Rango 2011

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: "...a fleet, quirky, computer-animated feature that I found ingenious, charming and almost entirely engaging." Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: I've made a good case for seeing "Rango," and why not; an eye feast is still a feast in this lean multiplex season. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: What makes this unhinged, wildly self-conscious comedy-adventure more than a two-hour gimmick is an inspired vocal performance by Verbinski's "Pirates of the Caribbean" star, Johnny Depp. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: Perhaps a new classification has been born: the "SpaghettiOs Western." Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: Ignoring the weak storyline entirely, Rango is a joyously weird experience, far more concerned with texture and flavor than with elaborate narrative. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's refreshing to see an animated movie that doesn't look as though the idea for the Happy Meal came first. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: "Rango'' is a highly watchable but somewhat frustrating mix of sloppy plotting, rascally attitude, and Big Action. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: What elevates it above a cheeky romp is the skilled CGI work, not only the wealth of tactile detail lavished on the parched townsfolk but also the painterly, sand-swept vistas they call home. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Rango never shuts up, but he never has anything funny or touching or clever to say. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The film itself is a magically strange hybrid, a spoofy computer-animated Western acted out by anthropomorphic desert creatures. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The best of Rango is a lot like the best of the first Pirates movie -- crazily funny and rambunctious. Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: Every other week, it seems there is some new creation full of fantastically realized creatures engaging in eye-tricking action. The ironic effect of this... is a so-what-else-you-got state of jaded exhaustion. And then along comes Rango. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Yes, [there are] enough nods to other sources to make Rango a bobblehead. But the movie, and much of John Logan's writing, is still pretty durn clever. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Neither Rango the mash-up movie nor Rango the lizard is particularly lovable. But there's no denying the intrigue in its combination of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Madly clever animated sagebrush saga has style and wit to burn. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: In a world choked with animated films -- the good, the bad and the ugly -- it's hard to be either original or great. Yet director Gore Verbinski has done both -- and without 3-D... Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Just when you thought you'd seen everything, here comes Chinatown, the animated version. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: Though young children may enjoy it, the film is built for viewers of any age with a taste for joyful anarchy. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Adults and slightly older children should have a great time. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: Rango's not just a kiddie-flick (though it has enough silly slapstick to qualify as a pretty good one). It's a real movie lover's movie, conceived as a Blazing Saddles-like comic commentary on genre that's as back-lot savvy as it is light in the saddle. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Sharp-edged, surreal, and often astonishing in its giddy creativity. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: An ultra-quirky animated Western with a vocal tour de force by Johnny Depp that's quite unlike anything I've ever seen. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It is not self-conscious knowingness that drives Rango but rather a quirky and sincere enthusiasm for all the strange stuff that has piled up in the filmmakers' heads over the years. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: You know those animated films that have bits that the parents will enjoy? Rango is mostly those bits. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The first animated film from ILM is also the first memorable motion picture of 2011. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: "Rango" is some kind of a miracle: An animated comedy for smart moviegoers, wonderfully made, great to look at, wickedly satirical, and (gasp!) filmed in glorious 2-D. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Say what you will about 'Rango,' the computer-animated Western riding hard on Johnny Depp doing the voice of a lizard - just don't call it business as usual. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: I'm honestly not sure whether or not it's a good movie, but it doesn't leave you much time to ponder that question. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's an exuberant, audacious love letter to spaghetti westerns, masquerading as a kiddie cartoon. And it delivers deliciously on both levels. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Without double-crossing the kiddie contingent, "Rango" is iconic like a spaghetti Western, smart like a '70s conspiracy thriller and lively like a Coen brothers comedy. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: With his first animated feature, Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski shows ambitions considerably beyond producing the usual standard of most children's fare. To put it plainly, Rango is one weird movie. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The whole enterprise is redolent of past movies (and drug trips), yet it somehow whiffs fresh. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: A CGI western comedy populated by desert critters, Rango gives the film year a belated jump start with a passel of movie-wise fun and a knockout animation style. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: There are some wonderful things in 'Rango': the dialogue is witty, the animation is dizzying and the action is stunningly choreographed. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Its strong suit is visual panache. It's too bad that consistent comedy and emotional resonance get lost amid the dust and cacti. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Johnny Depp isn't the sort of star to blend in, so it's saying something that his turn as the world's most conspicuous chameleon in Rango is so full-bodied, you forget the actor and focus on the character. Read more

Nick Schager, Village Voice: A rollicking, surreal, and existential kids' Western that worships at the altars of Sergio Leone, Hunter S. Thompson, and Chinatown, Rango drowns under the weight of discordant objectives and influences. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A sun-baked symphony of rust and dust, Rango has a spiky, unsentimental appeal, sending out slightly risque jokes to parents while staying safely out of the danger zone for kids. Read more