A surprising disappointment

Rating: 5/10 (10 June 2006)

How could you go into a movie directed by John Lasseter without the highest hopes for it? He isn't great just because he is one of the best computer animators around, but because his plots, characterisation and structure are simply sublime.
Well, in Cars the animation, CGI work and characterisation is top notch as you would expect (although it has to be said that cars don't give you much to work with in expressing character, and sometimes the strain shows). Oh dear, though, what has happened to the plot? If you want to tread down a staggeringly familiar path of big city fish out of water, cast of "kooky characters" proving how worthwhile they all are, and bucketloads of schmaltzy Hollywood redemption, then Cars is your movie. As for me, the final hour at least of the movie unwound with painful inevitability, with very little to keep me diverted along the way. I almost found it embarrassing to watch such prodigious talent being squandered on such a vehicle (sorry). It was noteworthy that a few of the adults in the movie theatre were laughing sporadically at some of the adult in jokes, while the kids were fidgeting and getting restless.
If you do go to see it, stay for the credits. You don't get the usual outtakes, but the neat cameos of other Pixar movies (if that is what you call them) definitely did raise a smile.
The short before the feature was a Pixar gem called One Man Band. Absolutely razor sharp in every department: animation, characterisation, and wit, with not a single word spoken. Worth the price of a ticket on its own, but it only pointed up how weak Cars is by comparison.