Rango (2011) NYT Critics' Pick

[lsanderson]

Johnny Depp provides the voice of the title character, center, in the animated film “Rango.” Isla Fisher supplies the voice of his romantic interest, a spirited frontier creature called Beans, right. More Photos »
There’s a New Sheriff in Town, and He’s a Rootin’-Tootin’ Reptile
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: March 3, 2011

Feature animation currently finds itself in a golden age of mediocrity, with sensationally inventive technical means tethered, more often than not, to drab and cynical imaginative ends. The perennial Pixar exception tends to prove a dreary rule: as animated movies claim an ever bigger share of money and attention — drawing cross-generational, demographically diverse audiences more readily than most other films — they rely more and more on manic, synthetic formulas. More