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Sam and Friends BookAfter getting assaulted by numerous hideous previews (including Disney's Upteenth "feel good sports drama based on ture events" and multiple CGI films about tlaking animals, most from companies starting into the business...poorly at that), I finally got to the Pixar segment. First,a preview for their next film, Ratatoullie, about a Gourmet sewer rat that just so happens to live in France. Then the Oscar nominated short, "one Man Band", about 2 street performers dueling over the prospect of a little girls gold coin. Then came the feature, a story about what fame can do to a person.. or in this case, a vehicle.
Lightning McQueen (obvious refference to Steve McQueen, voiced by Owen Wilson) is a brash young up and comer in the racing circut. The film opens during a tournament he's competing in, along with the legendary The King (real life racer Richard Petty) and impetuous jerk Chick Hicks (who later changes his professional name to Thunder). Now, Lightning is so sure of himself, he refuses to take a pit stop the entire race. That winds up costing him as his tires spontaniously burst, casuing him to have to hop to the finish line. The race ends in a three way tie between the cars, causing a remach to be set up. Lightning has big dreams of taking over The King's position as spokes car for Dinoco (if that sounds familiar, it's the gas station that Woody and Buzz get lost at while fighting in Toy Story), as the King is going to retire after the next match. He really wants to leave behind the less than glamourous lifestyle of being the spokescar for Rusteez and the rusty cars that are his biggest supporters.
In getting to the next match, Lightning wants to get their before Chick Hicks, so he can woo the sponsers. He insists his transport, a truck named (or course) Mack (John Ratzenburger, once again stealing the show in his biggest Pixar role since Toy Story 2) to drive cross country all night. Mack gets drowsey, and with the help of troublemaking pimped out cars, Lightning falls out of the truck. Eventually, Lightning gets totally lost searching for Mack, stumbles off the highway, and crashes (quite litterally) into the once bustling, now totally forgotten town of Radiator Springs. This town is so old, it was founded by a Model T. His punnishment for almost destroying the town is to repave the road. While he's desperate to leave, to the point he does a terrible rush job he had to destroy and redo, the citizens (who have never heard of him) eventually bond a friendship with him. He even falls in love with a big city lawyer (a Porche played by Bonny Hunt) The only one distrustful of his actions is the town leader/Doctor, Doc Hudson (Paul Newman, a 1950's Hudson Hornet, who also used to be a race car, but had to end his career after a terrible crash). Surely, the citizens all show Lightning the finer points of life, and how it's not the goal that matters, but the journey. Of course, just as soon as he learned to be a better person (using the term loosley) that's when the media finds him. All and all, it's almost like the reverse of Toy Story, only if the toys sided with Woody instead of Buzz.
The one big flaw I felt with the movie was that a lot of the cars were very stereotypical, and most were pretty tired. One example is a tricked out, flame painted, hydrolic powered Latino sports car, voiced by (you guessed it) Cheech Marin. And then there';s the case of the Lamborgini Luigi (played by Tony Shaloub) who could almost have gotten the Italian American anti-defamation league on Pixar's bumpers. Of course, the funniest characters would have to have been Sarge (a Jeep) and Filmore (a broken down VW Hippie Bus portrayed by George Carlin). In one scene, Sarge raises a flag to reville, while Filmore blasts Jimmy Hendrix's version of the Star Spangled banner in protest. But the biggest player of all the characters has to have been Tow Mater, played by Larry the Cable guy. Now, I honestly do not like his brand of comedy, and in watching the trailer, the character had the potential to achieve a Jar Jar Binks level of annoyance. However, the character (while still a bit annoying) wound up being quite endearing. I almost wish Jim Varney was still alive, since I felt he would have been a better Mater, since he played a similar role as Slinky Dog in Toy Story. This loyal, friendly character was a tribute to Joe Randft (sp?), a Pixar employee who wrote some of this script, as well as provided a few voices over the years (including Heimlich the Cattepillar in Bug's Life) who died in a horrific car crash a couple years back. A character named Fred, whom he had voiced just before it happened is also in the film.
