Definitely Not Pixar's Best

Rating: 2/10 (27 December 2008)

I am actually a bit of Pixar myself. Some of their movies, like "Toy Story" and "The Incredibles", are my all time favorites. However, Cars really just didn't grab me when I first watched it. It's a rather sweet film (I guess), with good animation, but there's something lacking in this one.
The story follows Lightening Mcqueen, a hotshot race car, whose dream is to win the major, important grand race (I forgot what it was called). However, after qualifying, on the way there, his ride falls asleep and Mcqueen falls out. In his frantic search back he gets lost and stumbles upon a little has been town known as Radiator Springs. Here, he begins to find himself, and see what's really important in life (or something).
I know I probably sound very uncaring about this movie, but that's its problem; it is a dull movie. I remember this first time I watched it, I saw it with my nephew. He seemed really entertained (maybe because he actually likes playing with cars), but I was bored.
What's really missing from this movie are the creative, engaging characters found in a lot of other Pixar films. Most of the characters are just flat, and boring. I never really empathized with Mcqueen or any of his back road friends. Another thing that brought the movie down were the titular characters, the cars. Maybe it's just me, but the usage of cars in a movie is just not that entertaining. I don't mind cars a side characters ("Who Framed Roger Rabbit", for example), but when they're the main focus there's nothing that attention grabbing. Though there are a few funny car-related jokers here and there (i.e. falling asleep at the wheel), over all, it doesn't work.
The plot line is rather drab and seems to be recycled from other Pixar works. And in the end the morals that are presented are either so over used or not well presented that they really don't seem to matter that much. Also, another thing that drags "Cars" down, is, though the animation is well done, the overall color schemes is not that appealing. The whole cast and background are really dull colors that don't didn't catch my eye at all.
Unless you find the idea of a movie about automatic vehicles the greatest thing ever, "Cars" is really not worth the time. It will most likely get boring after awhile, and kids (unless they really love their Hot Wheels) will get anxious and squirmy.