Cars

[©brad]

k, these trailers are getting progressively worse. release the f'ing thing already.

[Ghostboy]

Sadly, this is the first less-than-brilliant Pixar film. I was really tired when I saw it yesterday, and I actually dozed off for about thirty seconds. Which isn't much, but...in a Pixar film? I didn't want it to be true, I really wanted to love this one, even thouogh I hadn't liked the trailers, but it's just...good. A very standard sort of good.

Maybe, to love it, you have to really like cars. A lot.

The animation is amazing as ever, though. Especially the secnery.

[MacGuffin]

Message to Cars Moviegoers
IGN's tip to make the most of your trip.

To Pixar fans, this probably comes as no surprise to you. When you catch Cars in the theater this weekend, when the credits roll, don't get up and leave! There's more...

Usually Pixar offers bloopers - or, as with Finding Nemo, some nifty animated addendums amid the job titles and names. Now for Cars there's some extra stuff... It's not bloopers, though. And that's all we're going to say about that.

And when that's over, and the credits continue, and more of the uninformed leave the theater, stay right where you are! You guessed it. There's an additional scene after the credits. It features two minor cameo characters from the movie. It short. It's amusing. It's Pixar. Nuff said.

Now you can leave the theater.

[hedwig]

pixar has never failed.

the magic touch of breathing life and imagination into these objects as characters is worked brilliantly as usual. everything looks beautiful - as usual. the movie synthesizes wonderful imagery with heart and a touching story - as usual. a few minor spoilers to follow..

I wish Pixar would stop using basically the same plot with different idiosyncratic animals/objects thrown in the mix (coming in 2008: Germs!)

absolute nonsense. i think they've done something interesting here by subtracting human beings entirely from the equation and making room for a bunch of other ideas. here we have a story more like The Incredibles, about glory, loss, and the past. mainly it's in the characters. i was terrified that my intense hatred for Larry the Cable Guy would cloud my appreciation. thank god, Mater's relationship with McQueen is pulled off with such sincerity and sweetness that i totally forgot about larry the cable guy and it became like, Junebug or somethin. 

i have a feeling the limited appeal of automobiles is going to distance some from this story, so this will be one of the most underrated selections in the pixar oeuvre. who knows.  it's a lot of stories packed into one: broad and grand stories about time and generational nostalgia, compressed into the actions of the characters, in this tiny dusty town of radiator springs, and in the dreaming eyes of Sally Carrera. McQueen's resurrection of the neon lights is one of the film's most beautiful scenes and really got to the heart of the matter.. like American Graffiti without people.

i didn't stay after to see the clip mentioned in the article mac posted above, but that's fine: i'll have another chance soon 'cause i'm definitely seeing this again.

[Kal]

Thanks Mac... Im going tomorrow so great to know that!!

[modage]

browsing this thread quickly i see that i had not commented about the film yet and that's because (like a lot of people) i was not at all excited by the trailers other than seeing it was a new pixar film.  had it not been made by them i would never, in a million years, have seen it.  ever.  BUT knowing that it was pixar who has worked so hard to maintain their excellence i had to give them the benefit of the doubt.  even as the months passed and every new trailer and clip did nothing to make it look any better.  BUT i saw it, as my duty.  and unfortunately my worst fears were confirmed, its the least good pixar movie and i dont have to think hard about that.  many people dont care much for bugs life but i'd nudge this right below that.  its not a bad film.  i dont think pixar is actually capable of bad.  but it is about as good as it looks, and as good as i thought it'd be which is just 'good'.  i did have a few problems with it i hadnt anticipated (besides the obvious 'talking cars?'), and they were pretty big mistakes...

1. use of popular music.  besides the sarah mclaughlin song in toy story 2 pixar hasnt done this before.  randy newmans songs are so perfectly interwoven into the toy story films and the songs here are the same you'd expect from the latest dreamworks vehicle.  theres big country ballads, a classic 60s tune, john mayer, sheryl crow and the 'life is a highway' from the trailers.  its....just a little out of place and i really hoped better of pixar.  it seems like they're there to sell a few soundtracks and that is the quickest way to date a film like this.

2. other pop culture jokes.  this is truly dreamwork territory and i nearly gasped when they had a jay leno and gov schwarzenegger car among the other celebrity type jokes.  you wont believe it. 

