I went to see this last night. Even though it looked like Rockem Sockem Robots, I thought it would be good.

It turned out to be Rockem Sockem meets rocky, meets Over the Top.
It was a very fun movie. All the kids were cheering, and when we walked out, more than one of the adults had smiles on their faces.

I talked with the BBC America reps at an awards show recently. I impressed them with my love of BBC programming despite my company not carrying it. They loved me.

Really, they did. In the mail today, I received all 3 series of Being Human(UK).

I watched Megamind with my kids yesterday,
just to spend some family time together. Chris asked,
"wanna have some popcorn?" How could I
tell him "no". Now I don't know how many of
you have seen Megamind, but it kinda sucks.
How does Dreamworks turn out so many pieces of crap?
I'm amazed by the number of times they have left me
feeling disappointed. According to the formula, they
gotta include a silly dance number and
make everyone smirk.
You won't catch me paying for a ticket. I
understand some people like Dreamworks. It's just that I don't.
Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down.
Never gonna run around and desert you

My new favorite vampire movie.

It was far better than I expected.

The story was nearly Pixar quality... nearly.
All the tropes of a great western were there, as were the familiar western stereotypes. The real weakness of the story was caused by the sheer number of characters. Several characters could have been combined to give the story more focus and a stronger final act.

The characters themselves were brilliantly done.
Depp's Rango was a frenetic con-man. The voice acting reminded me a lot of George Cloony who does this kind of character perfectly. I usually think of Depp as an extension of the odd characters he plays, so to say that he is Cloony-esque is actually a compliment to his range as an actor.

Ned Beatty was THE best performance in my opinion. The Mayor was obviously based off James Coburn, both in voice and in character design. Until I remembered that he died, I thought it was him. The strenth of Beatty's performance isn't just that he could imitate Coburn. The Mayor dripped sleaze out of every pore. He was just so much fun to listen to.

Bill Nighy's Rattlesnake Jake was so deadly scary that it was a shame that he didn't have more screen time. Again, his character could have absorbed a couple of other characters easily.

Camera work ranged from "could only be done in a computer" to "iconic western". The shot that stands out in my mind framed rango between broken bottles hanging from strings. It was the kind of obstructed shot that epitomizes the stylistic shooting style that permeated westerns from the mid to late 60s.

Zimmerman did an excellent job of emulating Morricone on the soundtrack. I'm sure many people will assume that it was Ennio Morricone, but the balance between sparse and lush wasn't quite up to his quality.

I'll have to see this one again to judge it more accurately, but...
First impression- 4/5