From the very start you realize that this incarnation of The Lone Ranger is not going to be anything like the classic-dud The Legend of the Lone Ranger from 1981. In fact so much time has passed since 1981 I wonder if I’m only but a few that actually remember seeing the “original” movie. In this version of The Lone Ranger we get a movie that tries to be too much of a good thing all at one time – it’s a western that wants to be part comedy, part serious drama, part action flick, part romance, and part Pirates of the Caribbean (the first one, not the other three). When The Lone Ranger works it really works. But when it falls flat and the plot starts to drag, you really start to wonder if this is going to be as good as it wants to be??
Starting in 1933 San Francisco we see a young child dressed as the Lone Ranger walking through a carnival as he enters a tent that promises to show off “The Wonders of Yester-year”. This tent is filled with side-show type displays of the 1869 old west – stuffed buffalo, a wild white horse, and a native barbarian (native Indian to us today). This is where we get our first glimpse of an older Tonto as he relates the story of how The Lone Ranger came to be.
So what worked? What didn’t? You know the drill…
Grade: 3 out of 5 stars