Pixar.

This week I watched Cars again.

I had only seen this movie once before- years ago, probably right after it came out. I vaguely remembered it being better than I expected, but since then, I really had no desire to see it again. Then I won a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack of the movie through a Disney Movie Rewards contest.

I was excited because 1) Free stuff! I won a contest! :), and 2) I do love Pixar films and I'm trying to collect them all on DVD, and this was one less to buy.

So I watched it this week. And once again, I was shocked by how much I enjoyed it!

First off, I know that I am not the target audience for this film. I'm not a 5 year old boy. I don't beg for Cars toys and merchandise for Christmas. But I still really loved it! Even though this isn't even close to being the best Pixar film, it is still clever and amusing and fun. It proves the point that so far, Pixar really can't seem to make a bad film (I haven't seen Cars 2 yet, so I have no comment on that one).

I'm not a Nascar fan, but it is really big around here. And I know enough about it to understand the great little spoofs and cameo voices scattered throughout the film. I absolutely love the Route 66 setting and Radiator Springs. I love the personalities of the cars that live there. I love (most) of the movie soundtrack.

{Country music is so good when you weed out the drinking-smoking-cussing-cheating songs in order to find the gems. Seriously! I always heard country music growing up and it makes me feel all nostalgic. Hearing Rascal Flatts and Brad Paisley during this film put me on a country music kick for a few days.}

I *love* the epilogue. Especially the car-themed Pixar movies that they watch at the drive in. Car-Woody yellling "You are a TOY CAR!" And Buzz responding, "You are a sad, strange little wagon. You have my pity."

I know I've written about my love for Pixar before, but I'm really in awe of those guys. Not only do they churn out consistently incredible and smart animated films, but they seem to have so much fun doing it. It almost seems wrong to have that much fun at your job. :)

A few months ago,  I saw a documentary about Pixar through Netflix streaming called The Pixar Story. It was fascinating and I learned so much about the company. Like that John Lasseter (one of the head Pixar guys) was once fired by Disney. Or that Steve Jobs had a big part in the company when they were struggling financially. Or that Toy Story 2 was originally going to be a direct-to-video film, but was so terrible that Pixar took it on at practically the last minute because they didn't want to be associated with such a low-quality movie. :) Unfortunately, the documentary isn't available on DVD, as far as I can tell.

They also interviewed Tom Hanks about the Toy Story films, and he mentioned the first time that he and Tim Allen saw Toy Story 2. He said that they were both completely unprepared for how emotional Jessie's song, "When She Loved Me," would be. He said that they were two grown men sobbing during that scene. That completely cracked me up. But honestly, every Pixar film has a point that, if you're not close to tears, you're completely heartless. :) Right, Carl-and-Ellie montage in Up?

I am so excited about the next few Pixar projects coming up. First, Brave, a Scottish fairy tale. And then a prequel to Monster's Inc. (my absolute favorite Pixar film), called Monsters University. How awesome will that be? :)

Until next time,