3. a sports background in general is just not very exciting.  i had atleast thought since the beginning of the film opens with the big race, 'oh, well atleast they're doing something different instead of having the lame showdown at the end.  that kind of makes it interesting'.  but unfortunately thats just where the film ends up and its just..... *sigh.

i want nothing but to love pixar.  seriously.  i dont want this.  but i am cutting them a lot of slack from a film with the Disney (non pixar) name on it i could easily hate.  that said, i'm worried about their future too.  replacing the director so late in the game with ratatouille is NOT a good sign and because of that i dont really even consider it birds true follow-up to the incredibles.  i still hope he can salvage the film from whatever problems it must've been having.  lets just hope thsi is not the beginning of a downward slide.  i love john lasseter. toy story & 2 are some of my favorite films of all time.  i want him to succeed.  this just was not the film for me.  dont get me wrong.  its good, its just... ghostboy said it perfectly actually.

Sadly, this is the first less-than-brilliant Pixar film. I didn't want it to be true, I really wanted to love this one, even thouogh I hadn't liked the trailers, but it's just...good. A very standard sort of good.

[Gold Trumpet]

I liked Cars, but a disappointing release by Pixar.

Yes, Cars does follow the formula of all the other Pixar movies. Transfuse a non-human world to a very human identity for inside jokes between adults and then silly jokes for the children. Then add the theme of loss to the story, like the loss of reverence in toys with children in Toy Story or the loss of individuality and exceptionalism because of suburbia in The Incredibles.

See, by the time those themes were well developed in the Pixar catalog they were still making quality movies. Cars is the first failure and maybe not the last for Pixar if trends continue.

Two problems with this film:

1.) This film is drowned by an over abundance of visuals and sophisticated editing. The visuals are striving to achieve realistic settings and actions. I've never seen detail this good before. But, thats the entire problem. The easiest way to believe in the characters of an animated film is to believe in their separation from our reality. Miyazaki is able to develop more complex films because he keeps the animation simple. The detail in Cars looks realistic and the editing is done more like a major motion picture where heavy editing can erode individual performances. The depth of technical measures taken in big blockbusters are applied here but it keeps Cars film from achieving a simple charm and belief that comes with the very best of animation.

2.) The characterization is also much weaker in Cars than any other Pixar film. Like many films of this type, all the characters have a change of their attitudes toward someone or a situation. The question is how well you get to know these characters before they change and as they begin to change. Little depends on knowing them after the change. When the big race came and all the revolutions occurred I felt like I didn't know all the characters well enough. I didn't know Guido (the little assistant at the tire shop) when he miraculously changed Lightning McQueen's tires in record time and showed up the other road crews. I barely knew many other characters of that little town who were suppose to be charming. Their heartfelt scenes felt too forced at the end.

The characterization problems were the greatest problems. It deflated any chance the film had to ever succeed. A great story could have maybe gotten me to ignore all the unnecessary visuals. The parts of this movie that did work was the tractor tipping scene and Larry the Cable Guy's character, but he also got too much spotlight.

[Gamblour.]

My girlfriend said she read/saw this thing about Pixar and how they self-reflexively quipped that they need to just go ahead and make their "bad movie" so they can quit feeling so much pressure. With this film, they spent more time than The Incredibles, about 17 hours per frame(!). That being said, that would be sad if that was this. I will see it on Monday with my nephew, should be interesting.

[RegularKarate]

I agree with most of what's been said about it here (except with GT's #1 there, I think he's way off base with that point).
That being said, I don't worry about Pixar's future at all.  I have a great feeling about Ratatouille and I look forward to anything Pixar has to offer in the future.
Yeah, this was the least great Pixar movie, but that's not so bad.

Oh, and the needle-dropping thing was horrendous... that and letting LTCG say "Getter Done" and ruining my seperation between the character and the idiot were the two things that got on my nerves the most.

Even if this movie would have sucked, I still would have appreciated it for the amazing detail in the animation.  It's hard to believe that a lot of those backgrounds weren't real.

[hedwig]

Yeah, this was the least great Pixar movie, but that's not so bad.

Oh, and the needle-dropping thing was horrendous... that and letting LTCG say "Getter Done" and ruining my seperation between the character and the idiot were the two things that got on my nerves the most.

