Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Rating: 6/10 (16 June 2006)

I must admit, I wasn't expecting to enjoy seeing this film. I took my five-year-old nephew to see it today (he liked it...but he's five!) hoping to be pleasantly surprised like I was with "The Incredibles". No such luck. Whereas Brad Bird (The Incredibles writer/director) created and edgy, suspenseful, entertaining, and meaningful film, Pixar went back to its insipid Disney formula of mindless "friendship and love is all you need for everything" drivel with this one. Yes, the animation was stunning (do you expect anything less than the best from a Disney/Pixar film?) but as is usually the case with Disney films, they find a formula that people love and run it to the ground until it gets stale and people stop buying tickets. The whole movie centers around a civilization of cars with eyes, mouths and personalities. When I saw the previews while watching "The Incredibles" last year, I thought "Wow, now even Pixar has run out of interesting ideas," and after watching this uninteresting film, I have to say I was dead-on. I wish Disney would start to look for more original films that aren't so saccharine sweet and incessantly family-pleasing. After force-feeding this junk to our children for so long, its no wonder obesity is plaguing American youth at record numbers. Maybe they should try something new, like telling stories about more diverse characters. Have a real Asian or Latin or African-American person write a screenplay and give Disney some long-needed variety. They can't possibly be content with peddling style over substance forever. Watch "Finding Nemo," "Toy Stories 1 and 2," or any of Disney's pre-CGI era animated films and you'll already have seen more interesting versions of this movie.