Going Through Movies #5

Cars
dir. John Lasseter, 2006
Seen June 14, 2007 with a bunch of kids moving in and out of the room

I suppose it was only a matter of time before I saw this again with a bunch of squirmy neices and nephews. I'm sure by the end of the year, I'll have seen Shrek 3 four or five times. Hopefully I can trick them to just watch this instead. I remember seeing Cars in the theater with quite a bit of trepidation. NASCAR, Rascal Flatts, and Larry the Cable Guy were just a couple of the signs that pointed to Pixar finally going corporate. Once Sheryl Crow hit the soundtrack, it was beginning to seem that way. But, once the hijinks got moving, Lasseter and company pulled through and gave me the usual good time. Watching it again, I'd still place this near the bottom of the Pixar barrel (which is still a few barrels above Shark Tale). The movie's message is a little more heartwarming, the montages are a little bit sappier, and the celebrity cameos are just a bit more numerous than the Pixar norm (although the lengths Pixar goes to anthropomorphize the cars makes cameos like "Jay Limo" or the Hello Kitty car very strange). One thing I noticed on this watching is Lightning McQueen's punishment of paving the town's main road is an obvious Cool Hand Luke reference. Although this time, Paul Newman and the movie is definitely on the law's side. O! how the rebel has fallen in Hollywood's eyes.