Just came back from seeing Cars. Which was preceded by a long, lengthy drive, which was followed by an even longer, lengthier drive. It'll make you do things like that.
I've been exaggerating in saying things like,
"Cars is the greatest movie ever made, a sweeping cinematic masterpiece of which the whole of human civilization has never fathomed before, a cinematic milestone that mankind will remember as the epoch of man's creative genius", but actually, it's brilliant! It's like reading a bestselling novel by a famous author, and coming across every in-joke you've ever had with your friends.
Cars is brilliant because it's a work of love, created by car enthusiasts for car enthusiasts. You can gaze in awe at the scenes because they're so wonderfully, lovingly rendered with individual cars. There's detail in everything as well; one scene is inside Luigi's garage (he's a Fiat 500 btw) and it's plastered with posters of Ferraris. They're not just any Ferraris though; they're 250 LMs, Europa GTs, 250GTOs, and the kicker? They're all drawn in the style of the characters themselves, with the cute eyes and the goofy lips. It looks better than it sounds, trust me. Once again, Pixar doesn't fail to impress. It doesn't
pander to the
lowest common denominator, and it doesn't try to
jump on any trendy bandwagon fads that will be gone in a month or so, probably inadvertently killed off by the very films that overenthusiastically exploited it.
I'm exaggerating, of course; drifting is still very much alive and rice burners are still out there, unfortunately.
I loved this movie, though. I loved every second of it. It may seem like a kid's movie, so what? Bring your kids! It's not only aimed just at NASCAR fans: most of the themes are pretty universal, and I can't stand NASCAR and I still loved it! There's enough bits to apply to everybody, anyway. A few criticisms include that the storyline's kind of cheesy, typical kid's story thing: arrogant guy ends up in a completely opposite situation, learns the error of his ways and the power of teamwork, and there's a happy ending. That, and the inevitable deluge of marketing, plush toys, video games, and Happy Meals that always follows a Pixar epic like this. Yet
IMO, if you consider yourself a car enthusiast, get rid of all your prejudices about cars and go see this movie. If you love cars, it will remind you why you do; if you don't, it will turn you into a believer.
Oh, and no kissing. The writers could have wrote in a cheesy love story; they nearly did but didn't make a big deal out of it. Whew.
One good thing about having kids (no, I don't have any kids) is that you get to watch kids movies without feeling too guilty
