DVD Review HTF REVIEW: CARS - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! (1 Viewer)

[george kaplan]

I've said this before, but I don't understand what one's opinion (mine is very negative) about Nascar has to do with this film. I have no interest in insurance, but I love Double Indemnity. I wouldn't want to spend a day in New York, much less live there, but I love The Apartment and Rear Window. I love outer space, but I don't want to watch Pluto Nash. I love piano music, but I'd tear my eyeballs out before ever watching The Piano again.

One's interest or lack thereof, in the content and context of a film, as opposed to the underlying story, really has very little if anything to do with how much you'll like the film.

I hate NASCAR, love Cars.

One more example - does anyone, from the most ardent fan of the Beatles, to their most fervent detractor, love Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band?

 

[MarkHastings]

But what if they sat around discussing insurance quotes for 2 hours?

 

[TravisR]

I'm stealing that joke. It may take years to find a conversation to work it into but I will do it.

 

[Khai L]

Here is Australia there were a limited number of Cars DVDs that included an exclusive bonus disk of extras.

Some extra things included are:
1) RascalFlatts "Life is a Highway" music video
2) Making of "Life is a Highway" video
3) Making of the Music
4) Life size McQueen and Sally (talks about the construction of the life size replicas of the characters that could actually drive).
5) Meet Pixars Gear Heads (talks about the car fanatics that work at Pixar)
6) Talkin' Cars
7) Cars Alter Egos (voicing actors)
8) Dinner at the big texan
9) Day in the life of a producer
10) Hot Laps in Sonoma
11) Worldwide Cars

They were selling these 2 disc sets quite discreetly. The packaging was exactly the same except for a removable sticker that indicated "EXCLUSIVE BONUS DISC!".

I bought it, and it also came with a bonus Cars character keyring.

Either way, it sort of makes up for the lack lustre extras in this release.

 

[BarryS]

I love this movie and really want to buy it, but I will wait for a special edition release. These extras are pitiful. The Mater and the Ghostlight animated short is okay, nothing special. The interview with John Lasseter is nice, but too short and far from thorough. There has to be another edition on the way next year.

By the way, you certainly don't have to like NASCAR or Larry the Cable Guy to enjoy this movie. I hate both, yet I loved every minute of the movie. Even if you're a die hard NASCAR hater, give Cars a shot. It's a fantastic movie chock full of that irrepressible Pixar charm. And the whole Route 66 ghost town aspect is really neat... perfect subject for a story. And you got Paul Newman and George Carlin in there too... c'mon...

 

[george kaplan]

Obviously trailers are important, but I have to say, that I have yet to be impressed by a Pixar trailer. I remember being particularly underwhelmed by the trailer for Monster's Inc. (a film I love), as well as The Incredibles (a film I love even more), and really all of them, including Cars. But despite that, I end up loving all their films. Also, for some reason, the trailers always look better to me after I've seen the film. Which of course, defeats the purpose of a trailer.

Of course, it's not just Pixar. Lots of great films have lousy trailers and vice-versa. I guess I'm really dreading if Pixar comes out with a trailer that I really love. Either that's going to be the best Pixar film yet, or the first bomb that they make.

 

[donnie_d]

worst animated movie ever.

 

[Rudi]

OK I'll bite, "The Hobbit", the songs were horrible.

By the way I really liked "Cars".

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I didn't know that the surface content was so important for some people. I didn't care about fish or bugs much, but I managed to love both Nemo and Bugs Life.

I despise organized crime and the mafia, yet I love The Godfather. Am I weird?

 

[MarkHastings]

I don't even think it was anything to do with like or dislike - I think it may have to do with familiarity with the subject. I know something about bugs, so I'm going into A Bug's Life with the expectation that I might get some of the "bug" references...I know about sea life, so I'll get the "Nemo" references...Not knowing anything about NASCAR, I had a feeling that I might miss a lot of the 'jokes' if they were all NASCAR centered.

Kind of like watching a movie that spoofs another movie. If you don't know the spoofed movie, you might not get the joke.

I don't watch a lot of horror movies and I find the Scary Movies to be a bit confusing at times (i.e. not as funny as those who understand what they are spoofing).

