ALARIS' REVIEWS

19th August 2009
Cars (2006)

I'm a huge fan of Pixar - the studio which brought us Toy Story (1995), Finding Nemo (2003), and the spectacular Wall-E (2008).

Unfortunately, Cars isn't one of their more memorable movies.

The premise is an old classic: Lightning McQueen is a flashy race car obsessed with winning, until a forced hiatus in the sleepy town of Radiator Springs teaches him that in order to appreciate life, he needs to slow down.

The first problem is that McQueen isn't a very sympathetic character for most of the film. He's brash and shallow, and there aren't enough moments of poignancy or humour early in the film to offset his obvious deficiencies. It takes far too long for his character to change, and there aren't enough turning points for us to see the emotional arc. It's more like an emotional hairpin.

Also, the secondary characters - primarily quirky townsfolk - should have been a mine of wonderful stories, small adventures, and thoughtful lessons, but instead they are left as sketches. It's not until towards the end of the film that we hit what seems to be the emotional heart of the story - the death of the small town, and the yearning of the people left behind. If this had been a more defining element throughout Cars , it could have been a far stronger film.

There are entertaining moments, and the cast do a decent job, but there were parts which reminded me of the pod car race from Stars Wars: Episode I (1999), which is worrying to find in a Pixar film. The pacing throughout Cars is slightly off, spending too much time on certain scenes or relationships, without enough impact to justify the investment. Still, it's an easy film to watch if you're not expecting something very funny, very exciting, or very moving.

Verdict: An easy, forgettable family film that doesn't quite hit the mark.

If you like Monsters Inc (2001), you might like this.

Read Zee's review of Cars (2006).