Disney Pixar's Cars

[Meg]

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/roger_col ... /3040.aspx

Crappity, I'm gonna go broke buying Cars toys.

[eddievalient]

I hate Walmart. I went to buy the Cars soundtrack last night, but when I put the cd in my car stereo it wouldn't play. I figured the disc was defective (it happens, I got a defective disc when I bought the Atlantis dvd too), so I returned it to swap it out for another copy and guess what? There were no other copies. I asked if they had any in the back and was told they did not. ARRGH! I guess I'll just have to order it from Amazon. Did anyone else get a defective disc when they bought the soundtrack?

[ShyViolet]

don't recall The Incredibles being all happy, happy, happy. Really, the only parts in the movie that were all happy were the Glory Day scenes, the scene showing Bob's life briefly after he brought home his new paycheck, and the scene after Syndrome was defeated. Throughout the movie, it seemed like everyone was tense and frustrated with their new lifestyles as "normal" supers. And once Bob disappeared on Nomanisan, things got even more hectic within the family. It was not all happy and fun.

It wasn't typical Pixar...

(remember, Brad Bird was given free reign on it.)

It seemed like there was going to be a shift to more "serious" types of films after Incredibles, but Cars and now Ratatouville seem to go against that.

[Dacey]

When did they ever show signs of making a "Serious" shift? I'm just a little confused there.

[PixarVixen]

Ehh, we thought about that. Brandon said they could've gone to the other side of the track where there were no people and left, but we also thought that they were Pixar and would want to be very friendly and interact with their fans. I have no clue.

At least Brad Bird wasn't there, although that did surprise me. If he had been there and I had missed him, I would have died.

~~=oP

[ShyViolet]

I saw it yesterday.

(I screwed up and erased this long thing that I wrote....AHHHHH!)

So here's the edited version:

John Ratzenberger's hilarious. This guy should get his own animated film, I loved his character. I loved the little bit with him at the end.

Characters are exactly the same as in every Pixar film. It's like watching "Pixar's greatest hits" in Car form. Mater is a dead ringer for the ditzy Dory and Doc Hudson is practically a clone of Gil, the shady mentor figure with a heart of gold.

Lightening McQueen is at least an original antognist (well for Pixar anyway) an actual jerk who sees the error of his ways. I couldn't get Owen Wilson out of my head though...that's all I saw. And much more so than Will Smith in SharkTale, in case anyone was wondering.



Women, as usual, are peripheral with almost no character development.

The tiny bugs who were cars gave me the creeps. Seriously.

This movie is amazing to look at (I could stare at it all day, it's that hypnotic) and the exhuberance in the opening racing sequence--my fave scene--is contagious. But it drags...and drags...and drags. It's well, how I do put this? Boring.

I loved the soundtrack and will probably get it.


The plot is bogus. I didn't care what happened to Radiator Springs...maybe if they had focused on actual humans rather than Cars, say a particular family who was affected, I might have cared more but...I just didn't. What difference does it make if the town is gone--it's all about consumer culture in the end. It's like mourning the death of The Milton Berle Show from the 1950s because they said cute things like "And Now a Word from Our Sponser!" or maybe some kid's show where they would tell everyone to buy XYZ cereal amd get the special decoder ring and help Captain Marvel or whoever...it makes no difference. Yeah so we have malls now instead of little roadside souvaneir shops...so what? It's the same old Baby Boomer naval-gazing wrapped up in digital graphics.

And on top of that, it's been done before. Many times. I can even think of a Disney animated film which had almost this same story--Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Cloveleaf wants to build a freeway over poor old Toon Town. But at least we were spared the preachiness and faux "sincerety" of Cars, since WFRR always had a slightly screwy, WB-like sense of fun and irony when it came to portraying the "pure" and "good" Toons.

"One Man Band" was beautifully created and starts out very impressive.

