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When I first heard about Cars, I didn't think much of it. I always loved Pixar's movies but I couldn't really see what they were trying to accomplish with a movie where there wasn't a single humanoid to be found anywhere. Plus, I thought another "talking cars" property would be as stupid as all the other ones. I didn't see or read much about the movie in the months leading to its release in theaters and so didn't have a whole lot of reason to expect a lot from the movie, which I was going to see almost out of duty (both because my younger cousins were in town and because it was a Pixar film).
After the credits rolled, I knew I had just watched my second favorite Pixar film and one of my top 10 Disney films of all time. I still like Finding Nemo the best because it has a more emotional and universal moral component to it. I also happen to think that Ratatouille is a better "film" in general but I had a LOT more fun watching Cars. Like with Finding Nemo, I can watch this movie over and over again and not get tired of it. It may have to do with the inner child in me - my young nephew can't get enough of Cars and Finding Nemo but isn't nearly as impressed with The Incredibles and Ratatouille, two films my wife and friends like more.
I liken Cars to Shrek in the sense that there's always something interesting going on in the background if you care to look past the core of what's happening. The world in which Lightning McQueen and Mater live is cleverly designed to be almost exactly like ours would be if there all organic life forms were replaced with motorized vehicles. Even many parts of the landscape are shaped like vehicles in much the same way we sometimes think that a mountain or tree kind of looks like the side of someone's face. And many aspects of the world are dealt with in the clever manner we've come to expect from the geniuses at Pixar - insects are VW Beetles, Lighting McQueen's two biggest fans love to flash their headlights (quite literally, for those of you with your mind in the gutter) and the racing commentators are named Bob Cutlass and Darryl Cartrip.
While the general premise of the story is nothing new and fairly basic - a hot shot rookie race car concerned only with himself ends up in a long forgotten midwest town where the locals help him learn to enjoy life and care about something greater than oneself - the movie is immensely fun to watch, thanks mostly to the personality quirks of the citizens (specifically a run down tow truck with a good soul) of Radiator Springs, "the cutest little town in Carburetor County." It's always a joy to watch McQueen discover that there's more to life than fame and money.
If the movie being great wasn't enough, this particular Blu-Ray disc also boasts the hands-down best video quality I've seen in any high-definition disc. This is the first movie I've seen where I can say that if you haven't seen it in high-definition, you haven't seen it at all. CGI movies tend to have really impressive transfers because the studios can use masters stored digitally instead of on film, but Cars outshines all others... and it's not a photo finish by a long shot. There are tons of little details that I didn't even see when I saw it on the big screen a year and a half ago. One perfect example is Lightning McQueen's paint job. Before I watched the Blu-Ray disc last night (Christmas Day), I didn't know that there were all these little sparkles in the paint similar to the "jewel" or "pearl" type colors you see for new car models these days (if you've seen the red 2008 Saturn Outlook, you'll know what I mean). My jaw simply dropped when I noticed that because it was just a completel revelation to me, all thanks to Blu-Ray (and my television is just 1080i).
Another impressive thing about this disc is the "Car Finder" interactive movie game, a first of this kind on any home movie format. When you play this game, a special little heads-up graphical user interface comes on over the movie which shows your score, what cars to look for and how many you've missed so far. The premise of the game is that you basically keep an eye out for specific cars shown at the bottom of the screen. If you see one in any particular scene of the movie, you hit an action button on your remote control and a new car to look for pops up in its place. Even better, every car you find is added to a huge showcase gallery that has a close-up image of the car, the scene in which the car appeared and an audio background biography of the character (you can now find out what the actual name of the Apple-sponsored car in the opening Dinoco 400 race is). The only annoying aspect is that the normal controls for the movie (pause, stop, skip, etc.) are disabled - the only way to get out of the movie is to hit the "Pop-up Menu" button.
All in all, this is hands-down the best and most impressive high-definition release so far (this is coming from a staunch HD-DVD supporter). I cannot recommend this movie highly enough unless you either just didn't like this movie or aren't a fan of "kids'" movies in the first place. Otherwise, if you own a Blu-Ray player, do yourself a service and purchase Cars today... or even better, buy a Blu-Ray player to enjoy this movie in a whole new way!
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Kaaachow!
Cars is such an incredible Disney Pixar movie and the best one out of the Cars franchise! Literally worth purchasing the film is great and fun to watch!
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2007
- Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2006
