Cars
is the latest masterwork from Pixar/Disney - a bit of an unusual outing for the
animation powerhouse for a number of reasons. First of all, Cars was inspired
by a cross-country vehicular vacation John Lasseter embarked upon to re-connect
with his family - after admittedly becoming something of an obsessive workaholic
with his other family of pixel-pushers at Pixar. The biggest question mark I had
before seeing the film was whether or not endowing cars with human characteristics
was going to work. Sure it works with animals and bugs and of course toys - because
these critters and objects already seem to have souls and even personalities.
You know that an ant is going to have an inferiority complex, etc - but can this
concept be applied to cars, which you don’t automatically think of as possessing
recognizable human characteristics?
I
guess the answer, is that in the hands of Lasseter and his pixel posse nothing
is impossible. I’ll admit that it took a while for me to warm up to the notion
of cars as characters, but by the time you meet Larry the Cable Guy’s “Mater”
the lovable dumb-guy tow truck the point has long since been rendered moot. Cars
in fact do have personalities, just ask the Hippy Dippy VW Van “Filmore”
a George Carlin creation intent on turning everyone on to alternative herbal fuels
- you get the drift, it works wonderfully.
The
opening scene is certainly a blast to the senses and may be a bit much for the
toddler set. In retrospect the abrasively noisy and intense race sequence that
opens the film definitely sets pulses to pounding, but it’s certainly unlike
the rest of the film which becomes downright sedate by comparison. The race, as
we are soon to learn boils down to a contest between three chief competitors:
Lightning McQueen (the young, independent, cocky upstart voiced by Owen Wilson)
The King - Strip Weathers (the wily veteran whose competitive days are fast winding
down - voiced by Richard Petty) and Chick Hicks (The King’s heir apparent,
a no-class rube who’s not about to let this Lightning bug come between himself
and his rightful claim to racing’s throne - voiced by Michael Keaton in a
blink and you missed it part.)
What
we're to take from this opening sequence is that Lightning is a one man show,
a maverick who refuses to stop in the pits (partially because his crew isn’t
exactly top notch) but mainly Lightning considers himself invincible. In fact
it's this egotistical attitude that almost costs him the race. Not more than 50
yards from the checkered flag an equipment failure allows both Hicks and The King
to make ground on him rapidly. As Lightning limps for the finish line all three
cars take the checkered flag in a 3-way photo-finish tie. All of which sets up
a hype fest of a tie-breaker race to take place in California within a week.
Lightning’s
decision to skip the pit stop isn’t all about unbridled hubris, it seems
that a few years back when times were more on the lean side, he signed a promotional
deal with a third rate brand of car products. Now that he’s become an overnight
success, however, this deal has become something of an embarrassing albatross,
and rather than accept their invitation to celebrate the first place tie and the
enormous amount of exposure the big California tie-breaker will mean to the company,
he mopes over to his trailer diesel “Mack” (a Lasseter staple John Ratzenberger)
rolls on into his state of the art transport vehicle and indulges in a bit of
self-pity. Mack, manages to get him chuffed up again by regaling him with facts
and figures regarding his skyrocketing stock and soon the two are all about “California
here we come!!”
Due
to a series of minor misadventures Mack and Lightning manage to become separated
and owing to the fact that race cars don’t have headlights, Lightning is
in a bit of a fix. Once morning rolls around, Lightning imagines that he has some
catching up to do and with an engine like his he starts ticking off towns along
Route 66 like the roadrunner. Just over a slight rise in the road is a town hidden
from his view and by the time he finally sees Radiator Springs it’s too late
to stop. When the dust finally settles and Lightning’s wheels have stopped
spinning, he’s done a significant amount of damage to the town, it’s
automotive citizenry and himself.
The
town of Radiator Springs has long since been forgotten. Since the interstate came
along the once bustling town has been reduced to a dusty footnote in the highways
and byways of this great land - but a few faithful have remained, clinging to
memories of their glorious past and hoping against hope that somehow, some way
those salad days will come again. Among the pragmatists is surly old Doc Hudson
(Paul Newman, who also doubles as the local Judge). The good Doc metes out a rather
harsh penalty to the cheeky, hot shot whom none of them have heard of (despite
his best efforts to impress upon them of his worldly importance, the fame, the
fortune, the so on and the so forth). As just a sliver of foreshadowing, it becomes
clear that the Judge seems particularly unimpressed by Lighning's claim to fame.
It’s
at this point where Cars really takes a turn for the weird. I can’t imagine
a single critic not noticing this odd development, and I’m more than a little
bit interested in what everyone’s reaction will be to it. In 1991 Michael
J Fox made, what I consider to be his best film entitled Doc Hollywood. A charming,
beautifully cast film that involves a young plastic surgeon who loses his way
and hence suffers a significant delay in his urgent desire to get to California.
Speeding up on a small redneck town, he is forced to swerve in order to avoid
hitting a cow and in the process manages to take out a goodly portion of the local
judges brand new fence with his beloved Porsche. At this point the plot of Cars
and the plot of Doc Hollywood become virtually one and the same. There’s
just no ignoring it, and there’s no getting around it. It becomes so obvious
in fact, that my guess is that Disney/Pixar must have purchased the rights to
use the story. I just can’t imagine they’d jeopardize the millions that
Cars will no doubt make, without first insuring that Warners and everyone with
rights to Doc Hollywood aren’t going to line their pockets with Car bucks.
