Like eating Pop-Tarts with Kim Novak, Rango is a little slice of heaven. This sometimes psychedelic western narrative is fleshed out with lovably unattractive characters, laugh out loud moments, and references to everything from Clint Eastwood to Alpha Centauri. Despite being animated, you ought not feel obligated to bring a younger counterpart to justify seeing the film. They’ll likely miss the nuances of recurring existential crises, and talk of bowel movements involving a human spinal column.

Our chameleon hero, Rango (Johnny Depp), lived life as a humble aquarium thespian until calamity led him to the desert town of Dirt. Sheer bravado and dumb luck earn him a sheriff’s star in this parched prospector’s town, full of all sorts of anthropomorphic western critters, just before things get ‘a-complicated’. The bank’s vault, which stores water, disappears. Naturally, a posse is drummed up, at which point some of the more amusing animated action sequences in recent years take place. Toss in a quest to find the Spirit of the West, and Rango’s attempts to woo his first love interest with a pulse, and you’ve got yourself a well spent afternoon in toontown.