25. Before Night Falls

A gorgeously-shot, beautifully-realized look at the life and writings of Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Falls is a brilliant performance showcase for a pre-No Country For Old Men Javier Bardem. Depp's twin performances as the flamboyant Bon Bon and a sadistic prison warden may come off as a bit problematic nowadays. Nonetheless, the actor makes the most of his five minutes of screen time, adding his distinct flavor to Julian Schnabel's stunning film.
24. Chocolat

Chocolat is the kind of multiple Oscar nominee that might have audiences rolling their eyes nowadays, but it's light and frothy enough, with a typically entrancing performance from Juliette Binoche. The title is apt, as there's something almost dessert-like about this film's graceful style and old-fashioned romanticism. It goes down smooth, but may leave one wondering if it ultimately wasn't a bit disappointingly slightly.
23. Secret Window

After Depp's Pirates of the Caribbean comeback, it seemed like there was nothing more fun than going to the movies and seeing Johnny Depp have a ball piling on the quirks. Secret Window is definitely bargain-bin Stephen King, but the actor's rapidly unraveling performance is still great fun.
22. Dark Shadows

By the time Dark Shadows rolled around, the Burton-Depp collaboration had almost become a parody of itself. Depp would don another dousing of white-cake makeup, and Burton would continue to endlessly copy his original films, with rapidly diminishing returns. It's a bit surprising, then, that this is actually one of their best offerings in years, with Depp giving a wonderfully funny performance and Burton reveling in the sort of deviant humor that made his early work so engaging.
21. Once Upon A Time In Mexico

Robert Rodriguez's loopy and nonsensical spaghetti Western is good campy fun. Taking a cue from his future Grindhouse collaboator Quentin Tarantino, the film gleefully abandons plot and embraces a wild succession of over-the-top violence underscored with lots and lots of guitar-strumming. It's all quite fun, albeit a bit one-note, but Depp undoubtedly steals the whole show with a hysterically ridiculous performance as a rogue C.I.A. agent in Mexico.
20. The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus

After Heath Ledger's death, his final role in Terry Gilliam's 2009 fantasy film was re-conceived as a series of transformations between Jude Law, Colin Farrell, and Depp himself. After a slew of disappointing failures, Gilliam got close here to recapturing the magic of his early career masterpieces Brazil and Time Bandits. While it's not a top-tier entry in the director's filmography, its typically imaginative visuals are underscored with a somber memorial to Ledger's undeniable talent.
19. Rango

Depp voices the title character in this Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature. A coming of age story about a chameleon taking on the responsibilities of town sheriff, this oft-forgotten oddity also features vocal performances by Isla Fisher and Abigail Breslin. It's a wonderfully weird surprise of a film, with plenty of nods to the Western genre and a richly-detailed style of animation that isn't quite like anything else out there.
18. Arizona Dream

Johnny Depp stars opposite Faye Dunaway in this bizarrely charming film about a young man named Axel who strikes up a relationship with an eccentric older woman and her stepdaughter. Thoroughly unpredictable and wonderfully absurd, the film finds Bosnian-born director Emir Kusturica focusing on America with surreal results. It's an early film that confirmed Depp as one of the most tender heartthrobs in cinema.
17. Don Juan DeMarco

This goofy comedy is admittedly plenty slight, but it's bolstered considerably by Depp's performance. A bit of a genius blending of his sexy swagger and inherent goofiness, Don Juan DeMarco sees him playing a delusional man who believes he is the world's greatest lover. Marlon Brando's turn as his psychiatrist feels checked out, but Depp is always delightfully committed.
16. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

This up-scaled second installment is something of a victory lap for Depp. The Looney Tunes antics of the character are turned up to 11, and the actor is clearly having a ball revisiting a character now christened a cinema icon. Some of the surrounding mythology becomes ponderous and the bloated length is questionable, but this sequel also features a veritable tidal wave of richly-imagined action set pieces and Bill Nighy as Davy Jones, one of the best performances by a CGI character this side of Gollum.