I know I hold the distinctly unpopular opinion of actually liking the movie Cars (2006). No; I don't just like that movie; I love it. If you asked me to list my top five favorite Pixar movies, Cars would definitely make that list. Now that is an unpopular opinion. It's taken me four years to see it. Everything I heard about it was quite negative. Pixar's worst film, boring, uninteresting, ecetera. I'll admit, I had my doubts. Pixar has always been one of my most favorite thing in the entire world, and I've been blown away by their creativity and dedication to story ever since I was five and saw Toy Story for the first time. But maybe I, like everyone else, decided a film about talking cars was rather pointless.
I've read the arguments against Cars. These are the ones I've come across: it is mainly geared towards young boys, the storyline is stupid, and it didn't allow for any character connection. This shouldn't come as a surprise, but I am not an eight year old boy. I genuinely enjoyed this movie, fierce loyalty to Pixar aside. Let's examine these arguments.
1. Cars is a movie only young boys are able to enjoy. Why is that? Are boys the only one who can like cars, whether they talk or not? For anyone who hasn't seen it, and if you have, this is not just a story about some cars being alive. Do you honestly think Pixar would release a film that focuses only on cars talking? Obviously there's a deeper meaning. You could make the argument that no one wants to see a movie where cars talk, but who would want to see a movie about toys that can come alive? Why would someone pay money to watch a movie where a clown fish is looking for his lost son? Who wants to see a movie about a grumpy old man tying some balloons to his house? You could make those arguments against movies like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Up. But no one does, do they?
2. That brings us to the second argument, that Cars has a stupid story line. For anyone who has ever thought such a thing, I have just one question: could you come up with something better? Pixar is able to personify their characters with human traits and failings. So in this case, it's a cocky race car (Lightning McQueen, voiced by Owen Wilson) who has to fix the damage he's brought to a small town. It is still entertaining to see him interact with the inhabitants and watch as he continues to foolishly depend on his ego. And when he finally realizes that the world doesn't revolve around him, he learns to care for others around him. Now why should the story be any less "good", simply because the protagonists are cars? If someone would suggest that as a reason for the stupid story line, then the idea that toys can represent bravery, friendship, love, and loyalty is also stupid; the story of a rat dreaming to be a chef is stupid too. The idea is also stupid that monsters can have hearts and are not as vicious as their reputations claim.
3. There's no connection to the characters. Well, allow me to introduce you to Doc Hudson. Doc, who was voiced by the late, great Paul Newman (aknowledged by Sally Fields and nearly everyone else as one of the perfect people God created), is distrustful of Lightning the minute they meet, all because he's a race car. Doc comes across as a rather cold and distant "grandpa car". Lightning gives him this nickname and of course, judges him far too early. When he learns of his painful past, and the reason for his distrust, he's understanding. The audience should be as well. Even after Doc hurts other members in his community, he is forgiven when he lends support to Lightning in the final scene. While Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and the other supporting characters lend comic relief, Doc is truly the most human and in my opinion, the most dynamic.
If you didn't like Cars, more power to you. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, whether or not I agree, and whether or not I have a list of arguments to challenge those opinions. The main reason I posted this was to a) return to blogspot, which my pitifully lazy self has missed and b) to dispel the myth that this is the worst animated movie Pixar has released. I can't let that go without a fight.
