A peyote dream masquerading as a kid's movie

Rating: 8/10 (24 June 2012)

For the first five minutes, I was worried that Rango was going to be some innocuous kids movie about a lonely lizard. And then, in a crazy moment of shattered glass and slow motion spilling water, Rango revealed itself as a movie of stunning animation and a willingness to get kinda weird.
Ten minutes later, it showed itself as a movie that was willing to get really, really weird.
While the whole animated cartoon characters would seem to make this a kid's movie, such things as evil looking trees and a quick shot of Hunter S. Thompson tell a different tale. The movie is bizarre and trippy.
It is also fast-paced, stylish and at times quite funny, although it's not the funniest of animated features and is really more memorable for some of the best animation I've ever seen in a Hollywood movie and a huge cast of bizarre and creepy characters.
Is this a kid's movie? Well, it's dark and twisted and very strange, but then, so is Alice in Wonderland. While adults often forget this, kids are dark, twisted individuals. But since I don't have any, I won't say whether it's a good movie to take kids to. But it's a great movie to take yourself to.