What:  Rango
Where:  Tinseltown
Cost:  $6.00 admission plus $3.25 for a small Coke

Snow greeted me this morning as I walked out to my car:  heavy, wet flakes that covered my windshield but couldn't muster the strength to stay on the pavement.  The skies were overcast, but there was a promise of brightness as if the sun was patiently waiting...waiting...waiting for spring.

I, too, am waiting for spring but perhaps not so patiently.  Since mid-February I have had this year's version of the cold that won't go away, a lingering and feverish feeling with hacking cough.  I heard this morning it is lasting for most people two months, so I am right on time as my cough is disappearing.  About time.  I am able to be out but do nothing strenuous, so on Monday I went to Tinseltown for a matinee performance of Rango.  It was the perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Rango is perhaps the most amusing and creative animation I have seen in a while.  I laughed myself silly at the visual and verbal jokes--you have to pay attention in this film or you can miss the humor.  It is the story of a lizard in search of himself who stumbles upon the town called Dirt in the Mohave desert.  Dirt has a severe water shortage, and I don't think I am giving away the plot to say Rango the lizard finds both water and himself by film's end.  The art is...well, the style of art is different.  It took me a few minutes to get used to seeing stylized lizards, snakes and other wildlife, but once I did I it did not distract me from the story.

I throughly enjoyed the film, but I don't think children would.  The humor can be subtle so I think it would appeal more to an older audience, but I am sure there are children who have seen it and enjoyed it.

And now a message about Pulakos.  Those of you in southwest Erie with a chocolate addiction will be disappointed to learn Pulakos at 26th and Elmwood is closing.  I was saddened to learn of this.  Stopping at Pulakos while on the west side has become a habit.  I especially enjoyed stopping for ice cream or sherbet on a hot summer's afternoon at the east window.  It is hard to find an establishment which serves orange sherbet as Pulakos does, and now it looks as if I will have to find some place else.  I know of only one other place to get orange sherbet, and I don't enjoy it as much as what I found at Pulakos.  I will keep looking!