Review of Cars (2006)- review by MovieNight

Full text transcript of the review of Cars (2006):

Often seen as the black sheep of the Pixar franchise, there’s still plenty to enjoy here at the time of summer 2006, or at least this one hundred and twenty million dollar sports comedy was the worst reviewed film in the Pixar catalog. In addition to its modest worldwide CUMA. Four hundred and sixty two million, though the Cars movie is estimated to have scored a staggering 10 billion in merchandising sales just in its first five years. The original Gyrated story was written and directed by Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter. The gingerly paced one hour and fifty seven minute narrative follows a rookie racecar who gets waylaid in a small, forgotten town off Route 66, where he begrudgingly learns the true meaning of friendship and a world populated entirely by anthropomorphic vehicles. Owen Wilson stars as this hotshot racer whose impatience and arrogance leaves him stranded and alone, both emotionally and physically. Bonnie Hunt is a Porche love interest, Larry, the cable guy, a rusted out tow truck. Tony Shalhoub, an overeager Italian fiat, while George Carlin, Cheech Marin, Richard Petty, Paul Dooley and Michael Keaton round out the rest of the all star cast, the group fit their auto personas quite well. But Larry and Shalhoub are especially great just so long as they remain in smaller doses. And last but certainly not least, Cars features the late, great Paul Newman and his final major film role as a crotchety old 1951 Hudson Hornet, who serves as a sort of father figure to the small town after a decades long career as a handsome actor and salad dressing pitchman. It’s obviously a bit depressing to learn that some weird talking car was the last character he ever played.

For example, if you’re going hard enough left, you’ll find yourself turned right? Oh, right.

That makes perfect sense. Turn right to go left. Yes, thank you. Or should I say no thank you. Because in opposite world, maybe that really means thank you.

Idiot, personally, NASCAR has never been my thing, but for those who are a fan of America’s second most popular sport, there’s plenty of great references and imagery scattered throughout, including a few great celebrity cameos like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mario Andretti and Michael Schumacher. Even car enthusiast Jay Leno voices an automobile version of himself. The most appropriate description of the humor found in cars is subtle bemusement. Seeing cars perform human tasks as a novel curiosity for maybe the first 10 minutes. But there’s rarely a gag worth laughing at. With the notable exception of John Ratzenberger’s fourth wall breaking observation during the credits that he voices a character in every Pixar film. But that’s about it. The film doesn’t have any unique twist or inventive worldview like Pixar, other movies. We’re not seeing the world through the eyes of an automobile. We’re just seeing our world filled with automobiles. Remarking on Route 66 Interstate heyday, Hunt shares cars, didn’t drive on it to make great time. They drove on it to have a great time. This single line of dialogue might be the film’s most effective moment, a poignant reflection on this country’s loss of community when small towns were bypassed by bigger and more efficient roadways.

Although Pixar had the notable advantage of rendering characters without faces, the animation here still looks beautiful, especially during the races where a stunning nighttime sequence lit by neon signs music by Randy Newman, including an Oscar nominated original creed, a laid back and nostalgic atmosphere that, unfortunately, is lost on the film’s younger demo. I hesitate to call it disappointing, as cars are still a pretty good movie. It just isn’t a good Pixar movie. Now, let’s see what you had to say in the YouTube comments. Certainly not a fan favorite, you were critical of this film’s many flaws, scoring it a six out of 10 and I agree. Like I said, it’s a good film that does it for this quick excerpt. But if you’d like to watch full episodes of movie night and submit your own reviews to be included on the show, please visit the jog wheel YouTube channel. My name is Jonathan Paula. Thanks for watching and have a good movie night.(2006)