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Description
"You don't know that you got a choice, son. No man can walk out on his own story."

Lets continue our Nickelodeon marathon with the story of a chameleon who winds up in an Old West-like town that's in desperate need of a new sheriff, and gets tangled up in a life-changing adventure; Rango.

A theatrically-minded pet chameleon becomes stranded in the Mojave Desert of Nevada after his terrarium accidentally falls out of his owners' car.
Seeking shelter, he learns from a nine-banded armadillo named Roadkill, who is seeking the mystical "Spirit of the West", and tells the chameleon of an Old West desert town called Dirt, where water comes in through a mysterious rite on Wednesdays.
Seeing no other options, the chameleon heads out into the desert. There, he narrowly avoids being eaten by a vicious red-tailed hawk before meeting Beans, a desert iguana rancher, who takes him to Dirt.
Asked about his identity, the chameleon presents himself to the townsfolk as a tough drifter named "Rango" and quickly runs afoul of Gila monster Bad Bill, who challenges him to a duel. The hawk interrupts the duel and chases Rango, who accidentally knocks over an empty water tower and crushes the hawk to death.
Believing he did so intentionally, the townsfolk praise Rango, who is appointed as the new sheriff by Dirt's desert tortoise Mayor John. Meanwhile, the townsfolk worry that with the hawk dead, the infamous gunslinger Rattlesnake Jake will return.
With the town desperate for water during a drought, Beans demands that Rango investigates where the water has gone and in doing so, he inadvertently helps a gang of bank robbers, led by a mole named Balthazar, to steal the water supply.
Rango organizes a posse that later finds the banker, Mr. Merrimack, dead in the middle of the desert. The posse tracks the robbers to their hideout, where they fight Balthazar's bat-riding clan over the stolen water bottle before discovering it to be empty.
The robbers profess that they found it like that, but Rango still takes them into custody.
After being questioned by Rango about his buying of the land around Dirt, John brings in Rattlesnake Jake, who runs him out of town after forcing him to admit his lies to the townsfolk. Dejected, Rango returns to the highway, where he passes out after he crosses to the other side.
He eventually meets the Spirit of the West, an elderly Man with No Name, who advises him to go back to Dirt and set things right, telling him that "No man can walk out on his own story".
With the aid of Roadkill and mystical moving yuccas, Rango discovers an emergency shut-off valve in a water pipeline to Las Vegas. John has been manipulating it to cause the water shortage so he could buy the land for himself.
With a single bullet, Rango returns to Dirt and challenges Jake to a duel. Does Rango truly have what it takes to be a real hero?

The story is pretty well written as even though the plot does suffer from being easily predictable due to it's usage of the "liar revealed" cliche, it is still pretty solid and enjoyable thanks to it having some pretty awesome action scenes, some well handled humor, a good amount of heart and charm, a well balanced tone that has a great sense of fun and adventure while also having this unnerving feel, and it has a very cool and well handled western setting.
The action scenes are pretty solid as they can be a lot of fun and exciting, and they can also get pretty intense such as Rango on the highway, his two encounters with the hawk with his first one in the desert and his second in Dirt, his duel with Bad Bill, the group's encounter with the robbers which leads to the canyon chase, Rango's duel with Rattlesnake Jake, and him foiling John's plans.
The movie has a pretty solid sense of humor as there are a good amount of well handled jokes and moments that do mange to get some good laughs and chuckles such as the witty banter and dialogue between the characters, the snarky comebacks and remarks, the gags and visual humor, and the dark humor and occasional adult joke.
The movie also has a good amount of heart to it which does lead to some heartfelt and charming moments like Rango's self worth growing throughout the course of the film, and his growing relationship with the citizens of Dirt.
The animation is absolutely amazing as it has a nice blend of both realistic and exaggerated, and how everything has this really grungy look to it. The characters all have some great designs that are accompanied by some incredibly lively and fluid movements, the backgrounds and settings are spectacularly well crafted and have an amazing level of detail, and there are some stelar special effects like the textures of the scales, fur, dirt, and so on, the lighting, the water and fire, and more.
The characters may be more on the one-note side, and the movie may suffer from character overload which can result in some being easily forgettable, but they do manage to be quite likable and memorable thanks to their chemistry, wit, charisma, dynamics, humor, and development such as the eccentric Rango who is a well rounded protagonist, the hotheaded Beans, the wide-eyed Priscilla, and several of the side characters like Doc, Wounded Bird, Waffles, Buford, the Mariachi Owls, Roadkill, the Spirit of the West, and Bad Bill. Also, the movie has some pretty solid villains who do prove themselves to be a challenge for Rango and his friends such as the corrupt mayor John, Balthazar and his family of robbers, and the ruthless Rattlesnake Jake.
The voice acting is very solid and does result in some great performances like Johnny Depp as Rango, Isla Fisher as Beans, Abigail Breslin as Priscilla, Ned Beatty as John, Alfred Molina as Roadkill, Bill Nighy as Rattlesnake Jake, Timothy Olyphant as the Spirit of the West, and many more.
The music by Hans Zimmer is very well done as his score is amazingly well composed and really captures the movie's comedic and relatively lightheated tone, and also has a solid Western sound to it.

