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CARS - A Pixar Film ... quickie review (1 Viewer)

TonyD

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another Pixar masterpiece.

i dont know if there is a Disney reviewer in place yet so i thought i would get it started.

this is simply one of the most beautiful films i have seen on a home video format.
i just watched using a toshiba x-a1 on a new mits 73831 dlp.

the colors and the images of the valley popped right out of the screen.

when radiator springs is lit up with neon lights , really just amazing.

the cinematography of the town and the ride outside of town with Sally,
perfect and nearly photo realistic.

i swear some of those backround shots had to be real, and i wouldnt be surprised if they were.

the long shots of Ornament Valley while James Taylor sings a song are breathtaking.

i did see a couple moments of ringing but it was barely noticable.

i cant comment on sound as i listened through the tv.


the special features dont meet up to some other Pixar dvds but the
"new" short featuring 'mater was good.

there is also a pixar animated short "one man band"


i imagine this will look stunning on BR.
cant wait till i get one of the BR players.
when this is announced or actually sold on BR i'll have to get one.



oh yea also there are some funny jokes in the credits to look for and at the end of the credits too.
this is also watchable as a short "epilogue" in the bonus section.
 

Aaron Silverman

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Thanks, Tony. I'm psyched to check this one out. I heard it wasn't Pixar's greatest moment, but my son loves the characters so much (they are pretty cool-looking), we're really interested in seeing it.
 

Steve Christou

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Strange, as an adult watching these things I accepted talking bugs, talking fish and talking toys, but cartoony smiling talking cars seemed too wincingly kiddie-centric. I enjoyed the voice work but felt the film was at least an hour too long. My least favorite Pixar movie to date. Will buy the DVD eventually but I doubt it'll get much play.
 

Ruz-El

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I'm sure I'll pick this up, but ti was the NASCAR centric plot that really lowered my expectations on this one. But it's PIXAR, it has to be good!

Nice to hear it's a fine DVD.
 

Mark Bendiksen

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I actually had lowered expectations as well for some of the same reasons you guys have mentioned. However, I was very surprised at how much I loved this movie when I it during its theatrical run. I'll definitely be picking up a copy.
 

andrew markworthy

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I've had my copy for the last week (one of the few perks of living in the UK is that we occasionally get R1 imports way before you guys).

I've been watching it on an HDMI link at 1080i on a 32" LCD (yes, I know, portable TV size by US standards, but in a tiny Brit hovel it looks huge).

The picture and sound quality are good, but I didn't think it looks or sounds as wonderful as The Incredibles (dinner time at the Incredible's house is a scene I use to demonstrate just how three-dimensional a properly set up system can look). Don't get me wrong, it's good (and better than nearly anything else by other studios with the honorable exception of e.g. Shrek) but compared with the heights reached in e.g. Incredibles or Monsters Inc, I don't think Cars is quite there.

Regarding the movie itself, it's certainly far better than the more negative critics made it sound, but again, it ain't another Incredibles. But that's like saying that Touch of Evil is good, but it ain't another Citizen Kane or the Ballad of John and Yoko isn't as good as Hey Jude. The trouble with Pixar is that they are too damn good, and we expect everything to be better than the previous effort. Cars isn't better than the Incredibles, but it's still worth seeing.

With regard to the much-attacked 'message' of Cars, I must say that I personally found Finding Nemo and A Bug's Life far more cloying (and am I the only one who thinks Andy in Toy Story is a wet drip?). Cars wears its heart on its sleeve, but the sentiment is largely an expression of a real social problem (the decline of small town America), and since the movie has to be accessible to kids as well as adults, of course some of the emotional expression is very simplistic. Incidentally, remarkably little of the plot is NASCAR-centric. The movie is bookended by NASCAR-type races, of course, but you don't have to be a NASCAR fan to enjoy them.

Overall, I'd say that if you liked any of the earlier Pixar movies, you could buy this and find something to enjoy.
 

Yee-Ming

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Me.