The script also borrows a pretty significant bit from Cannery Row where Paul Newman’s
character is concerned - as far as that one’s goes, I'll bet Lasseter’s
banking on short memory spans.
In
any case Lightning gets himself stuck in this podunk speck on the map (doing community
service to pay his fine) and the vast majority of the story takes place in Radiator
Springs. By virtue of the fact that he’s obviously a race car he right away
earns the admiration and eventually the friendship of the towns tow truck “Mater,”
again played by Larry the Cable Guy. I have to say I don't know a great deal about
Larry, but as far as Cars is concerned he will, no doubt, be found guilty of Grand
Theft Auto by the film critics of earth. By midsummer "Mater-isms" will
be on everyone's lips and you won't be able to leave your house without some sort
of brush with Mater-ness. From Happy Meals to Burger King's new cheesy potato
treats "Mater Tots," (I should trademark that). I wouldn't be suprised
if Wendy's makes a fancy package and starts calling ketchup "Mater Sauce."
Seriously though Mater's a hoot. With just the perfect combination of dumb guy
sincerity, redneck charm and flawless timing, Mater tows off with most of the
film's big laughs. Once Lightning’s been in Radiator Springs long enough
to accept his plight - (escape is impossible without gas) Lightning asks Mater
what there is to do for fun in this town and Mater recognizes his chance to make
a lifelong friend out of Lightning. In the films’ chief male-bonding scene,
Mater takes Lightning out for a night of “tractor tipping.” Obviously
the automotive equivalent of cow-tipping, I wasn’t sure how Lasseter and
company were going to make this funny, but they certainly did. Definitely the
funniest scene in the film, the crowd roared with approval every time a tractor
keeled over. This is followed by a harrowing escape as farmer McReedy (I don’t
remember the name) turns out to be a mean old thrasher and gives them both a game
run for their money.
The
farmer gets the last laugh as he organizes a tractor stampede that ruins much
of the work that Lightning had accomplished, but by now the townsfolk have started
to cotton to Lightning and pitch in to help him salvage some of the mess - even
though by now it's with mixed emotions that they assist him with the project that
will ultimately allow him to leave town. Just like Doc Hollywood, the character
arc that Lightning undegoes involves losing his egocentric arrogance, which in
both films is given a great boost by a local love interest. Both Julie Warner
in Doc Hollywood and Bonnie Hunt (as Sally, a petite and lovely Porsche) are able
to crack the hardened exteriors of their respective subjects by softening their
own and giving the boys an intimate sightseeing tour of some of the more charming
out-of-the-way spots each had come to know by growing up and coming of age in
these small towns. Both of which used to be hot spots before the interstate left
them to rust and rot as the world passed them by.
One
day while Lightning goes to ask the Judge about his sentence, he begins poking
around a bit in his garage and comes across a startling discovery. As it turns
out, Doc Hudson was once a world famous race car and amid the junk in his garage
are a number of back to back world champion trophies. His career came to some
ignominious end and seeking refuge from the prying eyes of the world he wound
up in Radiator Springs. Much like the Doc in Cannery Row played by Nick Nolte
who was once a famous big league picture known as Eddie the Blur. Both Debra Winger
in that film and Lightning are ready to cry their discoveries from the rooftops
only to be warned off by wiser denizens who caution them from doing so, for pretty
much the same reasons. Just like the Row, some people come to Radiator Springs
because they don’t want to be famous anymore.
Cars
proceeds to an ending that only varies from Doc Hollywood in the details, the
story is virtually identical. For example, in Doc Hollywood it is the doctor played
by the wonderful Bernard Hughes who calls ahead and puts in a good word for Michael
J. Fox, which virtually assures him of getting the job he’s interviewing
for. Similarly it is Doc Hudson who alerts the media as to Lightning’s whereabouts
so that he can be air-lifted to California in time to compete in the race. With
Both of their dreams now come true, both Fox and Lightning are strangely unfulfilled,
empty inside, restless with their lives. Both pine for the simple life they’d
come to know and for the loves left behind. I won’t give anymore away other
than to say that yes, both films end virtually the same.
Before
I pronounce judgment I want to comment on the unbelievable look of the film. There
are times when you’re looking at landscape when it’s virtually indistinguishable
from the real thing. I’m a huge fan of the Pixar films. I even loved Monsters
Inc. which puts me in the minority on this site’s staff, so how is a person
to judge Cars? In terms of it’s look It’s perhaps the best. There are
a million little details that I won’t spoil for you and several surprises
and hilarious moments that simply comparing the storyline to Doc Hollywood aren’t
going to ruin or prepare you for. Still the classic Pixar films of the past were
not only visually stunning but contained wonderfully original storylines. Which
makes this one a little tougher to grade. I guess I’ll just go by how entertained
I was and knock it down a half grade for it’s lack of originality. Which
still leaves it with a respectable B. You owe me one Walt.
