tjkraz
06-10-2006, 02:55 PM
Went to see Cars last night and I'll try to briefly sum up my thoughts.
What worked:
- The opening montage. It set the film off at a brisk pace accompanied by a wonderful Sheryl Crowe song.
- The look back at Radiator Springs' golden age accompanied by the James Taylor song. That scene FINALLY helped the audience connect with this band of misfits after nearly 90 minutes of film.
- The ending. Very touching. Didn't feel overly forced or cliche.
- Jeremy Piven as McQueen's agent. That was unexpected and brilliant. Piven's TV work isn't exactly mainstream, but Pixar doesn't usually resort to that sort of stunt casting. Paul Newman was also excellent with Owen Wilson coming in just a bit below that.
- Tractor tipping. 'Nuff said.
- The end credits. That was inspired.
What didn't work:
- The middle of the film. It was a mish-mash of narrative built solely to weave together important plot points (mostly that Doc was an old race car) and some sight gags. The road paving was used as a vehicle (sorry!) for moving the story along, but it was tiresome to constantly hear updates about it--particularly when events happened off screen! "Time to pave the road." "I gotta work on this road." "Hey, look, Lightning finished the road last night."
The best conclusion I can draw is that Pixar left themselves with too many character stories to tell, and didn't have the heart to drop one. Mater, Luigi, Doc, Sally, Ramone, Flo...did we really need to meet all of these people to tell an effective story?
- Doc's miraculous turnaround at the end. I saw it coming about the fourth time someone mentioned that McQueen didn't have a crew chief, but they could have pulled it off more effectively. McQueen and Doc had their bonding moment, yet Doc still ran McQueen out of town. A couple of terse looks from the others and suddenly they're all sitting on the side of the track supporting him? The fact that this all happened in a span of 5-7 minutes screen time didn't help.
- Mater. Sadly I have to label this a disappointment. In this regard I'm probably a victim of the hype. I spent the last 2 weeks watching interviews in which John Lassiter used every superlative in the book regarding Larry the Cable Guy's performance. By the end I was left to wonder what was on the cutting room floor. He was very good--even touching at times--but didn't steal every scene in the way I thought he would.
- The Pixar voice cast machine. John Ratzenberger, Bonnie Hunt, Richard Kind... They are all fine actors, but it hurts the suspension-of-disbelief when you hear the same voices coming out of different characters. Pixar--there really ARE other talented voice actors in Hollywood!
Cars is an above-average film that sadly lowered the bar for Pixar. Is it better than either Toy Story film? No. Is it better than Finding Nemo? No. Is it better than The Incredibles? No. If I had to rank them, Cars would be either my 6th or 7th favorite Pixar film, and that makes it a disappointment in my book.
I'm sure my kids will be playing with their die cast vehicles all summer long and we'll surely own the DVD when its released, but I have no great desire to see it again in the theater. And that's probably the most damning commentary of them all.
What worked:
- The opening montage. It set the film off at a brisk pace accompanied by a wonderful Sheryl Crowe song.
- The look back at Radiator Springs' golden age accompanied by the James Taylor song. That scene FINALLY helped the audience connect with this band of misfits after nearly 90 minutes of film.
- The ending. Very touching. Didn't feel overly forced or cliche.
- Jeremy Piven as McQueen's agent. That was unexpected and brilliant. Piven's TV work isn't exactly mainstream, but Pixar doesn't usually resort to that sort of stunt casting. Paul Newman was also excellent with Owen Wilson coming in just a bit below that.
- Tractor tipping. 'Nuff said.
- The end credits. That was inspired.
What didn't work:
- The middle of the film. It was a mish-mash of narrative built solely to weave together important plot points (mostly that Doc was an old race car) and some sight gags. The road paving was used as a vehicle (sorry!) for moving the story along, but it was tiresome to constantly hear updates about it--particularly when events happened off screen! "Time to pave the road." "I gotta work on this road." "Hey, look, Lightning finished the road last night."
The best conclusion I can draw is that Pixar left themselves with too many character stories to tell, and didn't have the heart to drop one. Mater, Luigi, Doc, Sally, Ramone, Flo...did we really need to meet all of these people to tell an effective story?
- Doc's miraculous turnaround at the end. I saw it coming about the fourth time someone mentioned that McQueen didn't have a crew chief, but they could have pulled it off more effectively. McQueen and Doc had their bonding moment, yet Doc still ran McQueen out of town. A couple of terse looks from the others and suddenly they're all sitting on the side of the track supporting him? The fact that this all happened in a span of 5-7 minutes screen time didn't help.
- Mater. Sadly I have to label this a disappointment. In this regard I'm probably a victim of the hype. I spent the last 2 weeks watching interviews in which John Lassiter used every superlative in the book regarding Larry the Cable Guy's performance. By the end I was left to wonder what was on the cutting room floor. He was very good--even touching at times--but didn't steal every scene in the way I thought he would.
- The Pixar voice cast machine. John Ratzenberger, Bonnie Hunt, Richard Kind... They are all fine actors, but it hurts the suspension-of-disbelief when you hear the same voices coming out of different characters. Pixar--there really ARE other talented voice actors in Hollywood!
Cars is an above-average film that sadly lowered the bar for Pixar. Is it better than either Toy Story film? No. Is it better than Finding Nemo? No. Is it better than The Incredibles? No. If I had to rank them, Cars would be either my 6th or 7th favorite Pixar film, and that makes it a disappointment in my book.
I'm sure my kids will be playing with their die cast vehicles all summer long and we'll surely own the DVD when its released, but I have no great desire to see it again in the theater. And that's probably the most damning commentary of them all.