The Lone Ranger, Despicable Me 2 - Sandy Kenyon reviews

NEW YORK (WABC) -- From the folks who brought you those "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies comes "The Lone Ranger" based on characters more than half a century old.

The title character is less important than his sidekick this time and the premise has been updated and supersized. The new version is from Walt Disney studios, owned by the same parent company as WABC-TV.

The 1st half hour had me hopeful other critics had been wrong when they panned The Lone Ranger, but the movie loses steam soon after and even a big finish can't save it.

Casting Johnny Depp as Tonto is a sure sign the sidekick is now the star and his biggest fans will want to see the movie just to see him put a new spin on a Native American character who has been called a 'stereotype' in the past.

Armie Hammer as The Lone Ranger proves up to the unenviable task of serving as a foil for Depp's shenanigans and to his credit Armie never gets blown off the screen by Johnny, but I got bored with both of them during the interminable middle of a movie that is way, way too long.

The damsel in distress with the distracting eyelids is just one more reason not to see this re-imagining of a premise that is simply too flimsy to support such a long and convoluted story.

Despicable Me 2

The villain so "Despicable" in the first film is now a family man, but the single dad voiced by Steve Carell is not alone for long. Kristen Wiig proves worthy. They are just two reasons to see the new movie, but "Despicable Me 2" belongs to his minions who happily have more to do this time around.

Those little guys make me laugh and I love they have more to do this time around. They get totally transformed in a way I won't say. Don't want to spoil it for you!

This is a movie parents and kids can enjoy together.

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