A Valiant effort

Rating: 6/10 (25 August 2007)

As soon as I saw the teaser trailer for Pixar's next installment "Cars", I just knew they wouldn't be able to pull off the magic again. After actually seeing the film I found out they did, well, kinda-sorta. What I love most about John Lasseter's "Toy Story" was it's engaging premise, characters, and situations, wholly unbelievable yet you willingly went along with it. The result? It was immensely entertaining, even moving. With it's on point humor and 'realism', the film succeeded with leaps and bounds, not necessarily requiring an amazing story to launch it into brilliance. I immediately realized that making automobiles with windshield eyes and mouths truly exist in their own world would be a challenge. Many children have a natural fascination with cars, but not really in such the way it is done here. Pixar's usual amazing imagery does "Cars" a big service, but in the end, Lasseter manages to keep audiences engaged by humanizing the likes of Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy. You really get the feeling that this film was nurtured with the same TLC as some of Pixar's finest, but the subject matter, and certainly the clichÃ©d story, force the film to to run out of gas. Some of the characterizations are more matching to much of the non-Pixar releases; human ethnicity based and that being the reason for the laughs. Also missing is the correct amount of wit, inventiveness, and hilarious dialogue such as in "Toy Story", although it comes in sporadic amounts with hits and misses. "Toy Story" of course had nostalgia on it's side and cleverly transformed that into a play representation that both adults and kids could really enjoy. I'm afraid much of our emotional connection to cars are limited. And so, I respect "Cars", even though I really think it isn't that good, at least as compared to Pixar's other films. With Nascar boring unfortunates dragged to it's confines by interested fans around America, it is truly a miracle that "Cars" succeeds in the way that it does. It's good for one ride, but it's impact is lacking for another spin.