Now the cars are the movie stars
A movie about our favourite, four-wheeled friends? about time, says Sean O'Grady, who sets the scene for Disney's animated blockbuster, 'Cars'
Published: 27 October 2006
Given that people routinely give their cars a personality, it seems odd that
Hollywood has only just got round to making a full-length movie in which all
the cars are stars. Think about the names that people give their little
runabouts - Reggie the Renault, Moggie the Morris Minor, Molly the Austin
Allegro and so forth. Witness the personalities we ascribe to our cars.
There are people out there who really do believe that their automobile can
be talked into starting, even when it doesn't want to on a cold winter
morning, a little like the way Prince Charles talks to his plants to help
them grow!
Basil Fawlty once beat up his Austin 1100 estate in Fawlty Towers. You might have seen John Cleese in action: "Right! That's it! You've tried it on just once too often. Right! Well, don't say I haven't warned you! I've laid it on the line to you time and time again! Right. Well... this is it! I'm going to give you a damn good thrashing."
Some people have felt the same way about errant automobiles. And why do you think designers spend so much time on the "face" of a car, deliberately or subconsciously trying to give their products the appropriate look? The Mini's huge headlamps in proportion to its front always gave it a "baby face" that appealed to basic parental instincts.
So why has it taken so long for Disney, anthropomorphic pioneers in so many areas, to get round to Cars, its latest animation? The short answer must be that it wasn't possible before now. The studio's previous efforts, the Love Bug films featuring Herbie the "almost human" Volkswagen beetle, relied very heavily on what now seem to be rather crude and contrived mechanical trickery, bouncing bonnets, spraying oil on baddies and that sort of thing. Expensive and not that effective.
Things have come a long way since then. We now have Pixar, the people behind pretty much all the remarkable CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) productions of recent years. Toy Story in 1995 was the first, followed by A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Each one outdoes its predecessor in realism, and Cars doesn't disappoint, with chrome trim and faded paintwork given near-filmic treatment.
Pixar's cartoons have always been financed by Disney, but the smaller company has kept its creative autonomy, and it hasn't been too difficult to tell Pixar films apart from Disney's own in-house productions. Over the past decade, Pixar has made colossally successful computer animations, while Disney cranked out some of its most forgettable fare, all of it drawn in traditional 2D fashion: does anyone remember Brother Bear or Atlantis: The Lost Empire? Disney's panicky response to this slump was to send 2D cartoons to the scrapyard and attempt some Pixar-style digital animation, in the hope that that would solve all its problems.
But as glorious as Pixar's cutting-edge visuals can be, a wider gulf between its recent output and Disney's has been created by the quality of the screenplays. Toy Story was simply far better written than Atlantis, and it would have been a hit whether it had been brought to life using Plasticine models or a flick book.
Pixar is now owned by Disney and Cars, its latest venture, explores some very traditional Disney themes; director and co-writer John Lasseter has seen to that. You're guaranteed some fuel-injected sentimentalism and finely tuned nostalgia is fitted as standard - not to mention all those marvellous merchandising opportunities to boot.
There are so many characters too! Think of all the toy cars you're going to have to buy. There's Doc Hudson, a small-town doctor and gentleman respected for his medical expertise and dedication to his patients. Sally Carrera (voiced by Bonnie Hunt) is a gorgeous 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera who guarantees a few handbrake turns in her dust trail. Mater (voiced by US comedian "Larry the Cable Guy") is a predictably loyal but dim-witted, rusty Fifties tow-truck blessed with ebullient optimism and always more than willing to help. And Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is a hotshot race car, a hybrid of a number of cars, perhaps with traces of Corvette, Ford GT40, Ford Mustang and Viper.
Consumed with a desire to become the youngest car to ever win the Piston Cup Championship, Lightning McQueen is arrogant, discourteous and brash to his pit crew. But when he becomes lost in the sleepy town of Radiator Springs he is acquainted with a new group of friends who have a humbling influence. And he finds love in the shapely form of Sally Carrera.
The success of Cars has driven profits at Disney to record levels, prompting it to predict a bumper Christmas of DVD and toy sales. And work is already underway to develop Cars-themed rides at Disney theme parks. The Pixar film has become Disney's most lucrative property since The Lion King, according to chief executive Bob Iger, and will help to boost profits across all the company's divisions. "We see enormous potential," he said. "Cars will have enduring appeal."
Disney's quarterly profit topped $1bn (£525m) for the first time in the three months to June, showing a 39 per cent rise. Largely thanks to Cars, the film studio business grew revenues by 17 per cent and swung back into the black.
The creation of two successive blockbusters - Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - has put a renewed spring in the step of the Disney film business. The success of Cars represents a coup for Pixar and Disney.
Sean O'Grady is The Independent's motoring editor
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