But the ending is pat and phony, like they couldn't think of what else to do.
I thought it would be something sweet, like the two men play a new, beautiful tune together or something. But it just felt...wrong. I've always loved Pixar's shorts--probably more than their films--but it seems they're going south too. First "Boundin' " and now this. Yeesh.

But anyway. Sorry if this upset some people. That's what I thought...I still enjoyed myself....probably won't be purchasing this on DVD.

[ShyViolet]

When did they ever show signs of making a "Serious" shift? I'm just a little confused there. Wink

Well, because Incredibles had some intense stuff--sad, reflective, frustrated characters. So it seemed future Pixar films would too.

[PixarVixen]

It wasn't typical Pixar...

(remember, Brad Bird was given free reign on it.)

Oh yes. I'll well aware of that. I was even talking about that with Brandon last night. He informed me of how he's been known for being the "bad boy" in animation studios. He was kicked off of a few Disney projects for having a difference in opinion with storylines and other things. That is what Pixar liked about him so they hired him to try and "muddy up the water" (quoted from Brandon).

Brandon said there was a story about that on the main page of A-N, but in case it didn't mention Brad, I wanted to post it here.

This movie is amazing to look (I could stare at it all day, it's that hypnotic) and the exhuberance in the opening racing sequence--my fave scene--is contagious. But it drags...and drags...and drags. It's well, how I do put this? Boring.

I admit that the movie did kinda drag, but it was never boring. I think I have Mater to thank for that.

The racing scenes are my favorite scenes too, along with DJ and the gang toying around with a zonked out Mack. XD

~~=oP

[James]

It seemed like there was going to be a shift to more "serious" types of films after Incredibles, but Cars and now Ratatouville seem to go against that.

And after Madagascar I thought DreamWorks was making a shift towards making good films, but then they announced Shrek the Third.

[Macaluso]

Mater isn't anything like Dory.

[James]

Characters are exactly the same as in every Pixar film. It's like watching "Pixar's greatest hits" in Car form. Mater is a dead ringer for the ditzy Dory and Doc Hudson is practically a clone of Gil, the shady mentor figure with a heart of gold...

...And on top of that, it's been done before.

If true, at least they're ripping themselves off and not other companies. Shall we go through the list again? Antz - A Bugs Life. Flushed Away - Ratatouille. Madagascar - The Wild. Shark Tale - Finding Nemo. Route 66 - Cars...etc... Seems disingenuous to rip Pixar for not doing original characters when they at least come up with their own stuff.

Women, as usual, are peripheral with almost no character development.

Again, until DW can do better (and they have not) seems disingenuous to only criticize Pixar here.

...it's all about consumer culture in the end...

Yikes! Without that consumer culture you criticize, half the jokes in Shrek and Shark tale wouldn't exist!

"One Man Band" was beautifully created and starts out very impressive.

But the ending is pat and phony, like they couldn't think of what else to do.
I thought it would be something sweet, like the two men play a new, beautiful tune together or something. But it just felt...wrong...

Sort of like the endings of both Shrek films and esp. Madagascar, huh?

No offense, but was there ever any doubt you wouldn't like this movie? Come on! If there isn't a DreamWorks logo at the beginning it just is no good for you. Another case in point - Two minutes of Ratatouille film and you've already passed (an unsurprisingly negative) judgement on it.

[James]

Of course Disney rose-tinted The Lion King--that's what they do. But that's not their whole raison d'etre. There were dark things in Snow White, dark things in Pinnochio, even some dark things in Cinderella (the scene where her stepsisters rip up her dress is pretty intense.) I only see happy, happy, happy in Pixar. People loved Walt's pictures not just because of the "happily ever after" stuff but the scary stuff too.

But whatever...agree to disagree.

Just saw this and had to ask... where is there ANYTHING dark and scary in a DreamWorks animated film? A cookie being broken? A lion chasing pieces of steak while the Wild Kingdom theme plays in the background? A vegetarian shark with a funny voice? Sorry, but this argument, once again, can be turned around right back at DreamWorks.

