When - in the first five minutes of an animated film - there is a cameo from Hunter S. Thompson, I think it's safe to say you are not dealing with your standard kiddie fare. On top of that, if the main character of the animated film is designed to resemble the distorted Thompson on the poster for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I'd say that children and their capacity for cultural and emotional knowledge have very little to do with the movie. If, after we see the cartoon Thompson, a Greek chorus of mariachi-singing owls inform us that the lead character is doomed to die, then it must surely be prudent to keep children far away from the film.

Rango is not a children's movie. It is a bizarre, surreal, violent, frightening and stunningly vivid entry in the increasingly legitimized digitally animated film genre. That it does not come from Pixar is, perhaps, the biggest surprise. In the past few years, we've grown used to Pixar being the only reputable animation distributor. That Rango seems to come from nowhere only adds to its intrigue.

The film opens as Rango (Johnny Depp), a chameleon, is ejected from the moving car of his owners and onto the harsh highway of the Mojave Desert. He encounters a flattened aardvark who tells him, cryptically, that to find water, he must first "find dirt." Thus, Rango is sent on a journey full of hillbilly moles, walking cacti, hellfire rattlesnakes, motorized tortoises and arrow-stung rats. All this in search of the depleted water.

In his journey, Rango takes on the role of a legendary gunslinger. But the story is almost a side note compared to the extraordinarily original and detailed animation. Every character in the town Rango rolls into is so finely drawn and textured - everything seems to live and breath. Where bits of plot fall through the cracks, Rango picks up the slack as an utter feast for the eyes.

What a strange, unexpected freak of a movie. If only more films had the nerve to blindside you like this. - Three and a half out of four stars