Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2011

A sophisticated, wonderfully weird computer animation for smart people, from ILM. You could even call it Pixar-level. The storyline is anything but original, but I think that’s the point. It lovingly borrows tropes and clichés from countless classic westerns, from High Noon and Sergio Leone’s masterpieces to Blazing Saddles, with nods to Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Chinatown and even Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The more movies you’ve seen, the more you’ll enjoy this cinema-referential approach, but at the same time it’s cute and kinetic enough for the kids. It’s the inspired execution that shines. First, it’s in gorgeous 2D. (Only! Yay!) Johnny Depp voices the title chameleon, a former pet lizard stranded and thirsty in the Mojave Desert. He happens upon a town appropriately named Dirt, populated by a marvelous array of western stereotype creatures, and lucks into the job of sheriff (he is a chameleon). His first job is to find out what’s happening to the town’s dwindling water supply. Excellent voice talent includes Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, Ray Winstone, Bill Nighy and Ned Beatty. Loved the doom-saying mariachi Greek chorus. I’d see this again.