Cars - The movie

[dgan]

What can I say? Very disappointing. Owen Wilson does not have a good voice for animated movies. The characters were cliche. The story made almost no sense. And something about telling kids that we should miss the 60's rubs me the wrong way.

Not only that, but there were a ton of drug and sexual references which luckily went over my daughter's head. Still, they were completely unnecessary and not even funny. The 'lessons' the movie does attempt to deliver are mired in situational ethics and a lack of reality.

In short, I think the creators of this movie were consuming too much organic fuel. I won't go so far as to say it is awful, but it doesn't even come close to the hype or expectations.

I will say the animation is awesome, as usual for Pixar. The visual is great - it is the rest of the movie I have a problem with....come to think of it, I made a similar argument with War of the Worlds.

Maybe a good way to say it is that the best part of the movie, by far, comes in a short bit AFTER the credits. I was laughing uncontrollably for about 20 seconds. But unfortunately, it is not enough to warrant being added to our Disney collection.

- A very disappointed Pixar fan

[dgan]

Let me followup with some specifics as to what I found objectionable, or at least questionable. I have only seen it once and I don't have best memory, but here is what I remember:

*SPOILERS*

SPOILER: Click to show

- Multiple references to "getting the girls", which comes with being famous
- A scene which humorously spoofs Fast & the Furious, with cars racing dangerously in traffic on the interstate
- Same scene, trivializes the danger of falling asleep at the wheel
- Main character "races" a train to a crossing, narrowly beating it, but nothing to necessarily indicate that was a bad idea
- Main character avoids arrest, causing a dangerous chase scene
- Stereotyping is ok for the most part, playing off the vehicle's make and model, however it may go a bit too far characterizing a Latino character as a low-rider car with a flame paint job
- A scene showing a female character with a 'tattoo' on her 'tail', which would not be so bad except for the obvious camera zoom on her backside, indicating he was staring at her tail
- Multiple references to 'organic fuel' which is obviously intended to represent marijuana, including a hippie character who says that organic fuel isn't legal because of "a government cover up"
- A scene which goes out of its way to immortalize the 50's and 60's as the good old days when everyone got along and was environmentally friendly, apparently ignoring the fact it was that generation which caused many of the problems the movie seems to object to
- Characters use the term "hillbilly hell" a few times, which seems unnecessary for a G-rated film