For some lore on this review series
Coming right after watching The Incredibles I figured Cars was going to another hard sell for me personally. I don’t love cars, or racing* or the Americana aesthetic that much.
I really only tangentially knew the premise and really had no idea how a the red car mingled with the rusty pick-up truck or how racing actually factored into the plot.
Only recently did I learn that this movie was centered around Route 66. I’m not sure I if ever watched a trailer and if I did and just forgot. I’m not even certain I have seen a clip of Cars even in passing. Anything I knew about this movie was tangental from other sources. I knew nothing, which tracks.
Basically I had no working knowledge of Cars but from the looks of it, it just did not seem like it would appeal to me and my taste at all.
And yet I still watched it and I TRIED very hard to keep an open mind.
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And Honestly
I didn’t hate it. I rather enjoyed it. Though I did find it baffling and some aspects of this movie really broke my brain.
The Highlight
For me and what made me really enjoy this movie were the characters. Lighting McQueen’s character arc from arrogant, ambitious loner to enjoying community, legacy and nature is very compelling and satisfying. I won’t say Lighting McQueen was my favorite character but I did enjoy his character development throughout the movie.
I would say my favorite characters were Tow Mater who has a Dory-like quality to him. Also I loved Luigi, Guido, and Red. But really aside from Chick Hicks all the characters are very likable. Maybe too likable. Which is wholly good.
The Lowlight
How do they even get out of their spots?
Actually it’s a great thing that the characters in Cars are so dang likable because the world-building broke my brain.
Talking animals are always going to suspend disbelief but at least there is some basis behind them, you understand the concept of fish or bugs that talk to a degree. Even the toys of Toy Story have some level of core-understand but sentient cars that are basically just people is just harder to get behind.
There is so much this movie adds that doesn’t make sense to the world-building. Essentially the cars are either people or animals. Though the only “animals” we see are the “bugs,” the “tractors” and a ”harvester.” You the viewer are not suppose dwell too much in thought about Cars or the planes or anything it’s supposed to be fun. But having cars essentially being just people but not but living in the human world with some more less rules applying just ended up for me not suspending my disbelief more than if they were talking cars in a world that was made for them. It’s weird and there is so much out there on the internet to try and explain it and even the car’s anatomy.
Also side note were there dinosaurs in this world prior? Because Dinoco has T-Rex as their logo which doesn’t look like a car and the use gas which is made from fossils. I know there is a theory that this world is dystopian so maybe AI created the cars and is the “manufacture”? Also the cars drink gas and have a gas tank? I mean they siphon-off Lighting’s gas so he can’t escape his community service. So what does that mean in this world? Where did they take the gas from???
Also wouldn’t this world be extremely stratified. Like Lighting is a racer which is why he doesn’t have head-lights, Mater is a tow thus he can never be a racer now could Lighting a tow truck. Why is Sally who is a Porsche seems to the only car who has social mobility? Does Cars have a caste system? Because it seems like it could. Also why didn’t Bessie speak or have sentience?
Also did this world have WWII because it seems like it did? just don’t think about it….. It’s a fun movie about cars.
See it breaks one’s mind if you think about it.
An Interesting Facet
There is an intriguing element to Cars’ narrative and it a return to nature. Sally mentions that she moved to Radiator Springs after falling in love with the scenery of the desert. And Lighting learns to appreciate the beauty of the natural world and a slow down approach to life. Even the sentient cars need the natural world even when they are tech.
But why do they have tongues? Nope, just don’t think about it….. It’s a fun movie about cars who go vroom-vroom.
Final Thoughts
Cars is for children who can fully imagine cars as “people-like” living in a similar world but they just are vehicles. It’s basically a concept that I child would play.
However I’m a grown-adult person and the world did ask a lot of me so I couldn’t fully get immersed in this world and accept as it is. However the characters and the sentiment of appreciating natural beauty and living life slow with integrity did help me enjoy this movie more than I thought I would, so that is something.
I also enjoyed how shiny Lighting McQueen is, I’m like a magpie.
* Racing Gaming are fun though. I do enjoy those.
