It's a long road trip, but the destination is worth the ride

Rating: 7/10 (12 June 2006)

I've never been too big of a Pixar fan. They studio has always had novel ideas, but the action sequences seem to fall flat in CG fare and the kid friendly comedy never really connects with me. Their movies have always been solid, but never great, until the incredibles came. The Incredibles was a fantastic movie and made me thing the studio had turned a new leaf. I was very excited about the idea, especially since it seems to be somewhat based on an old Disney animated film that I loved as a child. Well, it seems Pixar is back to their old tricks, it's not really a bad thing, just nothing new. The movie sports the best CG work I've seen, Pixar tops themselves again, and the film features great voice work. I read a review likening this to Doc Hollywood and thats appropriate. I really enjoyed the beginning of the film, although the laughs seem to be few and far between in the beginning. The middle is where things crawl to a snails pace, i realize character development is essential, but I could have been done in a smarter less time consuming approach. Luckily, the last 30 minutes or so are a blast, fun, fast, and heartfelt. I really enjoyed "mater" voiced by Larry the cable guy, although I felt the "fart" joke was lame and WAYYYYY over used. As always a solid message is delivered in a family-friendly way with some fast action and laugh added along the way. The only thing that really hinders this movie is that the beginning and middle should have had more laughs and the movie should have been shortened at least 20 to 25 minutes. I think 2 hour kids films is a little too long for most kiddies, even the child I sat too was losing interest near the middle. Still I recommend it, a solid film.