Gotta agree with your comments, I thought Cars was pretty good, just not as good as Pixar's other stellar releases. Hey, if Tiger shot a round in 65, that's pretty good (even for him) -- but if his previous round was 61 the critics would just moan about the 4 extra shots...

As a non-NASCAR fan (although I am a fan of Formula 1), I'd also agree the NASCAR-slant was not heavy as one might expect, sure some in-jokes and cameos are lost, but that's always been the case with many Pixar offerings and there's still plenty to go around -- I'm guessing not all NASCAR buffs who watched Cars "got" the Michael Schumacher cameo at the end.

I'm just a little surprised that this is a one-disc release. Is this a pre-cursor to the dreaded 'special edition double-dip'? (Single quotes just for you, Andrew!)

In recent years I've observed that surprisingly R3 releases here are an indicator of a future double-dip of a one-disc R1 title: e.g. I, Robot in R1 was single-disc, with a two-disc SE released later, but the R3 release here was a 2-disc up front, containing all the extra material later seen on the R1 SE. Similarly with the Dodgeball SE, which although still a one-disc had extra material, and this material was already available on the initial (and only) R3 release (which again pre-dated the R1 SE). I'll keep an eye out for the R3 and post comments on that once I've seen it.
 

andrew markworthy

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The Anglo-US relationship hits a new high. ;)

I've a horrible suspicion that there will be a double-dip, but to be frank, in this case I'm not bothered about double-dipping. All the extras I would want (deleted scenes, better view of the gags at the end of the film) are on the single disc. I'm really not that bothered about seemingly endless short pieces about the evolution of the different characters, rough sketches, etc. But I do appreciate that these matter to some folks. Instead of staggering the release, why not do what a lot of other releases have done, and offer the vanilla and special editions together right from the start? Does staggering the release (if indeed this is what is planned) increase sales all that much?
 

Aaron Silverman

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Do you mean that the DVD A/V quality isn't as good, or that the film imagery itself isn't as impressive?
 

andrew markworthy

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Both, I think. Having said that, I only saw Cars the movie at a very indifferent quality screening, so my judgement may be compromised. To me, it lacks the crispness and clarity of previous releases. It could be of course that it's deliberate, and Pixar have gone for a softer, more natural set of effects.

I should stress that notwithstanding these comments, the A/V aspect isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination.
 

Aaron Silverman

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I'm still waiting for the SE of Lilo & Stitch. Much as I love super-detailed extras, I'll probably pick this up and wait for BD to upgrade.
 

Mike Frezon

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I was scratching my head over this comment, too, Andrew. Since others are asking, I'll pursue it.

It's not like Andy had too big of a role in the film. All I can remember off the top of my head--besides the kick-ass pretend-play sequence at the beginning of TS1 (and what little kid didn't integrate all his toys into one small universe like that?!)--was when Andy was disappointed that he couldn't take Woody with him to cowboy camp in TS2 because of his damaged arm. I thought that acting sequence would get Andy an Oscar nod, frankly! :D

It's like saying Andy's mother was too smothering. She had all of a few lines during the entire film.

Heck, Andy even helps out with his little sister!
 

Ray H

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A bit off topic, but where's Andy's father? There's no mention of him. So one can assume he left the family or whatever, but the mother sure does seem to have a lot of time on her hands, so where does the family get its money?
 

Mike Williams

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Every review I've read seems to differ significantly with Andrew Markworthy's opinion of the video and audio quality, including the one here on hometheaterforum.
 

AaronMan

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I felt that The Incredibles was a massive spike in quality from Pixar. A real masterpiece in animation, period. It was not the typical Pixar film. It didn't feel "safe". The Incredibles was the film that destroyed the perception that mainstream animation had to be kid friendly. People died, the bad guys were playing drinking games, etc. I hoped from then on, we would see more animation with situations, plots and dialogue that were written for adults first, but kids could watch too. I was sadly mistaken. We're back to furry animals and talking objects. Cars was back to business as usual. Cars was soooooo "safe". Cars was like giving an average pop song we've all heard a million times to Wolfgang Mozart. Fabulous visual results, but its still a tired movie plot that been around for ages.
 

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