Rango

It's not often you see a quirky animated film about a lizard (Rango) who, in chameleon like fashion, changes his colors and reinvents himself as the town hero. He goes from pet with a pet (a plastic fish), to a gun-totin' sheriff to town hero. There is a nod to almost every western ever made in this odd and yet delightful script. It seemed a little long, and ends the way a good western should. The kids in this audience shouldn't have enjoyed it at all- the humor was very adult in spots, and any homage to westerns would have gone totally over their short heads- let alone the Salvador Dali inspired snake. But they DID enjoy it. I guess the visuals were striking enough and certainly the good-guy-bad-guy theme was explained well enough that kids got it. It is a very clever, mostly funny flick. I just don't know how to explain it. It isn't cutesy- the animation is realistic, the eyes are creepy on every creature, and it shouldn't have been nearly as much fun as it was. But well, it is certainly worth the price of admission.