Pixar's First Disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (19 August 2006)

From the makers of "Toy Story," "A Bugs Life," "Toy Story 2," "Monsters Inc," "Finding Nemo," and "The Incredibles" comes the newest addition to the Pixar family, "Cars." When you watch something by the animators of those movies, you expect something better then the average animated movie. From the looks of the trailers, it did not look good, but because of the high reputation Pixar has, I decided to see it. Unfortunately, "Cars" does not perform quite well enough to the standards and it has become my first Pixar disappointment.
Lightning McQueen is the next big thing in Racing. Unfortunately, while he was speeding on his way to a huge race, he crashes into Radiator Springs, destroying many things in this path. Lighting is forced to do community service in order to make up for all of the damages done. Even though McQueen will do anything to get out of the work, he must learn to accept and bond with the inhabitants of Radiator Springs, in order for him to leave and get back to the raceway.
As always, the animation is beautiful. Ever sense "Toy Story" hit theaters, revolutionized the way we view animated movies, I have been impressed with Pixar and am always left speechless with every movie they make. The animation is so well done, in some scenes, it is actually hard to tell that it is animated. The animation was the best part, but that does not make a movie.
I thought the length was too long. At two hours, this is the longest movie Pixar has ever made. A normal animated film is between 1 hour and 20 minutes and 1 hour and 45 minutes. If "Cars" were fifteen to thirty minutes shorter, it would be a lot better. It really dragged, in the middle, to the point where it was somewhat boring. I checked my watch twice during this. The movie I saw before that, "Superman Returns," which was 2 hours 37 minutes long, I did not check my watch once. I even felt antsy for something to happen and I could only imagine how a younger child would feel. I never felt that way about the other Pixar movies; I always thought they were the perfect length.
Another thing that makes Pixar movies so great is because all their stories have either triggered or been triggered by a childhood imagination. I have felt my imagination come to life when I see a normal Pixar film. In this world of "Cars," there are no people or animals, just cars. As a child, I have imagined stories about monsters living in my closet, the life of a toy once a child leaves the room, and even a world where superheroes and people live together. I have also imagined being a fish or a bug and having conversation with the same species. As a child, I had never pictured a world full of cars. Yes, I have played with Matchbox cars, but the only noises they made were the typical "Vroom Vroom" that all children make when playing with toy cars.
What makes Pixar animated movies better then the average animated movie was the humor added. Usually you would get a movie with lots of funny moments that not only kids can laugh at but adults can too. I did chuckle at four or five scenes but only tiny chuckles. Majority of the Pixar movies, if not all of them, had many memorable scenes but was not the case for "Cars." The only real memorable scene is the tractor-tipping scene, "Tractor Tippin's fun!" In "Finding Nemo" or "The Incredibles," I would be laughing aloud at many scenes.
Overall "Cars" was very disappointing. Sure, it had great animation but that does not make an entire movie. As I mentioned earlier, I believe the best thing would be to cut about 15 to 30 minutes. There was an animated short, before the movie started, that was excellent called "One Man Band." Do you remember when I said that the other Pixar movies were all above average quality? That rule did not apply because this was an average animated movie. I recommend only seeing this for the amazing animation!