Wow! The year is early but for my money, Rango emerges as the best film of 2011 thus far. In Gore Verbinski's animated feature, Johnny Depp voices the title character, an eager chameleon out to solve the mystery behind a water shortage in the desert town of Dirt. Rango is certainly on the adult side, but it offers up plenty of colorful antics for the kids as well.

To call Rango quirky would be a bit of an understatement, but it's still incredibly accessible featuring a smorgasbord of creative film references (watch for odes to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the works of Sergio Leone just to name a few) and bursts of fittingly random humor (some of which is of the crude variety). Using a western backdrop (mixed with a dash of Roman Polanski's Chinatown), Rango acquits itself as a sort of CG version of True Grit. The computer generated animation is positively breathtaking. While this is clearly a cartoon, many of the visuals are eerily lifelike. The landscapes, the roads, the vehicles, etc. There were moments when I forgot I was watching an animated film, and I mean that in the best possible way. I'd rather see lifelike imagery in an animated film, than fake looking special effects in a live action movie.

The vocal work is picture perfect right across the board and quite frankly, Depp's turn here is superior to his last two or three live action performances. Ned Beatty--fresh of his villainous turn as Lotso in Toy Story 3--is terrific as the mysterious Mayor. Timothy Olyphant perfectly captures the essence of a certain western icon. Isla Fisher is charming and tenacious as love interest Beans. And Bill Nighy is charismatic and terrifying as Rattlesnake Jake. Sticking to its guns, Rango goes in a rather odd direction in the final act (it reminded me a little of the mystery at the heart of Who Framed Roger Rabbit), and I couldn't have been happier. I had an absolutely joyful time watching this entertaining film, and while the year is young, I doubt we'll get a stronger animated feature this year (although I do have high hopes for Kung Fu Panda 2). Rango is outstanding!