 

[TonyD]

so can you actually offer us a opinion rather then just a statement.
just a useless post otherwise.


on the disney thing i guess i misunderstood the deal.
for some reason i thought they just signed on to continue being the pixar distributer not the owner.

 

[Peter Overduin]

I despise anything to do with racing for a whole host of reasons...however..this will be no. 2 in my collection after the DTS IMAX Speedway, which is also a great demo disk!

Besides...does Pixar even know HOW to do anything half-assed?

Have been lookng forward to this one and am pleased once again to know my time and money will not be wasted. Thanks for the review!

 

[AaronMan]

I posted this in the discussion thread, but it may get more mileage here:

My main problem with the movie was the car world itself. I mean a car's only purpose is to transport humans around. I mean, do these cars get inside other cars and drive around? The city looked strangely vacant with no people walking around. Also, the world had stuff that was clearly designed for a human. How does McQueen dial that phone with the human-finger sized buttons in his trailer? I was constantly looking at their headlights for their eyes (sort of like Benny the Cab from Roger Rabbit). Also the cars really couldn't show affection towards each other except rub fenders or something. All McQueen and Sally could do was just look at each other. But they looked like they wanted to hug. Some of the dialogue didn't make sense either. That one car was shouting, "Von Dutch stripes! Well, that was a guy. They wouldn't even know who Von Dutch was.


I know, I'm supposed to say, "But its just a movie, get over it!" I just couldn't. I really wanted to, because I LOVE cars. Especially muscle cars from the late 60s. The world just didn't make sense to me. Their world just had too many holes in it. The other Pixar films had fully fleshed-out worlds. With Toy Story, for instance, it made sense. It had rules and the characters followed them. What happens when your toys are left alone? There was a connection to the real world. The toys had reasons for existing. Some wanted to be loved by their master, others were mangled and abused. I felt sad for Andy when he lost Buzz. These cars though...do they have a reason to exist?


Also, like others have said, they took the Flintstones approach with some of the names...Jay Limo....yuck.

But it was an awesome technical achievement. That cannot be denied. To get those cars to twist and deform like that...I would love to see those rigs.

Anyway, just my opinion.

I might have picked up this DVD just for the extras, since that was the only thing I was impressed with. But there's hardly any extras, so I probably won't bother.

 

[MarkHastings]

Agreed again - as much as the other films aren't based in reality, the leap to fantasy was a little easier to make. This movie really didn't have any practicality in it and that leap was a little tougher for me to make. Of course, I made that leap, but not after that slap to my brain.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

That was a helpful post... :rolleyes

 

[Colin Jacobson]

The Bug's Life SE didn't come out until about six months after the initial one-disc release. Never thought of it as "hugely expensive".

As for Toy Story, Disney release it and TS2 the same day, and these were available in the "Ultimate Toy Box" at the same time. There was no individual release of TS or TS2 until later - you had to buy them together at first...

 

[TonyD]

i think the first bug's life spec ed was msrp of $40

 

[Mike Frezon]

I HAVE NO IDEA if this will be the same in the U.S. But Target will be selling a "Deluxe Edition" of Cars which will include a bonus DVD. I have no other details...except a price point of $19.99...above $15.99 at Target for the 1-disc DVD. Other prices and retailr exclusives will be featured in this week's Weekly RoundUp over in Coupons & Bargains. I'll be posting up about 2 1/2 hours after this post.

 

[MarkHastings]

Has anyone ever viewed these "Bonus" discs that local B&M's give away? The ones I've gotten from Wal-Mart SUCK!! You can tell they're just crappy extras that are only being used to get you to buy the DVD at their store. If they were any good, they'd be on the official DVD.

 

[TravisR]

Eventhough I think all the features should be on the release, I don't have a problem with going to a specific store to buy a title with a bonus disc. However, I'm not paying $5 more for it. It's not like you need psychic ability to see that this is going to be re-released in the near future so I doubt that this bonus disc is going to have the 'good' special features that they're saving/working on for the SE anyway.

The combination of it being a store exclusive of a kids movie means that the features probably are going to be along the lines of Sing Along with Lightning McQueen. Call me crazy but I've heard that cover of Life Is A Highway enough already.