Overall, while it does have a few quirks, this is a very well made and highly enjoyable film that delivers on some good laughs and some solid action and adventure. Also, this may be the best animated Western ever made.

Cast:
Johnny Depp as Rango, Lars, Raoul Duke
Isla Fisher as Beans
Abigail Breslin as Priscilla
Ned Beatty as John
Alfred Molina as Roadkill
Bill Nighy as Rattlesnake Jake
Harry Dean Stanton as Balthazar
Ray Winstone as Bad Bill
Timothy Olyphant as The Spirit of the West
Stephen Root as Doc, Johannes Merrimack III, Mr. Snuggles
Maile Flanagan as Lucky
Alanna Ubach as Boo, Cletus, Fresca, Miss Daisy
Ian Abercrombie as Ambrose
Gil Birmingham as Wounded Bird
James Ward Byrkit as Waffles, Gordy, Papa Joad, Cousin Murt
Claudia Black as Angelique
Blake Clark as Buford
John Cothran, Jr. as Elgin
Patrika Darbo as Delilah, Maybelle
George DelHoyo as Señor Flan
Charles Fleischer as Elbows
Beth Grant as Bonnie
Ryan Hurst as Jedidiah
Vincent Kartheiser as Ezekiel
Joseph Nunez as Rock-Eye
Hemky Madera as Chorizo
Chris Parson as Hazel Moats, Kinski, Stump, Clinker, Lenny, Boseefus, Dirt Kid
Lew Temple as Furgus, Hitch
Gore Verbinski as Sergeant Turley, Crevice, Slim, Lupe
Kym Whitley as Melonee
Alex Manugian as Spoons

Crew:
Directed by Gore Verbinski
Screenplay by John Logan
Story by John Logan, Gore Verbinski, and James Ward Byrkit
Produced by Gore Verbinski, Graham King, and John B. Carls
Music by Hans Zimmer

Misc.
Production companies: Nickelodeon Movies, Blind Wink Productions, GK Films
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date: March 4, 2011
Runtime: 1 hour, 47 minutes

Description
"You don't know that you got a choice, son. No man can walk out on his own story."

Lets continue our Nickelodeon marathon with the story of a chameleon who winds up in an Old West-like town that's in desperate need of a new sheriff, and gets tangled up in a life-changing adventure; Rango.

A theatrically-minded pet chameleon becomes stranded in the Mojave Desert of Nevada after his terrarium accidentally falls out of his owners' car.
Seeking shelter, he learns from a nine-banded armadillo named Roadkill, who is seeking the mystical "Spirit of the West", and tells the chameleon of an Old West desert town called Dirt, where water comes in through a mysterious rite on Wednesdays.
Seeing no other options, the chameleon heads out into the desert. There, he narrowly avoids being eaten by a vicious red-tailed hawk before meeting Beans, a desert iguana rancher, who takes him to Dirt.
Asked about his identity, the chameleon presents himself to the townsfolk as a tough drifter named "Rango" and quickly runs afoul of Gila monster Bad Bill, who challenges him to a duel. The hawk interrupts the duel and chases Rango, who accidentally knocks over an empty water tower and crushes the hawk to death.
Believing he did so intentionally, the townsfolk praise Rango, who is appointed as the new sheriff by Dirt's desert tortoise Mayor John. Meanwhile, the townsfolk worry that with the hawk dead, the infamous gunslinger Rattlesnake Jake will return.
With the town desperate for water during a drought, Beans demands that Rango investigates where the water has gone and in doing so, he inadvertently helps a gang of bank robbers, led by a mole named Balthazar, to steal the water supply.
Rango organizes a posse that later finds the banker, Mr. Merrimack, dead in the middle of the desert. The posse tracks the robbers to their hideout, where they fight Balthazar's bat-riding clan over the stolen water bottle before discovering it to be empty.
The robbers profess that they found it like that, but Rango still takes them into custody.
After being questioned by Rango about his buying of the land around Dirt, John brings in Rattlesnake Jake, who runs him out of town after forcing him to admit his lies to the townsfolk. Dejected, Rango returns to the highway, where he passes out after he crosses to the other side.
He eventually meets the Spirit of the West, an elderly Man with No Name, who advises him to go back to Dirt and set things right, telling him that "No man can walk out on his own story".
With the aid of Roadkill and mystical moving yuccas, Rango discovers an emergency shut-off valve in a water pipeline to Las Vegas. John has been manipulating it to cause the water shortage so he could buy the land for himself.
With a single bullet, Rango returns to Dirt and challenges Jake to a duel. Does Rango truly have what it takes to be a real hero?

