Johnny Depp lends his voice to this colorful Western about a stranded chameleon who attempts to rescue a drought-stricken town. Directed by Gore Verbinski and animated by the effects wizards at George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic, it looks outstanding (see S+V’s full review for more on that) and features inventive characters sure to entertain ‘tweens looking for something grittier than Pixar. The major drawback is the one-note story hammering the drought angle to death for close to two hours. Rango cleverly buries lots of in jokes from other films — Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly to name a few — but apart from the top-notch CGI animation and it’s unique outlook it gets tiresome just like Verbinski’s Pirates trilogy.
Video: 1080p 2.40:1; Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD MA; Special Features: Commentary (extended version only) with Gore Verbinski, head of story James Ward Byrkit; production designer Mark "Crash" McCreery, animation director Hal Hickel and visual effects supervisor Tim Alexander; two-part documentary “Breaking the Rules: Making Animation History,” “Real Creatures of Dirt,” Storyboard Reel picture-in-picture, deleted scenes, “A Field Trip To Dirt” (interactive map), theatrical trailer, digital and DVD copy of the film.
