Movie review: Rango ****

Rango ****

Stars: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Bill Nighy, Alfred Molina
Director: Gore Verbinski
Rated: PG
Showing: Southside Cinema week of Friday, March 18 - daily at 7:30pm. For more information about film times, call 297-2821.
Runtime: 90 minutes
Action/adventure/animation

Johnny Depp has revelled in playing wacky characters. From Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd to Willy Wonka, the Mad Hatter and Captain Jack Sparrow, he excels in portraying the eccentric.

His latest incarnation is one of the oddest yet — a chameleon with an identity crisis.

The lizard, Rango, aspires to be a hero but finds it tough to aim high when your whole purpose in life is to blend in.

When he finds himself in a gritty, gun-slinging Western town of Dirt, a lawless outpost inhabited by wily and whimsical desert critters, he is appointed sheriff and the less-than-courageous chameleon must clean up the town and solve the mystery of its missing water.

Soon, with the help of some quirky residents, he discovers the meaning of friendship and goes from acting the hero to really being one.

Directed by Pirates Of The Caribbean’s Gore Verbinski, this is the first animated movie from George Lucas’s Oscar-winning special effects powerhouse Industrial Light & Magic.

The movie is beautifully animated but the characters a far cry from Disney-style cute and cuddly creatures and would look more at home in a Tim Burton film.

It heavily references classic spaghetti westerns by Sergio Leone and the setting is a nice change from the fairytale worlds that dominate animation.

Viewers of all ages will find it amusing and there are more than a few jokes with adult themes.

Watch if you liked: Shrek