The story is pretty well written as even though the plot does suffer from being easily predictable due to it's usage of the "liar revealed" cliche, it is still pretty solid and enjoyable thanks to it having some pretty awesome action scenes, some well handled humor, a good amount of heart and charm, a well balanced tone that has a great sense of fun and adventure while also having this unnerving feel, and it has a very cool and well handled western setting.
The action scenes are pretty solid as they can be a lot of fun and exciting, and they can also get pretty intense such as Rango on the highway, his two encounters with the hawk with his first one in the desert and his second in Dirt, his duel with Bad Bill, the group's encounter with the robbers which leads to the canyon chase, Rango's duel with Rattlesnake Jake, and him foiling John's plans.
The movie has a pretty solid sense of humor as there are a good amount of well handled jokes and moments that do mange to get some good laughs and chuckles such as the witty banter and dialogue between the characters, the snarky comebacks and remarks, the gags and visual humor, and the dark humor and occasional adult joke.
The movie also has a good amount of heart to it which does lead to some heartfelt and charming moments like Rango's self worth growing throughout the course of the film, and his growing relationship with the citizens of Dirt.
The animation is absolutely amazing as it has a nice blend of both realistic and exaggerated, and how everything has this really grungy look to it. The characters all have some great designs that are accompanied by some incredibly lively and fluid movements, the backgrounds and settings are spectacularly well crafted and have an amazing level of detail, and there are some stelar special effects like the textures of the scales, fur, dirt, and so on, the lighting, the water and fire, and more.
The characters may be more on the one-note side, and the movie may suffer from character overload which can result in some being easily forgettable, but they do manage to be quite likable and memorable thanks to their chemistry, wit, charisma, dynamics, humor, and development such as the eccentric Rango who is a well rounded protagonist, the hotheaded Beans, the wide-eyed Priscilla, and several of the side characters like Doc, Wounded Bird, Waffles, Buford, the Mariachi Owls, Roadkill, the Spirit of the West, and Bad Bill. Also, the movie has some pretty solid villains who do prove themselves to be a challenge for Rango and his friends such as the corrupt mayor John, Balthazar and his family of robbers, and the ruthless Rattlesnake Jake.
The voice acting is very solid and does result in some great performances like Johnny Depp as Rango, Isla Fisher as Beans, Abigail Breslin as Priscilla, Ned Beatty as John, Alfred Molina as Roadkill, Bill Nighy as Rattlesnake Jake, Timothy Olyphant as the Spirit of the West, and many more.
The music by Hans Zimmer is very well done as his score is amazingly well composed and really captures the movie's comedic and relatively lightheated tone, and also has a solid Western sound to it.

Overall, while it does have a few quirks, this is a very well made and highly enjoyable film that delivers on some good laughs and some solid action and adventure. Also, this may be the best animated Western ever made.

Cast:
Johnny Depp as Rango, Lars, Raoul Duke
Isla Fisher as Beans
Abigail Breslin as Priscilla
Ned Beatty as John
Alfred Molina as Roadkill
Bill Nighy as Rattlesnake Jake
Harry Dean Stanton as Balthazar
Ray Winstone as Bad Bill
Timothy Olyphant as The Spirit of the West
Stephen Root as Doc, Johannes Merrimack III, Mr. Snuggles
Maile Flanagan as Lucky
Alanna Ubach as Boo, Cletus, Fresca, Miss Daisy
Ian Abercrombie as Ambrose
Gil Birmingham as Wounded Bird
James Ward Byrkit as Waffles, Gordy, Papa Joad, Cousin Murt
Claudia Black as Angelique
Blake Clark as Buford
John Cothran, Jr. as Elgin
Patrika Darbo as Delilah, Maybelle
George DelHoyo as Señor Flan
Charles Fleischer as Elbows
Beth Grant as Bonnie
Ryan Hurst as Jedidiah
Vincent Kartheiser as Ezekiel
Joseph Nunez as Rock-Eye
Hemky Madera as Chorizo
Chris Parson as Hazel Moats, Kinski, Stump, Clinker, Lenny, Boseefus, Dirt Kid
Lew Temple as Furgus, Hitch
Gore Verbinski as Sergeant Turley, Crevice, Slim, Lupe
Kym Whitley as Melonee
Alex Manugian as Spoons

Crew:
Directed by Gore Verbinski
Screenplay by John Logan
Story by John Logan, Gore Verbinski, and James Ward Byrkit
Produced by Gore Verbinski, Graham King, and John B. Carls
Music by Hans Zimmer

Misc.
Production companies: Nickelodeon Movies, Blind Wink Productions, GK Films
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date: March 4, 2011
Runtime: 1 hour, 47 minutes