Pixar puts wings on Cars
Planes
Disney Toon Studios
Dane Cook
Aug 9th, 2013
This movie was exactly as I was expecting it to be going in. While not made by the same team (Pixar) as Cars or Cars 2 it is instantly evident that they reused landscapes. One scene seems to take place over Radiator Springs, the setting of Cars. It even features voice work by John Ratzenberg, a long time staple in Pixar.
The story of this movie is essentially Cars and Cars 2 in reverse. The hero being a lowly nobody who quickly rises through the ranks of champions to become the best of the best is the opposite of Cars’ story of a higher up falling to the common man’s level while the plot device of a race around the world similar to Cars 2.
Where this movie does succeed is in the voice acting. Dane Cook (for once in my opinion) isn’t a giant ball of annoying. He really sounds like a poor backwoods kid who aspires to go beyond his loy in life. Also many multi-nationals are actually voiced by natives of their country — for example, Priyanka Chopra —a famous Bollywood actress — voices the Indian plane and Monty Python actor John Cleese voices the British plane. (Why John? You’re so much better than this movie!).
Where this movie fails in are the characters and the plot. As said above the plot is part and parcel repetition of many similar underdog stories (Hell the movie even lists ones like Rocky. How would a car/plane box?). The reason the characters fail is that every single one of the non-Americans is a racial caricature. Even the Canadian is playing on a joke. While it’s not really a new thing it’s something that was more done in the 90’s. It seems like major step backwards for a studio that has had some good movies.
In the end this wasn’t a bad movie but there was nothing really good either. For a final rating I give it a 6/10. A good movie for those who liked Cars but a skip for everyone else. On a final note concerning the trailers I never ever want to see Muppets singing “Move Like Jagger” again. (It still hurts me now.)
