cars for teh summer win!
I have seen the trailer for CARS a few times and I must admit that I did not have any inclinations to watch it. Yes, even though it is by Pixar. The trailer was all cars racing cars racing cars (duh) and I am not a car person so I figured I’d give it a miss.
THEN someone offered me a seat at the press screening of the movie, of course I go lah. Waste not want not, right? I must have been the only non-media blogger there, because SOMEONE slept through his alarm clock and didn’t wake up till centuries later.
Oh the movie… BEST SUMMER MOVIE SO FAR…. what, I’m supposed to elaborate?
Synopsis: Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is a rising superstar race car tipped for NASCAR-like greatness and pwnage. On his way to compete in a race for the Piston Cup, he got stranded in a sleepy town, Radiator Springs. Forced to spend some time in the town, the hero underwent a journey of new-found respect, humility, friendship and love.
Lesson learnt: Do not assume that all trailers give you accurate insights on the movie plots. Some trailers will and do suck. At least the one I saw for ‘Cars’ anyway. Damn noob right me? Should have learnt my lesson after ‘The New World’, where 10 out of 10 people who saw it told me that it sucked even though the trailer looked promising. Artsy people thought otherwise — obviously we are lacking of class la… lacking of appreciation for moving grass and breeze and (bad) poetry la… lacking of appreciation for non-typical Hollywood junk la… but I’m telling you, don’t even get the pirated dvd for ‘The New World’.
And Pixar did ‘Cars’ so brilliantly! Though the plot was somewhat typical do-gooder with a moral-lesson-for-the-kids like most Disney/Pixar movies, ‘Cars’ was darn funny and memorable in its own way. The stars were apt for the characters they provided voices for, and what GLORIOUS animation! From the beginning of the movie I was awed by the extensive details of the background and landscape. So pretty the lighting, the wonderful nitty-gritty the production team took such great care to include, I’m falling over myself here.
Personally I prefer ‘The Incredibles’ (mostly due to Edna Mode’s dry sarcasm overload) but someone said that you cannot compare all the Pixar movies together-gether because each one is different. I guess someone was right. ‘Cars’ was definitely better than ‘Ice Age 2′ anyhow. Better than ‘Mission: Impossible 3′, definitely and from credible reviews, better than ‘Da Vinci Code’.
And this summer’s blockbuster pwnage, ladies and gentlemen is………. tam tam taratammmmmmmmmm
CARS!!!!!!!!
Congrats congrats Pixar, you deserve it.
If that wasn’t good enough for you doubters, there’ll be the obligatory Pixar short film as appetiser, this one is called One Man Band.
Via Pixar.com:
With one coin to make a wish at the piazza fountain, a peasant girl encounters two competing street performers who’d prefer the coin find its way into their tip jars. The little girl, Tippy, is caught in the middle as a musical duel ensues between the one-man-bands.
Equal to ‘For The Birds’, is my humble opinion. Ten minutes into the movie, I found myself still thinking about ‘One Man Band’. It was like I couldn’t believe the brilliance I’d just witnessed.
And also, stay for the credits. You’ll thank me for it.
CARS open in Malaysia cinemas on 8th June 2006.
Tags: cars, cars_the_movie, pixar
PIXAR ROCKS.
Suanie:
so happy! lalala…
Pixar is the best animation creator ever. I’ve been a fan since Toy Story. I think Shrek’s been one of their best films ever.
Nice blog. Your blog is different at best! Thanks for the read.
Suanie:
thanks!
Er. Shrek is not from Pixar. It’s Dreamworks.
‘Lesson learnt: Do not assume that all trailers give you accurate insights on the movie plots.’
Um … er … when did trailers have anything to do with the movies they advertise?
Whcih reminds me, Simpsons movie … can’t remember when it’s being released though!
‘but I’m telling you, don’t even get the pirated dvd for ‘The New World’.’
but I like Art House movies … or is it just a ‘Hollywood pretending to be arthouse’ movie?
I’ll have to see cars though … just because I liked the band! [I they were from Boston!]
Suanie:
trailers : I’ve always thought they did.
the new world: okay you should watch it and let me know what you think!
Wouldn’t you rather watch Saladin ? hahaha
Suanie:
I just read about it from your blog, no thanks
I’m not reading the spoilersssssss
Suanie:
no spoilers
ShadowFox - why would Suan watch something with Salad In it???
She’s not a vegetarian!
Suan - I might give it a watch some other day … like, I’ve seen so few movies lately … I still haven’t seen ‘Team America’ …
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
In terms of CGI and storylines, the Japs are still way ahead of everyone else when it comes to animation. The only sad part is, their stuff dont get the big screen attention worldwide.
And no, Naruto does not count. Read the manga instead, screw the anime cos it sucks big time.
CGI no, the japs are still behind the wests.
Japs are mostly Lightwave and Maya (Squaresoft) houses. As for storylines, mostly yes, but flops like Final Fantasy spirits within = sucks. Advent children is the better one and done MUCH cheaper.
