PIXAR's weakest effort.

Rating: 7/10 (21 June 2010)

Without a doubt, PIXAR creates truly memorable films, not only for children, but for adults as well: Toy Story (1 and 2), A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. (and more since than, but for the sake of fairness, I'm reviewing from a THEN standpoint.) But when I saw Cars for the first time in theaters, I remember walking out feeling two things: disappointment and somewhat confusion.
I was confused by the storyline of the film: a rude, arrogant, conceited car is thrust into a town of humble, down to earth cars. He's rude and obnoxious to them, and than changes very, very suddenly. And than we're supposed to care for him? Sure, he does admirable things towards the end of the film, but with a character so grounded in stereotype to change in an instant to another stereotype is something that PIXAR has never done before, and shocks me. I felt no sympathy at any point for Lightning McQueen, or any of the other characters except Mater, who though comedic, is a character with originality and appeal.
My disappointment ran so deep because I was expecting, for the first time EVER, TOO much of PIXAR. I expected something heartfelt, meaningful, deep, and ultimately fantastic, and instead I was given something that was shallow, cliché, somewhat boring, and ultimately just a DECENT film from a company that usually creates NEAR-PERFECT film.
PIXAR has since redeemed themselves: The fantastic Ratatouille, and three pitch-perfect MASTERPIECES: WALL-E, Up, and Toy Story 3.
But now that the next film in PIXAR's canon coming down the line is a sequel to the film that was so dismally decent in my opinion, I find myself somewhat worried for a spotless reputation the company have given themselves.
Please PIXAR...prove me wrong.