Rango (Film)

Gore Verbinski's animation debut, Rango, shows that animations don't have to have cute, fluffy characters or song-and-dance numbers to attract people.

This story is about a hero. Or rather, a hero in the making. Our first impression of Rango (voiced by Johnny Depp) is that he's more of an artsy type with hero dreams.

The poetic chameleon lands in the Wild Wild West and, on his search for water, befriends Beans (Isla Fisher), a female iguana. Together they journey to the dry town of Dirt, which is in the middle of a water crisis. All the water reserves are low and Rango, who is made sheriff, sets out to investigate.

Sadly his detective skills don't match his enthusiasm. But his idealism pushes him to become the hero he's always dreamed he was.

Rango and his posse are far from adorable; in fact, they're pretty ugly, but you still care about their problems. Once you fall for Rango's personality, his looks begin to grow on you. Even when he's rambling on and on like Woody Allen, you still feel for him.

At times, the visuals push the boundaries between reality and animation - you'd swear they were live-action shots and not computer-generated ones. Hardly surprising, when the folks at George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic worked on this gem.