YES.

i stand by my initial response, but i can't believe i overlooked the two most glaring flaws of this movie which modage brought up in his review (pop songs and references). those were the most disheartening things about the movie. other than that, it's still very, very good, better than just "a very standard sort of good," which is what i think the general response will be. so like i said, bound for underration.

i would agree with GT's first point about visual sophistication but i think the realism of the backgrounds is necessary for this one, considering the remembrance of a different time period and all. detail was important. i can't agree with GT's second point, i think the characterization was fine. Guido wasn't a very important character and his little triumph was enjoyable despite a lack of backstory. but yes, the "git-r-done" was like, wow good job somehow totally pushing any thought of Larry the Cable Guy out of my head by creating such an endearing character and then destroying it with that stupid line. the hillbillies in the theatre didn't even laugh at that. 

[Gamblour.]

So I saw this today, and I actually fell asleep. I did work this morning, but still, like Ghostboy said, at no point should a Pixar film be that uneventful. The story was so disappointing, so typical. I mean, they normally have archetypical characters, but everything was just generic, run of the mill. And I remember seeing that the driving force behind the film taking place in the ghosttown of Route 66 was the creative team's love of that place, but that only came through a bit. It would've been interesting instead of a forced relationship between Sally and Lightnin'.

Paul Newman was awesome, regardless. I had a problem with the fact that this is the first Pixar to be directly "lifted" from reality. Like, this is Nascar, just transplanted. None of the other films had such a direct connection with contemporary culture. I did love the hippie bus and looked for as many drug references as I could, though I was kinda surprised how dirty one of Mater's jokes were: (MINOR SPOILERS OF ONE LINE IN THE MOVIE) "I'd give my two left lugnuts for that!" hmmm not so hidden.

[MacGuffin]

Disney in high gear for Cars
Studio plans largest campaign to date for Nov. 7 title

AUG. 4 | Disney/Pixar's Cars will be street-ready Nov. 7 with the new animated short "Mater and the Ghost" and the backing of the studio's largest promotional campaign to date.

Prebook is Sept. 12, and the DVD has a suggested retail price of $29.99. The studio didn't announce any plans for a Blu-ray debut of the animated hit.
 
Directed by Oscar-winner John Lasseter, the $229 million-grossing movie is set in the world of cars and features an all-star cast led by Paul Newman and Owen Wilson.

The single-disc release is slim compared to previous Pixar DVDs from Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment. The new short "Mater" takes the good-ole' boy tow-truck on a new adventure. Academy-Award nominated short "One Man Band," which played with the movie in theaters, also will be on the DVD. Plus there's the behind-the-scenes featurette "Inspiration for Cars," four deleted scenes and a preview of upcoming Disney/Pixar film Ratatouille.

The studio chose to go with the bonus features most popular with consumers, senior VP of brand marketing and product management Lori MacPherson said. MacPherson noted that Pixar shorts have been one of the most popular bonuses with disc buyers.

"I think it's the quality of the bonus features that's really key," she said.

The studio will rev-up its biggest media campaign yet for the title, opening the door to first-time partners Valvoline and insurer State Farm, which also were involved in the theatrical release. Both will run nationwide TV ad campaigns promoting Cars. Promotional partners also include Energizer, Con-Agra Foods, Procter & Gamble, Air Heads Candy and Georgia Pacific.

BVWHE has chosen a favorite time period for the street: the first week of November, the same frame that helped Finding Nemo set a DVD sales record in 2003. Nemo sold through 23.5 million DVD and VHS units that year, generating $398 million in sales.

Given the timeframe and the movie's theatrical success (grossing $235 million in the U.S.), Buena Vista is optimistic about Cars' potential, MacPherson said.

The last Pixar release, The Incredibles, was the top-performing DVD of 2005 but sold fewer units than Nemo, partly due to a changing disc market. Incredibles sold through 15 million units following its release last March, and Pixar reported heavier-than-expected returns when the home video market started showing some volatility in the summer months.

MacPherson said it was too early to comment on the studio's shipment plans for Cars.

"Everybody in the industry has kind of looked at what's going on with the category. We have a healthy and robust market, which is great," MacPherson said. "Everyone is trying to solve the million-dollar question, which is what is the right number [of DVDs] to place.

"We want to have a large presence to fill demand, but we don't want to overship—how much do you put out without it being too much?"

Cars will be the first Pixar release since Disney acquired the animation studio earlier this year. However, MacPherson said the studio didn't alter its strategy or distribution plans for Cars based on that.