Cars movie review- by The Real Mr. Robinson

Full text transcript of the Cars movie review:

So this is what you guys do to follow up with The Incredibles. Cars is Pixar seventh film and marks the return of John Lasseter in the director’s chair of a Pixar movie since Toy Story to the film takes place in a world that’s filled with anthropomorphic vehicles like cars, trucks, planes, even the animals are some sort of vehicle like their cows, their tractors and their insects that are Volkswagen Beetle. The main character is Lightning McQueen, who is a real hothead and one of the most well-known NASCAR cars out there on his way to a race. He’s asleep, but something happens to where he’s separated from his truck and finds himself in the town of Radiator Springs, which is in the middle of nowhere. And he wants to get out, but he is stuck in Radiator Springs because he caused some trouble while getting lost. So he has to help fix the place up. So through that and through the town’s residents, he learns to appreciate the more simple things in life and kind of not be so full of himself. Now, when I started reviewing all the Pixar movies, I said that it’s important that I review them in the order they were released because it’ll demonstrate how important these films are to me in terms of growing up with them. And Kharas is a, well, interesting movie. And interesting doesn’t always necessarily mean good because it’s a movie that has a story behind it for me at least. So after 2004, the year of The Incredibles and Shrek, two really great movies, I kind of went into an anti animation phase the following year when I was 14 years old, and I felt like animation was just for kids and even Disney as a whole. It’s just like I don’t want to see anything that Disney puts out, even if it was good. I even refused to watch some of the movies from my childhood.

I was so in that phase, I was an idiot when I was in my early teens and just thought that just because something is animated, it’s exclusively for kids. So when cars came out in 2006, I didn’t see it in the theater. In fact, I didn’t even know what the word of mouth of cars was. I didn’t really pay attention to the fact that people were saying, oh, it’s not that good or well, it’s good, but it’s not one of Pixar as best because I was such in the mindset of animation sucks. So I eventually broke out of that phase and we’ll get to why and what caused that in a couple of weeks. And then I watched cars for the first time around, like between the release of Toy Story three and Cars two. So I watched it for the first time. And I’ve heard so many things about it, like, oh, it’s not very good. It’s good, but not one Pixar best, yada, yada, yada. So I watched it and I’m like, this isn’t too bad. It’s not one of Pixar is best, but I think it’s really good. It’s a little better than a lot of people expect it to be. I mean, the idea itself is weird, like a bunch of anthropomorphic vehicles that have eyelids where the windows are mouthes. Like you asked the question, how do they reproduce, how do they shift, how do they eat? It’s just a lot of these things that there’s no real set science to how this world works. That’s one of the main issues with the movie. I mean, it’s definitely an idea that’s different, I guess. I mean, there was Thomas the Tank Engine, there was the Chevron cars.

But it’s it’s just not one of Pixar is most inspired ideas and something else that’s very different from this movie and the other Pixar movies where a lot of the other Pixar movies, Incredibles, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, all had really memorable characters, like each character had a distinction, little characteristic that made them stand out and made them lovable or hateful cars doesn’t have that. There are only a handful of characters that you really remember. The other characters are defined through their accents, and that’s pretty much it. Like there are two cars that have Italian accents and they’re Italian made cars and there are some other cars. They’re only distinguishable because of their accents and no actual characteristic. And that’s a really big problem because with Pixar, his track record up until cars and how they really create memorable characters that just practically come to life, you’d expect them to go beyond just the whole. This character’s distinguishable because he has an Italian accent or she’s distinguishable because she has a Spanish accent.

Do you it’s like Pixar really is above that and the movie doesn’t have. OK, you know what? The movie actually does have a good message moving into the things that are good. The movie does have a good message, I think, which is if you are more of like a city person or if you’re a celebrity of some kind, you got to learn to appreciate the smaller things in life. The little things do matter and that I really do like. But the movie doesn’t really convey that as strongly as something as the message in Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. It’s just there that you can. Knowledge, but Pixar doesn’t really push that message that far, but getting into the realm of what’s good, because I ultimately like this movie, the animation is still great. I mean, it’s really a beautiful looking movie. John Lasseter was inspired to do this because of a road trip he took with his family through California. And you could tell that he gets all the scenery of California down like it just looks gorgeous. There are a lot of amazing and impressive shots here. And they and the animation with every Pixar movie keeps getting better and better. And despite the main characters being either forgettable or only distinguishable through accents, the voice actors do do a good job.

Owen Wilson is Lightning McQueen. I think he’s decent for him being the main character. I wish he was more developed or a little better, but he does a fine job and I think his voice fits that character perfectly. The heart of the movie, I think, is Paul Newman as Doc, who is this older racecar and turns into Lightning McQueen’s mentor. If it wasn’t for him, the whole movie would have just been a bore fest. Unfortunately, though, he’s not the most popular character, the most popular character in the cars movie. And the whole car series is Mayder voiced by Larry the Cable Guy, which when I saw that character back in my anti animation phase, I thought, oh, this is not going to be good at all. Like just some annoying country ass hillbilly that just happens to be a broken down tow truck. And I’m like, this is going to get old really fast. But when I saw the movie, I actually found him to be quite funny and charming. I mean, you can’t really hate this character because he’s not like an asshole or someone that’s really outright offensive.

He’s just a simple idiot. He’s like he’s like Ed from Eternity. He’s a real idiot, but you can’t hate him for that. And so ultimately, I think cars is a lot better than people give it credit for. And don’t get me wrong, the anthropomorphic vehicle idea is still a little bizarre and it is definitely one of Pixar as weaker films. Honestly, it’s probably their second weakest movie, but I still think it’s really good. It’s just not great. It definitely could have been a lot better given Pixar is very impressive track record. I mean, if people hate cars, I won’t go out and defend it like I will with something like Inside Out or The Incredibles or Toy Story. But I have to admit that this movie makes me feel good in the end. Whenever I watch this movie, it leaves me with a good feeling. And if a movie does that, then it’s done its job well. And that’s why I review four cars, leave a comment and someone you thought the movie, if you’ve seen it, what did you think? Like subscribe share with your friends. And this is the real Mr. Robinson telling you there is only one.