Movie Review: Cars
Let me just say that the movie "Cars" was better than I expected it to be. When H asked me how I liked it in comparison with the other Pixar films, I'd have to say it was not as good as "The Incredibles" or "Finding Nemo", but I liked it as well as "Toy Story" and "A Bug's Life". I'm not a car racing fan, but I really did like the parts where they were racing. I like the idea of cars having names and personalities - I had my first truck that was named "Betsy", but if she didn't start, sometimes I called her other choice names. I wonder if that's the premise it came from - a lot of people "humanize" their cars. At any rate, they made good choices for the voice actors - Owen Wilson (whom I adore) is Lightning McQueen, Larry the Cable Guy played Mator the Old Towtruck, Paul Newman was "Doc", the old has been speedster, and John Ratzenberger (Cliff from "Cheers") played Mack. One of the things that was most enjoyable was that, even though the music was under the direction of Randy Newman, I did not hear his voice once in the songs. He was able to get musicians like Sheryl Crow and John Mayer to do the singing, which was a good move.
Some of the references in the movie were things kids would not know about - like Route 66, some racing fans and their snubbery(is that a word?) of American racing versus Italian racing, and the premise that was "borrowed" from countless other Hollywood movies, most obviously "Doc Hollywood". You know the story line - big town guy gets stuck in small town, tries to get out but can't, meets girl who seems out of place in small town but is definitely staying, big town guy starts liking small town, and has a conflict in the end with possible return to big town dreams. One reference was not particularly flattering, which insinuated that small-town people are somehow less smart than their big-town counterparts.
Overall, though, I'd give this movie 7 out of 10 dancing feet. It's not a "must see" in the theater, but it was definitely entertaining. I won't spoil anything for those of you who intend to see it, but don't leave right at the end of the movie - some of the best parts are at the end.
posted by Notta Wallflower at 6:54 AM
12 Comments:
Can hardly wait to take the grandkids to see this. But..... what is wrong with Randy Newman's voice? I been a big fan ever since "Short People"
GWB - I don't know, but I think it has to do with the amount of times I've seen movies with his music. I lost track of how often I've seen "Toy Story". :-P Your grandkids will enjoy this movie - what a good grandpa you are. :-)
So You had a truck called Betsy.
Seems strange that in most cases vehicles planes and ships etc get more than their share of female names and are rarely referred to as he.
I have a non gender Lawn mower called 'Start You Bastard'
Vest - I know, it's funny how that works. What about the storms/hurricanes? Mostly female names again. Hmm... I like your lawn mower's name. :-P
Typhoon Wanda Excerpt from Memoirs.2004
Typhoon Wanda struck at about 8 am Saturday, Sept 1 1962, its epicentre travelled over the colony. It is recorded as the most severe storm that Hong Kong has experienced in the past 42 years.
We secured our second story flat with battens and carpets over the windows and doors, and the waited.
The rain and wind were unbelievable- about twelve inches of rain in 24 - hours with winds exceeding 100mph, The piston of the anemometer at the observatory stopped at 130 mph so an accurate reading was not possible.
Our eight and six year old sons baled out the incoming water while I crawled outside the flat with a rope tied to my body to unblock the balcony drains. The woman from next door came into our flat screaming, because her her flat had been smashed. She hadn't been prepared and had lost every thing.
In the general chaos, cars were overtrned, trees went down,roofs torn off, and boats were smashed.
The final toll was 130 lives lost, 60 more people missing and about 1,400 sampans and other vessels wrecked, also added to this was the inestimable misery suffered by those people who lost their homes and loved ones.
Yeah, Randy Newman's voice can be a bit annoying. I LOVE his songs though!
Vest, we used to have a snowblower with that name. ;)
Vest - Wow, you're lucky you survived that one.
TSHS - I love Randy Newman's lyrics - they fit perfectly with the movies he does. It was just a nice break. :-P
Notta, I am so glad I wasn't the only one to name my cars. I went through a few and they were are associated with colors, Little Red, Minty and my current car, Tealie. I know, I have a lack of immagination but I think it makes my car cutier to have a name.
Angelique - Well, I like Little Red the best. :-P It has spunk to it.
what a great picture, looks really funny =)
I forgot to mention during March this year up north in Queensland OZ, the slow talking local banana benders had a wake up call from Cyclone Larry which destroyed 95% of the banana industry.
Some say the cyclone was named after a noxious banana importer, who finally won the day, a Larry, B Nanastein.
Shops in our capital Canberra were flogging nanas at $23-00 per kilo.
A shop displaying 'no cash kept on these premises', changed the sign to 'no bananas kept on these premises'
check out Cyclone Larry on Google
Mone - It's a movie most people would enjoy, I think. Thanks for visiting. :-)
Vest - You are a wealth of information on storms. I love the "no bananas" sign, although I'm sure at the time it was serious for them. :-P
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