Favorite Pixar Movie Soundtrack?

[Meg]

Only a Lassetter movie could actually have a song like this

You're criticizing the name of the song?!? No offence but that statement seems unnecessarily harsh. "Our Town" is the name of the song, I'm guessing, since the refrain is "'Cause it's our town". There's no mention of any of the characters' names, so why should it have been called "Lightening and Sally" or "Lightning and Mater"? It wasn't about the relationships of two characters! It was about the town! Believe me, there are songs out there with WAY worse names than "Our Town" (and again, I don't think it's that horrible of a name seeing as that's what the SONG IS ABOUT.)

[ShyViolet]

It wasn't about the relationships of two characters! It was about the town!

I know Meg, that was my whole point! Not the title of the song but the subject. What I meant was, why couldn't the song be about Mater/Lightening or Sally/Lightening, or just Lightening? Aren't they important characters we're supposed to care about? How are we supposed to identify with a town? Especially since we know almost nothing about it--just that's old, run-down, and oh yeah it used to be a great tourist spot. Big, big deal. There's zillions of towns like that--why should we care any more about this one? Shouldn't a central song in the film make us feel closer to the CHARACTERS and not some "place"? Aren't the characters the most important thing? Shouldn't they be representing the theme itself? Or is it possible that none of them were interesting or fleshed out enough to warrent a song at all....?

This is just my opinion, not trying to trash Pixar songs intentionally (I really liked Randy's other songs like "If I didn't have you" and "Time of Your Life"--REALLY liked them) I just think that the subject matter is not worth singing about! If it was about a specific character's experience in that town, not just the town itself, it would be different. But it's not about Sally's life, Mater's or Doc Hudson's. It's just....our town. Sorry to say this, but Lassetter's assumption that everyone feels the way he does about small town Americana and will automatically gravitate towards this song regardless of character involvement seems naive in the extreme. I know it's connected to the theme of comradship and loyalty that he's trying to convey, but we hardly see anything substantial in the story department that represents this idea. We're just TOLD, never shown. We never truly feel the connection to the TOWN because, well, we just don't care about the characters who live there!

[Dacey]

We never truly feel the connection to the TOWN because, well, we just don't care about the characters who live there!

Well, you don't anyway.

[ShyViolet]

i sometimes have a hard time with sentimentality.....

[YCougar]

I'm having a little trouble with your logic on the whole "small town" idea. So, what you're saying is people should only make movies that most people can identify with? Nobody should offer their unique view, even if the downside is that it alienates people who don't feel the same way?

If I feel strongly about something and want to put it in my art, does it make the art bad or not worthwhile if not everybody can see where I'm coming from? Say I want to... I dunno, make a series of pictures about my love of cats. This will alienate everyone who hates cats, and probably be lost on some people who don't like cats as much as I do. Does that, then, automatically make it a stupid idea to put it out in public?

The reason "Our Town" has a connection to the story isn't because of the character relationships, true. It's more like the characters' (especially Radiator Springs residents') connection to the town itself, and the sadness they feel at it fading off the map. It may not be important to us, but it's important to them, and you will recall that their desire to have other cars visit was very obviously important to them... look at how Lightning finally won their respect/trust/whatever. The town is a big part of their lives and inspires a lot of their actions. Now, it may be less relatable (word? ) because fewer people nowadays live in one place their whole lives, but it's a legitimate sentiment. Before I went to college I lived in the same relatively small town for 16 years. If I were to go back and live there after graduating (as unlikely as that is) and watch it deteriorate into a ghost town as I grew older... yeah, there's a bit of loyalty to that one place because I would have always had it, and then it'd be gone... yes, a little depressing.

Feel free to dislike it for yourself... but remember that it doesn't necessarily make JL wrong for injecting his own viewpoint into his own film.

He may be seeing the past through rose-tinted glasses, sure... but I find optimism more fulfilling than cynicism anyday. Both are necessary at times, to be sure... but man. Give the guy a break.

[ShyViolet]

If I feel strongly about something and want to put it in my art, does it make the art bad or not worthwhile if not everybody can see where I'm coming from?

Of course not...my problem with JL is not that he injects his point of view into films (as a director, how can you NOT?) but how he does it. If he were able to make the general audience understand why small towns/small communities are important to him, and why Lighteniis so "misguided" for wanting the hot-rod fast-lane life, he would have more than succeeded. The problem is he doesn't.

Feel free to dislike it for yourself... but remember that it doesn't necessarily make JL wrong for injecting his own viewpoint into his own film.

He may be seeing the past through rose-tinted glasses, sure... but I find optimism more fulfilling than cynicism anyday.

Well, I find nothing wrong with optimism...or small towns. Of course there's nothing wrong wtih having a "different" point of view....the problems is how it is expressed. I should revise my statements and say that optimism/love of small communities/friendship are all worthy subject matter IF the director/writer is able to make us see WHY we should care, and handles it with the right touch, crafting believable characters. I don't believe I saw that in Cars.

