The mid-day call was a surprise. Charles had escaped from his responsibilities and wanted to make the most of his free time. We both have rather interesting schedule’s compared to the 9 to 5 lot. He works as a skating instructor extraordinaire while I am a bum.
So we saw Pixar‘s latest animation groove, Cars. The story was tight and the animation was fucking spectacular. I wouldn’t expect anything less from those guys. If I had a mere tenth of their skills, I’d be paid and laid.
The premise: “What if cars ruled the world instead of humans?”
A sort of “Thomas and the Magic Railroad” without the plastic faces.
The theme: A fast car learns the value in slowing down and appreciating the people(using the term loosely here) and world around him.
Yet it under-performed at the box office.
More thoughts after the jump.
Pixar has never disappointed. Their animated movies are adventures in wonder. None of that cheesy, forced stuff you usually get from say, off the top of my head, Disney. Don’t get me wrong. Disney could whip up watchable kid’s flicks until the cows came home. Then they’d do a movie about the cows. Only, when I watch a many of Disney’s family affairs these days, I’m completely aware that I’m watching a family project. In short, they try too damn hard.
Whereas, those fine folks at Pixar hit the ground running each and every time. There’s always good stuff for kids and adults in all their films. Adults are an important part of kids movies. You can’t easily dismiss them. Who else is gonna shell out the cash to see these kinds of films. Also, when the kids grow up, they get the joy of catching all the “grown-up humor”. Always work in layers. The Warner Bros. kids of old knew this. Shrek knew it. And so did your mom every winter/spring.
The first trailers for Cars didn’t catch my interest. I had no intention of seeing it in the theater. I never had the passion for car collecting, or watching, that my dad has. If it got me from point A to B without much fuss I was happy. If it looked good doing it was definite gravy. This is from a man who once owned a brown 77 Pinto complete with super sporty orange racing stripe. A very wide orange racing stripe. You know I rocked freshman year of college. But it did fulfill half my requirements, so I was golden.
Then there’s the NASCAR element. Don’t even talk to me about NASCAR. Driving round and round in circles. Whoever can explain that fascination gets a nice shiny nickel.
Though I had no doubts in Pixar’s abilities, Cars was going to be a HBO affair, at best.
But it was a slow Wednesday and being social from time to time keeps me interesting. Well, interested anyway. The story did prevail as I figured it would. When you have 3 plus years to work on it, you’d better not fail in that department.
The animation and backdrops were awe inspiring. They made me nostalgic for the time I rode down Route 66 at breakneck speed on a moving trip to California(part 1 of that here, the rest the very minute I find my notes). The voices were humorous. The lesson, or moral, definitely one worth noting. I’m sure my nephews will get a kick out of it. And that’s the hard sell right there.
What’s Wrong with That Picture?
Now this bit is totally separate from the film structure and all that other hoo-ha. This is only a personal observation on my part.
Midway into my Cars experience, I got this uneasy feeling. You have a world of cars without humans, yet they act exceedingly human-like. They run. They Jump. They spit and “hook up“. I guess the anthropomorphic nature of the vehicles began to scratch at my uncanny valley. Finding Nemo had the same effect. Only there, my problem was with the flat, human faces of the clown-fish and Dory. Come to think on it, that Magic Railroad show freaked-out my noise, too.
I wish I could explain it. I can watch a movie about elves, fairies, mutants, werewolves, vampires, robots, bodyless feeling AI’s, bugs, toys, and even fucking Transforming robots with no problems. Yet a world of cars with overly emotive faces became irksome. I suppose, my six year old self can’t abide talking cars. That kid is either dead or way too grown for his own good.
I did like the little VW insects. The Punch Bug bugs. I’m all over those tchochkes when they hit the stores.
