Life is a highway; well maybe. I had my doubts about Cars as I entered the almost empty cinema in Adelaide with young C. I adore pixar films, but the premise of this one, with all the NASCAR connotations had me a little worried.
So let’s get the bad news out of the way first. This is the most US-centric of the Pixar movies and the racecar humour and cultural observations were lost on both of us. However, like all other pixar movies, the premise doesn’t limit the depth of the characters of the humanity of the storyline.
Which leads us to the goodnews; this is possibly the most culturally interesting of all the Pixar films. If there is one thing these filmakers do well, it is nostalgia and you will get it here in bucketloads. This leads to a number of good occasions to relfect on changing patterns of travel and recreation. Moreover, it sets up a nice (and deeper than one would expect in an animated film) narrative of cross-generational reconcilliation.
There’s a lot more to be said about this one, but for now I would recommend ignoring the appearance of being US-centric together with the massive mechandising drive and giving this film a viewing.
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Fernando Gros is a guitarist, composer, photographer and writer based in Hong Kong. Born in Santiago de Chile, Fernando grew up in Sydney and has also lived in London and Delhi.
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