Both are necessary at times, to be sure... but man. Give the guy a break.

Trust me, the guy doesn't need my help. He's got the press, tons of animaton/film fans and half of Hollywood calling him the new Walt Disney. By and large, where has anyone ever criticized Pixar in any way? I should think they would actually be happy to get some constructive criticism for a change so they can actually, you know, improve their films instead of repeating themselves.

Also, like you said, what's wrong with a "different" point of view? It's just the way I see things. And anyway...haven't I tried to point out positives in their films as well?

[ShyViolet]

But the town was their home. The song was about losing what you once had.

Forgive me for being glib, but refresh my memory...other than some tourist shops and gas stations.....what exactly DID they have?

They're not humans, they're cars. Did they lose their homes? Parks? Schools? Libarary? Community center? O.K., they lost their town, sure, I can understand that (I spent my first seven years in a very small suburb of Tel Aviv, Israel, so I know what's like )

But what, exactly, does it mean when CARS lose their town? What does it mean for Cars to have a rural life vs. a glamorous one? Better gasoline? A ritzy, Sheraton-like version of the Cozy Cone, complete with an oil change hot tub?

Think of it like this: After I saw AI: Artifical Intelligence I could have said (like some ignorant critics did) "How am I supposed to identify with a robot kid?!" Well, duh, you use your imagination. Spielberg handled the subject matter well enough so that we DO identify with David and care about what happens to him...after a while, we forget that he's a robot--he's a boy, a child. Like the ads said: "His love is real. But he is not." But he WAS real, at least in a metaphorical way. We identify with him despite the fact that we have never actually been robots!

In Cars, you could say that because none of their feelings or wishes seemed real (at least to me) than they never emerge as "real" the way David does. Their town is real. They are not.

The reason "Our Town" has a connection to the story isn't because of the character relationships, true.

But that's the whole problem, YCougar. If it's not about the character relationships, then what is it about? If you're trying to build a theme on any subject, you pretty much HAVE to factor in character relationships. Because without it what do you have? That's what I mean by "telling" not "showing".

A strong story is ALL ABOUT THE CHARACTERS, not some "message". The only way to send a message is for the audience to care about the characters first, with the message building on the action. The reason we understand the theme of personal responsiblity in Lion King is because of the strong relationship between Simba and Mufasa, not because of "Circle of Life."

[Ben]

i sometimes have a hard time with sentimentality...

Awweeee, Vi. So sweet. I think...I think I'm gonna cry...

[ShyViolet]

Well I like some sentimentality, (the good Disney kind) just not the gooey after-school special kind.

I still get teary eyed at the ends of films I've seen many, many times.

Especially classic Disney ones, like Cinderella and Pinnochio.
Even the end of Pocahontas, some parts of Prince of Egypt and Joseph: King of Dreams, and the part in Lion King where Mufasa is dead.

And, I'll even go further:


This one episode of Tale Spin where Rebecca falls in love with a man who turns out to be a ghost always used to get me bawling.

[James]

So, Vi, have you actually seen Cars yet? No offence, I just remember that a while back you had not seen it.

[Dacey]

Yeah, she saw it. She posted her thoughts in the "Cars" thread if memory serves.

And Vi, your posts lately are starting to look like small essays. You must have a lot of time on your shoulders.

[ShyViolet]

Not that much, really.....


Yeah, I saw Cars last July with my housemates.

[Phil]

"Our Town" made me sniffly...

[James]

Half the time I watch TS2 I have to skip "When She Loved Me"! Way too emotional! One of the biggest mistakes Oscar ever made in the Best Song category not giving it to that song.

[YCougar]

I can see your points, ShyVi, as they are legitimate ones.

The weird thing about my response to Cars is I can see that it's not a terribly deep movie. I can see that the plot isn't very complicated or even original. I can see that the execution doesn't do it for some people, and I can even see why. And yet, somehow...I enjoyed it anyway. I'm still not sure why, but I did enjoy it. It confuses me. But oh well.

And like I said, I think "Our Town" is still relevant because the characters care about it. It helps us understand their motivation an' stuff. Perhaps I sympathize too easily, but I saw how their bustling little town, with visits from strangers and regulars and general good ol' social fun, faded into monotony and loneliness. And yet, they feel too attached to the land to go find that somewhere else. This is a completely new concept to Lightning, and he just kinda sits there in a stupor as he contemplates what that would have been like, to lose everything he enjoys about life.

Though I do think it would have been much more effective to have Mater or Flo or someone explain it to him. Sally wasn't even there, and she is somehow able to paint the mental picture with enough power to sway him...? Right. Let one of the long-time residents do the talking, and then maybe Lightning can connect the dots as to why Sally is so protective of Radiator Springs' wellbeing.

(hah, see? Flaw! I did it! I understand that Cars isn't Pixar's best, but I dunno. Maybe when I understand the message well enough, it's weird for me to think that it might not have been enough for others. No hard feelings meant at all - I think I felt like ranting before. Heh.)