Cars

[chronovore]

This week's Sunday night movie with dinner was Cars. I'd not seen this, nor Ratatouille, which came to DVD a few months ago here. I loves me some Pixar, and Cars was absolutely gorgeous, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as The Incredibles or Monsters, Inc. Admittedly, I'm a sucker for superheroes and monsters in a way that NASCAR can never hope to reach.

The animation on the cars was really impressive; I didn't expect them to have so much varied personality and movement, and I did enjoy that I knew what the rally-style trick to navigating the dirt track's corner was from the outset. The kids liked it a lot, and we'll probably watch it again this week; maybe I can even put it in English this time and watch it with the always-exceptional original Pixar voice acting.

Comments

[jjgalahad.livejournal.com]

I liked Cars a lot better when it starred Michael J. Fox and was called Doc Hollywood but other than that, it was a cute film. Still haven't seen Ratatouille or Wall-E, even though everybody tells me I must do so immediately.

[captainblack.livejournal.com]

I couldn't sit through it. Monsters and Incredibles were better written.
Was the the rally trick in question the old "handbrake to swing the end around"?

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Lasseter's writing seemed unusually pedestrian (see what I did there?) and contained no surprises from start to finish. It was cute, really cute, but it seemed like one for the kids in the writing, whereas every other Pixar movie didn't feel this dumbed-down. And that's been what has previously made Pixar movies so good! They give real actors a shot at real acting in animated movie. Voice actors seem to be focused on over-emoting, frequently claiming that their voice is the only tool which gives the character life; they fail to give any accounting for the animators' ability.

And, yeah, the cornering thing was about drifting the corner. The emergency brake was not specifically mentioned (and it's not prerequisite), though counter-steering to compensate for the rear of the car's slippage is.

[(Anonymous)]

For me, I think Cars lacked a bit of soul. Perhaps it was because the characters were cars. Maybe it was the NASCAR tie-in and the overt merchandising for the movie.

I think the magic that separates Pixar flicks from the other wannabe CG movies is the narrative, less the eye candy. I think these days, you can make good looking CG movies if you have the technical talent and the budget. But to create something that is meaningful and artistic is a different ball of wax.

The story and characters are what propels Pixar movies, and they've had a very good run so far making what amounts to story-teller's movies.

For my money, I think Ratatouille is my favorite Pixar movie, followed by Wall-E. There's something heart-felt and compelling about those two movies, I think partly because the narrative is more "adult" (no, not _that_ adult kind) in nature without losing the kiddies. In other words, those movies have "layers" that can be appreciated by kids young and old.

Pixar isn't necessarily in the business of making kiddie CG films like Dreamworks. I think Pixar guys like John Lasseter and Brad Bird want their work to be appreciated like Hayao Miyazaki's.

At any rate, take a look at those movies when you get a chance.

Yas