Cars
Review by Fritz Esker
It has been a while since I shamelessly plugged anything, so...ComedySportz New Orleans is changing times and venues. Starting Friday, June 2, we will be performing on Fridays at 8 at Zeitgeist Performing Arts Center at 1724 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. in New Orleans. I recently performed on stage for the first time with ComedySportz, so...come see a show and you can either hear my vocal/announcing skills, or watch me humiliate myself in public. Secondly, I do not perform at this show, but....I have friends who frequent the open mic night (stand-up comedy) at Lucy's Retired Surfer's Bar at the corner of Tchoupitoulas and Girod on Wednesdays at 8. All are welcome to either enjoy amateur stand-up or try and take part yourselves.
Cars, directed by John Lasseter (Toy Story), is the newest effort from animation behemoth Pixar (Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, The Incredibles). While it is not as good as some of its predecessors, it is still a film that kiddies and their parents should both enjoy.
Rookie race car Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is already contending for a title despite his youth. However, he is cocky, arrogant, and friendless. On his way to a tiebreaking race for the title in California, he finds himself stranded in the hard-luck desert town of Radiator Springs. There, the film follows the fairly typical storyline of a hot shot city boy who finds himself humbled and bettered by the wisdom of small town folks. He falls in love with a lady Porsche (voiced by Bonnie Hunt) and is alternately tutored by and at odds with the town's chief, a Hudson Hornet voiced by Paul Newman.
Generally, I find the deification and romanticizing of small towns by Hollywood to be nauseating. Not all films do this, mind you (Boys Don't Cry made small towns seem like hell on Earth), but...I typically find this brand of Hollywood romanticism to be B.S. That being said, Cars makes it all go down easily. Like any Pixar film, there are plenty of laughs to be head and clever sight gags abound. The animation is absolutely breathtaking, as some of the desert vistas are so lifelike that you can almost forget you're watching an animated film.
However, Cars falls short of the greatness established by Toy Story and Toy Story 2. For an animated film, it is incredibly long (a little over 2 hrs), and the length feels largely unnecessary, as the film bogs down at times during Wilson's stay in Radiator Springs.
Flaws aside, this is still worth seeing and I look forward to Pixar's next film.