Apologies to anyone reading a review of mine for the first time but this one’s gonna be as random as any other … in that the main thing on my mind, as I suggested might’ve been the case back when I first reviewed Pixar’s last movie The Incredibles, was, they should’ve made “Starlight Express” instead. Or, at the very least, when Andrew Lloyd Webber finally gets round to that show (and lets face it, it looks like he wants to cinematize them all), it’s Pixar he should turn to. For this movie is exactly as I imagine a “Starlight Express” movie to look. Exactly.

Anyway … back to the movie itself. I was pretty amazed by how quickly this world was sold to me. From what I’d seen before, the trailers, the talkshow clips, etc, I really thought it was always gonna come over a little dumb, but I adapted to it as easily as I did to the world of Toy Story. This from a person who detests cars. I’m amazed the general response to this movie hasn’t been better, ‘cos sometimes I walk around and I feel like I’m the only person in the world who feels this way about motors.

The “I’m a lost car!” premise is quite easily comparable to Pixar’s first Toy Story (and, apparently – though I’ve seen it I don’t remember – Doc Hollywood) and certain things like the tractors (which, incidentally, made me laugh harder than anything else so far this year) resembling the gulls of Finding Nemo jar just a little … and while the animation is as mesmerising as anything Pixar have put out, it never strikes as groundbreaking as some of the stuff in The Incredibles (the shine of the metal and the particle smoke look great ... but it’s only ever better and never completely new). But let’s face it, we’re pretty spoiled sometimes.

Randy Newman’s score is relievingly not annoying (sorry, there was a time I had a major prejudice against his movie scores – I think it started with A Bug’s Life – and I still can’t quite shake it) and the soundtrack selections are great – I particularly love the James Taylor “Our Town” sequence, brought a tear to my eye.

It’s the best movie I’ve seen this year, if that’s saying anything at all. It’s second worst in Pixar’s catalogue only to A Bug’s Life, though; whether that says how good Pixar is or how bad this year has been, I’ll leave that to others to decide. But let me leave you with little Guido …

OMG. I want one. My hero of the year, totally.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 at 12:03 am in 4 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.