adventurous movies, they still gave me
different level of excitement as the events happened was not the same.
Obviously, the both movie have divergent settings. First of all, “The Rango”
happens in Mojave Dessert which was a very deserted place. The characters in the
movie were all desert animals which can talk to communicate. The Dirt which was an
old west town, the people there was dressed in cowboy styles. The society emphasizes
the importance of water of a town in the middle of the desert and needing for a new
sheriff. For the movie “Finding Nemo”, the story happens in Great Barrier Reef all the
way to Sydney Harbor which is underwater. The characters in the story were also
creatures living underwater. Some of them could communicate by speaking whereas
some doesn’t. The movie also reveals some part of the mysterious ocean which we
might not know such as the creature living deep in the ocean, how to they catch prey
and so on. The divergent setting of these movies made it a significant contrast between
the two movies.
A main character was the center of attention of a movie. One determination of a
great movie was by its main character. Rango was the main character in the movie “The
Rango”. He was just an ordinary chameleon which was eccentric, imaginative, thespian
character that talks to inanimate objects rather than living things. Although he lied to the
villagers of the Dirt at first by using some fake stories as an adventurous drifter, but then
he was brave and honest to confess his mistakes. These characters had made Rango a
unique character in the movie. And you know what? Johnny Depp which was my
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favorite actor was the voice casting of Rango! Besides “The Rango”, the main character
in “Finding Nemo” was Marlin, which was a clownfish which lost his wife in the mouth of
predator. Marlin was an over-protective father as he lost all his children and left only
Nemo, his only son. He was in panic when Nemo was lost, captured by the scuba divers.
That was why the adventure begins. After Nemo was found, Marlin eventually became
no longer over-protective. As a result, the both main character shows different
personalities which carries different point of view.
Last but not least, there was one last thing that I find in every movie I have ever
watched, which was the moral value of the story. A great movie was not only a movie
that was interesting, fascinating, thrilling and so on. A great movie was a movie that you
can feel, gain and learns something from it. From “The Rango”, Rango was brave and
responsible to protect the town, Dirt although his identity was not his real identity, but
then he still helped the town to protect their water source. In the movie “Finding Nemo”,
I found love, the pure love from parent towards their children. Although Marlin was overprotective towards Nemo, but still it was because that he was afraid of losing his loved
one again, like his wife and other children. It was such a throbbing scene when Marlin
finally found Nemo and I was deeply touched by it.
They were both awesome animated movies that won a lot of awards. I had a
great time watching both of the movies and I think that they really deserve it. If I were to
recommend some movies, they would be my first choice ever!
(939 words)
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Referencing
1. Animated. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/animated. [Last Accessed 5/12/2013].
2. (2009). Animated Films. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.filmsite.org/animatedfilms.html. [Last Accessed 5/12/2013].
3. Disney Pixar (2003). Finding Nemo. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.disney.co.uk/finding-nemo/. [Last Accessed 3/12/2013].
4. iMDB (2011). Rango. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1192628/. [Last Accessed 3/12/2013].
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