Rango (2011)

Rating: 7/10 (18 August 2011)

A bit of an oddball animation from Gore Verbinski which rivals, and occasionally exceeds, Pixar's crowning achievements in animation technology with some tremendous textural details and cinematographic effects, aided I'm sure by Roger Deakins's input.
Johnny Depp provides the voice of a theatrical but lonely pet chameleon who takes on the character of top gunslinger Rango after he gets lost in the desert and meets a town of grizzled Wild West creatures. Verbinski has fun rolling out all the good old Western clichés and film references, particularly a corruption plot straight out of Chinatown.
My only criticism of what is otherwise a very entertaining, gleefully wacky and visually outstanding animation is a lack of that undefinable factor "heart", something which I feel is that niggling X factor which Pixar consistently hits and its competitors don't.