RANGO (PG): On General Release From Friday 4th March

Gore Verbinksi, best known for the Pirates of the Caribbean series, takes his first step into the weird and wonderful world of animation and he’s taking them with the very weird and the exceedingly wild Johnny Depp. They come together once again to bring life to Rango, an animated Western for kids which for some bizarre reason is also a drama about one chameleon’s (Depp) identity crisis. These two elements don’t always sit comfortably together but it’s definitely an interesting experiment.

The film opens with Rango performing a monologue in which he reveals that he’s struggling with feeling lost and alone in what appears to be a dreamlike desert where his only friends are a wind-up fish toy and a headless Barbie. In reality, he’s a pet chameleon travelling in the back of a car which, thanks to a pesky armadillo, is thrown from the car and left to his own devices. This is one of the best openings to a film I’ve ever seen, almost on par with Toy Story 3 and that’s going some. The sun hits Rango’s terrarium as it flies through the air like a light at the end of the tunnel signals freedom, sweet and terrible freedom. Do It!