Rango

I love Johnny Depp.  That is all.
No, seriously, he amazes me 99% of the time in his films.  Even the animated ones.  I'm just going to pretend that The Tourist never happened, like most people who have been unfortunate enough to witness it.

So let's talk about the plot of Rango.  It is about a chameleon (played by Johnny Depp) who gets stranded in the desert away from his home and his very sheltered life full of putting on roles and creating non-existent adventures for himself.  However, now that he finds himself at the center of a real adventure, in a new town full of fellow rodents and lizards, it is here that he gives himself the name Rango and becomes the deputy sheriff of the town.  As the sheriff he becomes responsible for finding out what is happening to the missing water.  However, his role comes crashing down when he realizes that not being himself is deceiving a town of people who he comes to love.  This finally pushes him to become the true hero he was meant to be.  
Action packed enough for you?

This wonderful cast also includes Isla Fisher and Abigail Breslin.  The voices were very well done, so much so, that I forgot who played who, even Depp, and found myself completely invested in the film.  The story had a really important message for kids, which is to be yourself in order to live a happy life and to never be ashamed of who you are.  The plot surrounding the missing water was not as exciting as it should have been however.  I felt as though there were several parts where you found yourself bored because there was too much establishing of characters and setting up the climax.  I find this ironic because I usually criticize films because of their lack of detail and for rushing the scenes.  Now I find myself wanting the opposite.  In this case, there was too much down time, too much detail and preparation.  This made the film feel lengthy and tiresome.  I also would have liked a little more humour.  The subject felt a little too heavy at times.  There needed to be more comedic relief, especially for a kids film.   

That was my only criticism of the film.  Everything else was perfected to an admirable degree.  I really respected the effort put in to the making of the film - all the actors actually acted out the scenes with props and such, to make the result more realistic and effective.  And I believe they succeeded.  The voices, especially Depp's, were transformed amazingly and I really enjoyed it.

It's a film worth watching if you appreciate actor dedication and talent, a good overall purpose or message, and some entertaining accents.  I give this film 8.3/10.