[ShyViolet]

Yikes! Without that consumer culture you criticize, half the jokes in Shrek and Shark tale wouldn't exist!

Of course not, EVERY film has stuff about consumer culture about it, (pro and con) but at least it's not the main theme of Shrek and Shark Tale. Cars often seems to be about: "Oh boo hoo no more old gas stations and souvanier shops." And how many products in Wal-Mart have a Cars logo on them? (way more than Over the Hedge)

If true, at least they're ripping themselves off and not other companies.

Big consolation there. So maybe they are ripping themselves off, who knows, but that's no excuse. I'm sorry, but it's BORING to see the same story again and again.

Antz - A Bugs Life. Flushed Away - Ratatouille. Madagascar - The Wild. Shark Tale - Finding Nemo. Route 66 - Cars...etc... Seems disingenuous to rip Pixar for not doing original characters when they at least come up with their own stuff.

This is all circumstantial evidence and simply people's opinions, not proof. Ideas travel in the animation world all the time--Pixar says they had it first, DW says they had it first. Who knows?

And how can you be so sure Pixar is right (not that it really matters) Just because they're Pixar? How do you know they're not lying or "stretching the truth"? We're not on the inside here, all we have to draw conclusions is people's opinions on blogs, reviews and message boards. Which, if I'm not mistaken, are not often the pinnacle of objectivity.

Again, until DW can do better (and they have not) seems disingenuous to only criticize Pixar here.

Well, that's your opinion. Not everyone feels this way. But I respect what you say. However, let me just ask this--let's say, for the sake of it, that maybe Pixar is "better" than DW, relatively. Say DW films are lousy and Pixar films are somewhat above average. So? That doesn't mean Pixar's great just because they're "better than DW." It's irrelevent what DW does and doesn't do--we're discussing Pixar here.

No offense, but was there ever any doubt you wouldn't like this movie? Come on! If there isn't a DreamWorks logo at the beginning it just is no good for you. Another case in point - Two minutes of Ratatouille film and you've already passed (an unsurprisingly negative) judgement on it.

I've said positive things about Incredibles, Finding Nemo, even Cars. There's always positives. And I have said that I enjoy Pixar films, even while seeing their flaws.

Sort of like the endings of both Shrek films and esp. Madagascar, huh?

Um...no, not really.

[ShyViolet]

Just saw this and had to ask... where is there ANYTHING dark and scary in a DreamWorks animated film? A cookie being broken? A lion chasing pieces of steak while the Wild Kingdom theme plays in the background? A vegetarian shark with a funny voice? Sorry, but this argument, once again, can be turned around right back at DreamWorks.

Um...these are comedies, James! Nothing wrong with making a comedy once in a while. My problem with Pixar is that THEY DON'T DO ANTHING ELSE (again, with the exception of The Incredibles)

Prince of Egypt had some scary stuff with the Killing of the First Born, El Dorado with the human sacrifice. Spirit and what happens to him is pretty intense, and the Termites vs. Ants battle had some chills in it too. Because....characters died. And it WAS scary.

EDIT: Oops! Forgot Sinbad. Some real thrills with the Sirens and the monsters,

as well as Sinbad's "execution."

[Dacey]

Well, "Cars" IS a return to "Pixar Formula". By that I mean that it was a return to their style of humor and animation. Plus, it was a buddy comedy.

"The Incredibles" was a break from "Formula" in that it had more edge, wasn't a buddy comedy, was about humans, had more action sequences, etc. It still had Pixar's spirit, but it wasn't their "Formula".

And DreamWorks DOES have some interesting animated heroines, especially Marina in "Sinbad" and Angie in "Shark Tale". Not that there was anything wrong with Sally, but the other characters (like Mater) kinda stole the show from her.

But how was Doc Hudson like Gill?