It may be the best so far from Japan but it’s still not ahead of others in the west yet.
The wests are too far ahead of the game because they also can afford the budget. They have their own in-house custom applications and plugins and others that implement state of the art algorithms for producing the best quality CG images. Japs are still far behind, reason, probably the Chinaman/Asian syndrome of management/treatment of employees.
Cell animation, most definitely, but koreans are not far behind. China and India has abundant of 2D cell animators, and very few use hand drawn cell graphics anymore, they probably use vector based software such as US Animation or Softimage Toons or similar.
Character development, most definitely the japs win in this area.
But 3D character animation is no longer as difficult as it used to be. If you’re animating humans, things like motion capture can easily reduce your work load.
In terms of large scale movies, yes.
But compare the amount of animes that get churned out, to the last western cartoon that actually had good animation and with an intriguing storyline ?
really? the trailer didn’t look appealing to me either
Suanie:
yeap I wonder who found the trailer appealing. Yday someone told me on msn that he had the same view
Dabido: My ‘copy’ of Team America doesn’t work. I need to get a new one. But it’s pretty funny so far. Go watch it.
Shadowfox: The west leads because they captured the majority of the market with their productions. Eastern countries are able to compete on the same level IMHO, and the only reason they can’t do so is thanks to budgeting and the miniscule asian market which supports them.
I think the quality of the animations are up to par, and the reason why western animated movies are hits, are because of the genre that they target. Similarly, I don’t see many 2d japanese animations hitting a low in the states.
I think Saladin is worth a watch. Tho I personally do not like the idea of mocap taking over traditional animation techniques. I always prefered hand animated.
Well if you don’t like mocap, I’ve got news for you.
There’re less and less manually modelled objects in 3D animation as well nowadays. Godzilla movie and ‘Dinosaurs’ comes to mind.
Many just use a 3D laser scanner to scan the vertexes of the sculptures they made using clay.
That’s even faster nowadays but it’s probably only good for pure polygon models, not subdivision cages.
I want to watch Over the Hedge, fuck cars.
Suanie:
the trailer was bad but the movie was good
my description of THE NEW WORLD…its 135min of pure torture…..if you manage to sit through the whole movie without slitting your wrist. And throughout the movie, the ony thing keep repeating in my thought is ‘Are we heading somewhere with the plot??’
Suanie:
or, “is something exciting coming up?
that’s why we couldn’t leave the cinema. paid already, have to find out
I heard Michael Schumacher featured in it as well?
Suanie:
yeap, a small part just for his fame
2007 is the year of the Transformers live action movie.
I am anticipating that one over any other movies this year.
Suanie:
ooOoO must watch must watch…
wouldn’t it be great if they make all my fav. childhood stuff into movies? Like carebears… smurfs…
man.. i shld have go for the press preview instead of letting my colleague to go.
then i’ll shout, SUANNIE!!!!
Suanie:
aiks… then i shy and blush then you buy me coke and popcorn
How they breed actually…?
I mean it’s really silly how the ROBOTs breed… They bought their offspring.
Suanie:
how about oil transfer? then there’s the eksos paip…
Kalamari - Yeah, it’s the movie I plan to watch next … just havent’ got around to it. I suspect my sister may have got it for me for my B’day!
Shadowfox: Yeah I know. Kinda sad for those of us in the 3D industry. Makes us feel all redundant and stuff. Imagine losing your job to a machine.
suan, you don’t want a Smurfs live action movie. trust me.
Suanie:
but.. but… it’d be blue and cute
Would love to see live action movie of Smurfs, getting bombed by unicef. hahaha.
http://media.putfile.com/Smurfs_Unicef_Belgium
Muahaha enjoy the 2005 smurfs ad.
Suanie:
and below there’s a comment, ‘why would you want to bomb smurfs, they are cute..’
Smurf Live Action Flick = Gaaayyy!
Actually, you can even make a trailer for a classic movie that’s… completely different from the original movie. Take this example:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1326622037671179079&q=shining
The Shining, ahhh, a classic horror based on a Steven King story. Jack Nicholson gave a vintage performance as a novelist slowly going round the bend in an isolated Rocky Mountain resort, holed up for winter with his wife and kid. And in classic YouTube fashion, some itchy-finger took some clips from the movie to make a trailer.
For a romantic comedy named Shining.
Suanie:
hahehahehae that’s funny.. in an odd way
Suertes - Not as gay as:
http://gay.smurf.live.action.porn.com.elephant
But, what do they expect when there is only one female smurf in town!!!!
*TAG*
Smurfette was originally Gargamel’s creation. At least he didn’t seem to think that they were all gay.
i cried buckets watching that shining “trailer”. hehehehe…. best
delia: I cried buckets when I found out I paid money to watch The New World.
hehehe kan? even the mention of the movie makes me hurl
[…] So I bought Cars because I liked the movie, and I thought Ryan would like it too. […]