I was amazed by some of the first time voice talents, especially Paul Newman, who had only previopusly did a VO as himself in a brief Simpsons cameo ("Homer, I'll tell you what I told Redford... it ain't gonna happen!") I also admire that Pixar almost tries hard not to get too many A-List celebs to fill out the cast of their movie... unlike Dreamworks. Shark Tale was pretty bland and unappealing, though I think Jack Black did a great job. But Will Smith? I'm glad that Chris Rock did the voice of Osmosis Jones. A few race car drivers (like Mario Andretti), Jay Leno (the car collector) and even the car talk guys even have cameos.
Conceptually, I thought the film was astounding. Gas has become food for cars, they sell car accessories and paint jobs like they were clothing and tattoos, hotels are like Garages... and Garages are like hospitals. Farm Equiptment has become farm animals (in one memorable scene, Mater and Lightning go Tractor tipping, while a larger machine is like a wild bull). Also, there is not a single human in the cast. The cars are the stars. In fact, this is the only movie along with a Bug's Life to not have humans in the entire film, and the only one Pixar made where the humans don't exist at all. They had bit parts in Toy Story and Nemo, more so in Monsters Inc, and they dominated the Incredibles. Even the character desgins are amazing. In refference to an old 50's disney cartoon, the eyes are the car's windsheild, and not the more common headlights. The animation was supurb, as it is with all Pixar films.
But with that said, this was my least favorite Pixar movie. Not that I didn't like it. It was great, just more of an earlier work. Plus the idea of a big city star learning to be humble from small towns folk is a bit more cliched than most of their other work. But all and all, I felt it was a very good movie, just more of a kid's film than their last effort, The Incredibles. That film was so deep and well thought out, I couldn't imagine them ever out doing themselves ever. WHile I don't think they did, it shows they have amazing variety. And it's leaps and bounds over the countless other CGI studios and films. I'm giving it a B
BTW, you'll want to stay till the very end. Do not walk out of the credits, or you'll miss the funniest bit of the movie. Let's just say the joke is almost an end of an era to Pixar... had Disney not bought them out anyway.
Lightning McQueen (obvious refference to Steve McQueen, voiced by Owen Wilson) is a brash young up and comer in the racing circut. The film opens during a tournament he's competing in, along with the legendary The King (real life racer Richard Petty) and impetuous jerk Chick Hicks (who later changes his professional name to Thunder). Now, Lightning is so sure of himself, he refuses to take a pit stop the entire race. That winds up costing him as his tires spontaniously burst, casuing him to have to hop to the finish line. The race ends in a three way tie between the cars, causing a remach to be set up. Lightning has big dreams of taking over The King's position as spokes car for Dinoco (if that sounds familiar, it's the gas station that Woody and Buzz get lost at while fighting in Toy Story), as the King is going to retire after the next match. He really wants to leave behind the less than glamourous lifestyle of being the spokescar for Rusteez and the rusty cars that are his biggest supporters.
In getting to the next match, Lightning wants to get their before Chick Hicks, so he can woo the sponsers. He insists his transport, a truck named (or course) Mack (John Ratzenburger, once again stealing the show in his biggest Pixar role since Toy Story 2) to drive cross country all night. Mack gets drowsey, and with the help of troublemaking pimped out cars, Lightning falls out of the truck. Eventually, Lightning gets totally lost searching for Mack, stumbles off the highway, and crashes (quite litterally) into the once bustling, now totally forgotten town of Radiator Springs. This town is so old, it was founded by a Model T. His punnishment for almost destroying the town is to repave the road. While he's desperate to leave, to the point he does a terrible rush job he had to destroy and redo, the citizens (who have never heard of him) eventually bond a friendship with him. He even falls in love with a big city lawyer (a Porche played by Bonny Hunt) The only one distrustful of his actions is the town leader/Doctor, Doc Hudson (Paul Newman, a 1950's Hudson Hornet, who also used to be a race car, but had to end his career after a terrible crash). Surely, the citizens all show Lightning the finer points of life, and how it's not the goal that matters, but the journey. Of course, just as soon as he learned to be a better person (using the term loosley) that's when the media finds him. All and all, it's almost like the reverse of Toy Story, only if the toys sided with Woody instead of Buzz.
