Depp & Co. make a great animated 'western' come to fruition: One of the year's finest surprises and best films to boot.

Rating: 10/10 (22 March 2011)

RANGO (2011) **** (voices of: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Ned Beatty, Bill Nighy, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, Stephen Root, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone & Timothy Olyphant) Quick-witted "Walter Mitty"-esque chameleon (Depp at his liveliest with a Kermit the Frog on acid affectation) winds up unwittingly lost in the desert town of Dirt, where he finds himself the self-appointed duties of the drought-plagued crittery citizenry faced with a corrupt tortoise mayor (Beatty channeling John Huston) and a gang of outlaws in the way. A splendid visual animated feast for the eyes (dig those earth-tones color schemes for the arid environs!) and aural sensation for the quick/sharp dialogue thanks to John Logan's screenplay collaboration with James Ward Byrkit and the inventive director GoreVorebinski (harkening back to classic Warner Bros' Looney Tunes echoing in the canyons). Some inspired riffing on cinema including a take of APOCALYPSE NOW's "Flight of The Valkyries" bat-attack; the storyline of "CHINATOWN" and the revelation of The Spirit of The West in the iconic form of Clint Eastwood's "the Man-With-No-Name" spaghetti westerns. The only genuine surprise is the film was not one of the myriad choices of 3-D as of late and while it surely doesn't need it, it feels like it was for its tactile artistry. One of the year's finest surprises and best films to boot.