Rango

Rango is a delight of a film. It should win this 2011's Best Animated Feature Academy Award (especially because Pixar's entry will be a sequel to their only failure: Cars). It tells of Rango, a dramatic lizard who was thrown from a car on the highway. He's voiced with care by Johnny Depp (for at times it doesn't sound a bit like Depp's plodding voice). After he falls on the highway, Rango enters into a Western town and, using his acting talents, pretends to be a man of the law. The mayor awards him the position of sheriff after he kills a bird by mistake, and Rango becomes the hope and soul of the drought stricken town of 'Dirt'. The film is great. It uses its setting to its advantage by pulling on all sorts of Western movie themes. It is beautifully drawn, contains touching underlying themes, and is more funny than most of the proclaimed comedies out in theaters. Although the story sounds silly and exclusive to little kids, the opposite is true, and adults will take the most out of the film. Where most animated films use stupid scatological jokes and an excess of slapstick, Rango uses wit and parody. It's a triumph.
Rango: ★★★★