chronovore | Cars

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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.

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From: (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