If there is one thing that Pixar Animation Studios succeeds at, it is making other computer animated movies look like crap by comparison. I don't mean to insult you dear reader if Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius or Shrek 2 rank as some of your favorite films. It is just my opinion that they don't really add up to the quality masterworks that have been delivered by Pixar.
Cars I'm happy to say is no exception.
From a technical standpoint, the film is just gorgeous, possibly the best looking computer animated film ever created. The direction and storyboarding isn't as solid as The Incredibles, but that doesn't matter. The backgrounds are beautifully photorealistic, the race scenes are amazing, and the texturing and lighting is spot on.
The designs of the cars are also fairly solid. It seems very easy to screw up the designs in this film especially when it comes to giving a car a human face. They managed however to transfer the right proportions of a human face onto the windshield, hood, and front bumper of a car. The end product is some pretty fun looking characters.
Sadly, as good looking as the film is, it's pretty disappointing in its very concept. The Incredibles for me was a major step forward for Pixar. Before The Incredibles, we had Toy Story about the secret world of talking toys, A Bug's Life about the secret world of talking bugs, Monsters Inc. about the secret world of monsters, and Finding Nemo about the secret world of talking fish. I'm sure you can see the pattern here and the obvious comfort zone the studio had found itself in. The Incredibles of course changed that by being a family action film that tackled not only human characters, but had human designs that didn't look boring or creepy. I'm looking at you Shrek and The Polar Express.
So, when I first saw the trailer for Cars, I was disappointed that they were reverting back to the comfort zone that they just broke free from. With that my expectations were lowered. In the back of my mind though, I hoped and prayed that my expectations would be completely blown apart as they were with the opening scene to The Incredibles.
Sadly, my wish didn't come true, my expectations were met. The film didn't blow me away.
That isn't really a bad thing though. What we get is a nice well laid out morality tale about a hotshot racecar living in a world ruled by cars. The story goes to the expected places and plot points. The hotshot racecar is selfish and self-centered until he finds himself trapped in a small town outside Route 66. Of course the cars living there all have hearts or motors or whatever of gold. You can probably figure out what happens in the end, I did in the first ten minutes of the film.
It's a cute story. It's well scripted, full of fun characters, great gags, and a lot of imagination. It just doesn't go anywhere interesting or new, it's really not trying to. It's a good all American story of morality and roots, nothing more. It's the equivalent of a fireworks show. It's entertaining and stirs up all those good idealistic feelings about thinking of others and having pride in your nation, but it doesn't really leave you with much afterward. It was all just sparkles and booms and things you already knew.
Also, like a fireworks show, Cars goes on a little long at nearly two hours, and some may get bored with the film. When you go in, don't expect the film to be fast, it's not. It's a very slow and laid back adventure. The aforementioned visuals distract from this though.
The voice acting is nothing to write home about, but pretty good. Owen Wilson and Bonnie Hunt have a lot of chemistry while Paul Newman, George Carlin, and Michael Keaton do their jobs well enough. The one actor I was surprised with was Larry the Cable Guy. While I don't like his personal style of anti-comedy, Whitney is a pretty good voice actor. I also have to give him credit for creating an original voice for the film instead of just doing his usual stage persona, something that would have been very easy for him to do.
All in all, this film is technically amazing, has a good heart, and is well scripted. It won't knock your socks off, but they can't all be incredible. If you're an animation fan then this is a must-see and if you have kids then this a good film to sit down and watch with them. Kids are going to love the hell out of this movie for a rather long time.
"Cars" opens July 9, 2006 and is rated G. Animation. Directed by Joe Ranft, John Lasseter. Written by John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, Jorgen Klubien, Dan Fogelman, Kiel Murray, and Phil Lorin. Starring Bonnie Hunt, Cheech Marin, Geore Carlin, John Ratzenberger, Larry The Cable Guy, Michael Keaton, Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Tony Shalhoub.
