Life is a Highway: CARS review

CARS review:

I freaking love Pixar. I know, so does everyone else, but what can I say -- these guys are the Walt Disney Animation Studios of the 21st century, both figuratively and literally. They are churning out movies that are of such high quality that they are almost instant classics. I think the only thing that really limits the perception of their movies is that they come so frequently, unlike the old Disney movies that were years apart in release. But give Pixar credit - while Disney's animated classics mostly had the advantage of being adapted from already-classic stories, Pixar is going out there and coming up with NEW MATERIAL. Amazing, isn't it? In this day and age, where seemingly every high-concept movie is an adaptation of some kind, here is Pixar, creating all-new stories that nonetheless have nearly the power and timelessness of the old Disney classics.

Do I wish that the Disney animation studios were still going strong, producing a steady stream of hand-drawn, traditionally-animated movies? Hells yes - the fall of traditional 2-D animation, especially at Disney where the artform had truly been mastered, is one of the biggest tragedies of modern cinema. And there's no doubt about it - there is an absolute glut right now of computer-animated movies, most of which are crap. During the previews for Cars alone, I saw at least three or four previews for upcoming CGI releases (nearly all featuring talking animals), that had generic art styles, lame pop-culture refernces, and a grating need to be cool and hip, something that the classics were never concerned with.

But amidst that glut of CGI garbage, there is Pixar. Their quality of animation, of voice-acting, and above all story-telling is just amazingly and consistently good. While it can be argued which of their movies are better than others (Monsters, Inc. = underrated, The Incredibles = overrated), all of their movies have that special quality that elevates them above most.

And Cars is no exception.

To be honest, I was never all that excited about Cars. I'm not really a car afficionado, and I have zero interest in NASCAR or any kind of racing. And I'm generally resentful of American car culture and how we insist on these big, polluting vehicles that damage the environment and turn our country into a giant series of highways. But Cars instantly accomplished something that changed my tune. Like walking through the gates of Disneyland, Cars took everything that was fun, cool, nostalgic, and by-God American about cars and presented a whole world that was like some crazy 1950's-tinged themepark ride that could have come right out of the mind of Walt Disney himself. The retro-futuristic neon signs, the utopian visions of the ultra-sleek racetrack - this wasn't a reflection of the world we live in at all. No, Cars is a nostalgic look at a time when cars represented the Great American Ideals of progress, futurism, and good old-fashioned innovation. And suddenly, as I watched the movie, nearly every once of cynicism I had about the movie's premise, the automotive industry, or anything else vanished, and I felt like a little kid visiting Tommorowland. Damn, Pixar is good.

The voice cast of Cars is awesome. Owen Wilson is great as the fittingly named Lightning McQueen - he does his usual Owen Wilson cocky drawl but it fits the character to a T, and Lightning's gradual progression from self-centered racing star to compassionate hero is pretty seamless. Paul Newman - what can I say, he's a legend playing a legend, and he's basically perfect for the part of the old speedster who chose to finally slow down. All the other voices are excellent, even Larry the Cable Guy who provides both the comic relief and the heart and soul of the movie.

My one character complaint: It was a little bit wrong, in my mind, to have so many of the supporting characters be simple caricatures of cultural stereotypes. You had the hippie car, the Hispanic lowrider car, the sassy black woman car, and the over the top Italian car. I wish these supporting characters were a little bit more well-rounded, so to speak. But hey, if you're going to have Mexican and Hippie stock characters, you may as well go all out and get Cheech Marin and George Carlin to voice them. See, even when Pixar does somewhat lame, stock cultural stereotype characters, they do them better than the competition.

Otherwise, Cars was just magic, baby. The racing scenes were some of the most dynamically-directed action I've seen this summer. The visuals were brimming with detail and character. I mean, think about it - they got us as emotionally invested in TALKING CARS as if they were real people. That's no easy feat.

Thematically, I loved this movie's message. I've always been interested in the notion of small-town America, and some of my favorite stories (many by the great Ray Bradbury) deal with this same theme - the nostalgia for the idyllic, small-town America of yesteryear. Being here in the fast-moving world of Hollywood, I definitely felt some parellels with the plight of Lighting McQueen - the conflict between big city livin' and the simple life that lies in some quiet 'burg just off the beaten track. Cars just had this great sense of retro-nostalgia-futurism that brought out the little kid in me. I was legitimately sad when Lightning sees the town of Radiator Springs as it was in its 1950's heydey, and wishes he could have seen it in its prime. I think we, as a country, all feel that nostalgia for the golden age of post-war America, where the future seemed bright as sterling silver and idealism reigned supreme, before the realities and harsh toll of progress and modernity set in. And that's why the Car is so appropriate a metaphor for these characters -- the great symbol of innovation and invention, now a symbol of traffic jams and commutes to work and smog and greenhouse gasses and greedy oil companies. Cars is all about these contradictions, and amazingly is more thematically rich than most live action, "adult" movies I've seen.

Again, few complaints from me. The running time was a little long, and there were some sections that dragged a bit towards the middle of the movie. As I mentioned, some of the characters seemed a little two-dimensional (no pun intended).

But in the end, I came out of Cars thoroughly wowed and impressed -- Pixar had done it again. Cars made me think, it captivated me with its visual spectacle, and invested me in its characters. It had me dreaming of neon signs and small towns and big races - and that's what movies like this are all about, right?

My grade: A -