‘Rango’

The dusty cards of the Old West are reshuffled into a winning hand in Rango, a madly clever animated sagebrush saga with style and wit to burn. Reconfiguring the spaghetti Western into a fusilli con camaleonte, Gore Verbinski’s surprising escape picture after years in the Caribbean is eye-poppingly visualized in a hyper-realistic style that at times borders on the surrealist. The verbal flights of fancy will often sail over the heads of rugrats, as will the innumerable references to and twists on classic movies, but the presence of Johnny Depp in the title role practically assures muscular returns for this Paramount/Nickelodeon production.