Cars

Pixar have always produced the best of the kids’ CGI films, but with Cars it seems that they may have run out of steam. There’s nothing wrong with the film per se, except for the fact that we’ve seen it all before. This is a quality kids flick, but the usually effective high standards maintained by Pixar seemed to have worked against this film, which has no peaks or troughs, rather maintains a steady, even level of storytelling. All the proper family values and morals are on display here, but it’s missing something crucial.

The main problem may have been with their choice of personification this time around. The cars simply aren’t expressive enough. I felt like I knew the characters only through their voices – the chassis were nothing but colour. Maybe it has to do with having to stick to the appearance of the actual cars on which they were based, but there’s something depressingly bland about these characters. The exception would be Larry The Cable Guy’s Mater, who is the only vehicle to effectively express himself visually. This could have to do with the fact that all the other main characters are shiny and perfect like a collector’s dream – it’s hard to believe that mayor Doc Hudson is really as old as he sounds when he’s sparkling as if he’s just rolled off the production line. Overall the voice talent is top notch as one expects these days, even if Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers) is annoyingly ubiquitous right now.

There are only a handful of moments that come close to the non-stop hilarity of Monsters, Inc. and The Incredibles, but the majority of the film is pleasantly entertaining. There are a couple of musical montages that are frustrating because they achieve nothing other than to extend the running time. It’s way too long, clocking in at two hours – outrageous for this kind of film.

Cars is beautifully rendered, and the editing in particular is impressive. The landscape is perhaps more effective at conveying the story than the cars themselves, with Radiator Springs a beautiful realisation of ‘the town that time forgot’. Pixar certainly haven’t lost the knack of knowing just how finite the detail should be in an animation.

One wonders if we are almost reaching saturation point with kids’ CGI films these days. If it’s not Pixar it’s Dreamworks Animation or PDI putting something out, and Disney has been having a crack at it in a solo capacity also (although I must confess I have lost track of which company owns which). There’s just too much out there.