Paladin
06-16-2006, 07:09 PM
Cars, starring the voices of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, George Carlin, Cheech Marin, Michael Keaton, John Ratzenburger and Larry the Cable Guy. Directed by John Lasseter and Joe Ranft.
There's something Pixar does amazingly well, and I don't mean computer animation. That's a given. What they do so well, probably better than any other studio is take a simple premise and then fill their movie with interesting characters with the right actors providing the voices, elevating their creation from childrens flick to art. And with Cars, they've done it again.
There are no people in Cars. Instead, the entire world is inhabited by our vehicles, living breathing machines. The movie tells the story of rookie NASCAR racer Lightning McQueen, a self-centered and greedy racer who is out to pick up a plum sponsorship being vacated by retiring racer "The King" (voiced by Richard Petty, and based on one of his old racecars). While travelling to California for a tie-breaker race between himself, The King and also-ran racer Chick Hicks (Keaton), Lighting gets seperated from his tractor trailer and becomes a "guest of the town" of Radiator Springs. In other words, he's sentanced to a week's worth of community service.
Spending a week with the locals, away from the glamour of racing and the adoration of press and fans, Lightning of course falls in love with the town and it's people, including a Porche named Sally who is both the town's lone attorney and operator of it's lone motel. He also meets the mayor/judge/doctor...Doc Hudson (Newman), a retired racer himself, although that is a secret he's kept from the town until Lightning finds him out. His best friend becomes the redneck tow truck Mater (Tow Mater...get it?), voiced by Larry the Cable Guy. Mater really steals the film, I especially loved the scene where he takes Lightning cow tipping. Like other Pixar films, this movie extolls the virtues of friendship. It also drives home the impact that "modern" fast paced living have had on small communities, showing Radiator Springs as once having been a popular stop on Route 66, only to be completely bypassed by the interstate.
Overall, the movie does a very good job of getting it's points across without becoming preachy or sappy. The characterizations are spot on. The animation is nothing short of amazing... it's computer animation done so well, it actually passes for hand-drawn. It's an excellent film, another hit for Pixar and Disney. Go see it in the theaters, visually it needs to be seen at least once on the big screen anyway. If you have IMAX or DLP available, I highly recommend one of those options. If not, film will probably do ok. Definitely don't wait for the DVD, you'll miss out on something special.
On the smiley scale: (1=low 4=high)
Fun (how generally enjoyable the movie is to watch): :bg: :bg: :bg: :bg:
Thrills (how exciting or scary the movie is): :eek:
Comedy (how much humor the movie has): :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Brain-Candy Factor (how much the movie is mindless fluff): :jester: :jester:
There's something Pixar does amazingly well, and I don't mean computer animation. That's a given. What they do so well, probably better than any other studio is take a simple premise and then fill their movie with interesting characters with the right actors providing the voices, elevating their creation from childrens flick to art. And with Cars, they've done it again.
There are no people in Cars. Instead, the entire world is inhabited by our vehicles, living breathing machines. The movie tells the story of rookie NASCAR racer Lightning McQueen, a self-centered and greedy racer who is out to pick up a plum sponsorship being vacated by retiring racer "The King" (voiced by Richard Petty, and based on one of his old racecars). While travelling to California for a tie-breaker race between himself, The King and also-ran racer Chick Hicks (Keaton), Lighting gets seperated from his tractor trailer and becomes a "guest of the town" of Radiator Springs. In other words, he's sentanced to a week's worth of community service.
Spending a week with the locals, away from the glamour of racing and the adoration of press and fans, Lightning of course falls in love with the town and it's people, including a Porche named Sally who is both the town's lone attorney and operator of it's lone motel. He also meets the mayor/judge/doctor...Doc Hudson (Newman), a retired racer himself, although that is a secret he's kept from the town until Lightning finds him out. His best friend becomes the redneck tow truck Mater (Tow Mater...get it?), voiced by Larry the Cable Guy. Mater really steals the film, I especially loved the scene where he takes Lightning cow tipping. Like other Pixar films, this movie extolls the virtues of friendship. It also drives home the impact that "modern" fast paced living have had on small communities, showing Radiator Springs as once having been a popular stop on Route 66, only to be completely bypassed by the interstate.
Overall, the movie does a very good job of getting it's points across without becoming preachy or sappy. The characterizations are spot on. The animation is nothing short of amazing... it's computer animation done so well, it actually passes for hand-drawn. It's an excellent film, another hit for Pixar and Disney. Go see it in the theaters, visually it needs to be seen at least once on the big screen anyway. If you have IMAX or DLP available, I highly recommend one of those options. If not, film will probably do ok. Definitely don't wait for the DVD, you'll miss out on something special.
On the smiley scale: (1=low 4=high)
Fun (how generally enjoyable the movie is to watch): :bg: :bg: :bg: :bg:
Thrills (how exciting or scary the movie is): :eek:
Comedy (how much humor the movie has): :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Brain-Candy Factor (how much the movie is mindless fluff): :jester: :jester: