Ani-MAY-tion: Cars (2006)

I heard about Cars being made. I wasn’t interested. I saw the trailer for Cars. I wasn’t interested. Cars came and went at the cinema. I wasn’t interested. So why do I own all three Cars movies? Well, I decided I would get them for free when Disney still offered a decent reward scheme on their website. I used points on them, but still couldn’t work up any enthusiasm to actually watch any of them. That changes now. I am determined to watch all three this month, for better or worse. Considering how much I enjoyed this, it may be for the better.

Owen Wilson voices a car named Lightning McQueen, a cocky young racer who is frustrated when his latest race ends in a 3-way tie. The winner will be decided in another race in California, which means a long journey across the country. There’s an unplanned diversion though, and McQueen ends up stuck in the small town of Radiator Springs, where the pace of life is quite a bit slower. Taking things a bit slower can give you plenty of time to learn more and plan ahead better, but that isn’t how McQueen views the situation, despite the patience and determination of the locals.

Directed by John Lasseter and Joe Ranft, who also co-wrote the screenplay with a handful of other writers, Cars isn’t the sharpest Pixar movie, nor is it the wittiest. That’s a high bar though, and I will usually find plenty to enjoy in every one of their animated treats. The main pleasure here comes from the different characters surrounding our misguided lead, voiced by the likes of Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry The Cable Guy, and Tony Shalhoub. There’s also a gorgeous visual style throughout, as you would expect, with the characters and environment in perfect simpatico, presenting a world that is so well-realised that viewers can easily accept everything onscreen without any questions, at least until after the end credits have rolled.

Wilson is a good choice for the lead role, his particular vocal style softening the edges of a character that could have been much more annoying throughout the first half of the film. Newman is used well as the elder who offers some sage advice to someone who needs to start listening to others. Both Bonnie Hunt and Larry The Cable Guy are great in main supporting roles, the former being very sweet while the latter delivers plenty of laughs, and Shalhoub gets to steal one or two scenes as Luigi, a huge fan of Ferraris. There are also delightful performances from Paul Dooley, Michael Keaton, George Carlin, Edie McClurg, Richard Kind, and John Ratzenberger (in what I would say is his biggest Pixar role, and allows him to deliver a superb set of meta gags over the end credits).

The pacing is slightly off, just slightly, and there’s an uninspired soundtrack, as well as a clumsy attempt to shoehorn in an extra narrative strand about the small towns that have suffered when new road developments were planned to bypass them, but the sweetness and humour always work well enough to keep you smiling as you wait for the predictable, and rewarding, finale. AND you get a number of cameos that should please motor-racing fans.

It may all be downhill from here, I have heard bad things about at least one of the sequels, but I am now temporarily optimistic about finally making time for this trilogy. I recommend this one to Pixar fans, but (as ever) . . . mileage may vary.

7/10

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Ani-MAY-tion Month: Tangled (2010)

For their 50th animated feature, Disney decided to turn to the classic tale of Rapunzel, shaking it up a bit to create a beautiful, funny adventure that ranks up there with some of their best work.

Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore) is resigned to her life in the tower. Whenever she pleads to go out and see the big, wide world her "mother" (Donna Murphy) manages to convince her that it's no good. But opportunity comes her way when a charming rogue named Flynn (Zachary Levi) seeks temporary safety in the tower. Flynn is forced into agreeing to take Rapunzel out into the world, letting her see the lights that fly in the sky, every year on her birthday. Little does she know that the floating lanterns, for that is what they are, get released every year by her real mother and father, who are royalty, as well as the subjects that they rule over.

Perfectly mixing the traditional with the modern, in terms of both animation and also the characters, Tangled is yet another in a recent run of near-perfect Disney hits. All of the expected elements are in place - the anthropomorphic animal (a scene-stealing horse named Maximus, in this instance, but there's also a very cute chameleon raising smiles), the beautiful princess, the wicked crone, the moral lessons - but they somehow manage to avoid feeling stale. I think that's due, in some small part, to the way in which everything is portrayed in a fairytale age gone by, while also being injected with some modern sensibilities. Disney isn't reinventing the wheel here, but in recent years they've managed to embrace a sense of fun again, a real exuberance that has been elevating their work.

Directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard have a great script, by Dan Fogelman, to work from, and they keep a nice balance between the sweet, more Disney-esque, moments and the sequences that embrace an enjoyable irreverence. The musical moments, by Alan Menken, also help a lot in this regard, with "Mother Knows Best" and "I've Got A Dream" being the two highlights.

While the vocal cast isn't exactly full of people who are immediately identifiable from their speech, everyone does well in their respective role. Moore, Murphy and Levi are all a pretty perfect match for their characters, while Ron Perlman, M. C. Gainey, Jeffrey Tambor, Brad Garrett and Richard "Jaws" Kiel also lend their talents to the mix.

It's maybe not quite as good as absolute classic Disney fare (although keep an eye out for both Pinocchio and Pumbaa in sneaky, fleeting cameos), but it's pretty great nonetheless. Let your hair down and give it a go. Yes, I just ended with that pun.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tangled-Blu-ray-DVD-Mandy-Moore/dp/B004E10JD4/ref=sr_1_4?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1397497711&sr=1-4&keywords=tangled