The one big flaw I felt with the movie was that a lot of the cars were very stereotypical, and most were pretty tired. One example is a tricked out, flame painted, hydrolic powered Latino sports car, voiced by (you guessed it) Cheech Marin. And then there';s the case of the Lamborgini Luigi (played by Tony Shaloub) who could almost have gotten the Italian American anti-defamation league on Pixar's bumpers. Of course, the funniest characters would have to have been Sarge (a Jeep) and Filmore (a broken down VW Hippie Bus portrayed by George Carlin). In one scene, Sarge raises a flag to reville, while Filmore blasts Jimmy Hendrix's version of the Star Spangled banner in protest. But the biggest player of all the characters has to have been Tow Mater, played by Larry the Cable guy. Now, I honestly do not like his brand of comedy, and in watching the trailer, the character had the potential to achieve a Jar Jar Binks level of annoyance. However, the character (while still a bit annoying) wound up being quite endearing. I almost wish Jim Varney was still alive, since I felt he would have been a better Mater, since he played a similar role as Slinky Dog in Toy Story. This loyal, friendly character was a tribute to Joe Randft (sp?), a Pixar employee who wrote some of this script, as well as provided a few voices over the years (including Heimlich the Cattepillar in Bug's Life) who died in a horrific car crash a couple years back. A character named Fred, whom he had voiced just before it happened is also in the film.
I was amazed by some of the first time voice talents, especially Paul Newman, who had only previopusly did a VO as himself in a brief Simpsons cameo ("Homer, I'll tell you what I told Redford... it ain't gonna happen!") I also admire that Pixar almost tries hard not to get too many A-List celebs to fill out the cast of their movie... unlike Dreamworks. Shark Tale was pretty bland and unappealing, though I think Jack Black did a great job. But Will Smith? I'm glad that Chris Rock did the voice of Osmosis Jones. A few race car drivers (like Mario Andretti), Jay Leno (the car collector) and even the car talk guys even have cameos.
Conceptually, I thought the film was astounding. Gas has become food for cars, they sell car accessories and paint jobs like they were clothing and tattoos, hotels are like Garages... and Garages are like hospitals. Farm Equiptment has become farm animals (in one memorable scene, Mater and Lightning go Tractor tipping, while a larger machine is like a wild bull). Also, there is not a single human in the cast. The cars are the stars. In fact, this is the only movie along with a Bug's Life to not have humans in the entire film, and the only one Pixar made where the humans don't exist at all. They had bit parts in Toy Story and Nemo, more so in Monsters Inc, and they dominated the Incredibles. Even the character desgins are amazing. In refference to an old 50's disney cartoon, the eyes are the car's windsheild, and not the more common headlights. The animation was supurb, as it is with all Pixar films.
But with that said, this was my least favorite Pixar movie. Not that I didn't like it. It was great, just more of an earlier work. Plus the idea of a big city star learning to be humble from small towns folk is a bit more cliched than most of their other work. But all and all, I felt it was a very good movie, just more of a kid's film than their last effort, The Incredibles. That film was so deep and well thought out, I couldn't imagine them ever out doing themselves ever. WHile I don't think they did, it shows they have amazing variety. And it's leaps and bounds over the countless other CGI studios and films. I'm giving it a B
BTW, you'll want to stay till the very end. Do not walk out of the credits, or you'll miss the funniest bit of the movie. Let's just say the joke is almost an end of an era to Pixar... had Disney not bought them out anyway.
