Rango

Ghostman

Aesthetically inventive, funny, thoughtful, surreal, and surprisingly great, Rango is a children's animated film that's bracingly adult-minded and subversive in its themes. Did I say it's a lot of fun too? And is Gore Verbinski underrated? I'll have to re-watch and see his other stuff now.

smndvdcl

An adorable quirkfest that arguably appeals more to adults than children thanks to an intellectually stimulating script and an idiosyncratic style of CGI animation. Johnny Depp was a perfect voice-over choice for Rango. As a pastiche to Westerns, it works wonders. Paramount and Nickleodeon struck gold with this union.

J. O.

A thoroughly enjoyable animated homage to Western movies - full of unexpected references and a cast of surreal characters in a vibrant and colourful world. Fantastic textures, surprisingly gritty, and featuring genuinely funny performances all around, and a very imaginative story - no less was expected from the man behind Mouse Hunt (although, the Pirates is tiresome).

Christopher R. Smith

Definitely should not be dismissed as yet another CGI talking animal movie. Verbinski takes his visual technique to its absurd, almost surrealist extreme, with a script that cleverly sends-up the conventions of the western with a voice cast of great character actors. ILM's digital animation is simply stunning. Hopefully this one develops a following and isn't merely relegated to kids' entertainment.

Matthew_Lucas

Exceedingly clever animated homage to westerns finds a pet chameleon accidentally lost in the desert, where his tall tales lead him to be made sheriff of a small town in the middle of a water crisis. A refreshingly unique and original children's film that is sly and witty enough for adults. Western references abound in this fun, zany, and all around entertaining action comedy.

Scout Tafoya

Well I'm finally grateful that Sergio Leone made all those endless goddamn westerns. Otherwise, where would this lovely movie have gotten most of its borrowed imagery? A great example of genre bringing out the best in an auteur who'd been wasted making "crowd-pleasing" tosh for an unappreciative public. Verbinski belongs in a field he can control all of the elements, and here's the proof.

WhatsUpWill

An actor searches for meaning and finds out that it isn't the character he's playing that matters, but the audience that surrounds him. An entertaining film filled with things Johnny Depp loves, including Chinatown, Westerns, and Hunter S. Thompson.

SALESK

An exuberant homage to screen Westerns that plays like Chinatown via Sergio Leone. Depp pulls off another of amazing performance that falls somewhere between the self-deluded Don Juan DeMarco, meek Ichabod Crane, skittish Dr. Gonzo and rambunctious Capt. Jack Sparrow. Smartly scripted by John Logan, scored by Hans Zimmer and directed with gusto by Gore Verbinski, getting right everything he got wrong in Pirates 3.