Cars: Rose Colored Glasses vs. Eyes Unclouded

Something that a lot of us hold near and dear to our hearts are the nostalgic media properties with which we are exposed to during our childhood. Most of us are willing to go as far as to say that these media, whether they be television shows or movies, are classics. If you were to ask the average zoomer (Gen Z Person) what their favorite childhood property was, they’d probably respond with something along the likes of “Oh Cartoon Network/Nick/Those Disney sitcoms are so nostalgic for me, but for movies, it’d probably be like Toy Story or Star Wars!” Now, if I were to reach into my childhood memories, something that was very much present in my life were the Disney/Pixar properties. You all can probably tell that I have a strong affinity for those properties even now. I could talk about Up and how great of a film that is, or how Bolt is an underrated classic, but something that has stayed with me longer than some of those other stories is the Cars franchise.

     More so than anything other Disney/Pixar films, I owned plenty of the merchandise that Cars was quite clearly made to sell. My room was littered with random cars, from Finn McMissile to Sally Carrera to plenty of versions of Mater. “Life is a Highway” is a song that has been burned into my memory as one of five country songs that I genuinely enjoy. I still vividly remember watching the original Cars when they aired it on Disney Channel or Disney XD, and renting it from the local library. Even though I was still too young when the original Cars came out, I was able to see Cars 2 in theaters. Then, six years later, I still fondly remembered the franchise enough to see the third film in the franchise. Over the span of six years, I had matured considerably, and my tastes had changed quite drastically. As mentioned in my previous posts, I had an “edgy” phase, and Cars 3 entered theaters during the height of that phase. Something else that premiered in theaters roughly around the same time was the film “Wonder Woman.” My family went to go see Wonder Woman. However, I truly wished to view this closure of a chapter on my childhood, and so I went to watch Cars 3, and I enjoyed it. To have skipped out on one of the milestone films of our generation to watch Lightning McQueen get trash-talked by Armie Hammer must have meant that deep down, I still had a childlike sense in me.

        In contrast to the golden and warm memories that I have of Cars, many others have written Cars off as silly or nonsensical. Many can’t fathom the concept of sentient Cars, which is puzzling to me. Audiences are able to accept talking toys and bugs, but can’t handle talking Cars? Tangent aside, Cars as a franchise is usually placed in the lower echelon of Pixar films. Many draw issues from the story cliches, the writing of certain comedic characters, and a general feeling of immaturity or lack of dignity that is missing in other films.  I revisited the first Cars film again this week, with these criticisms in mind, and I was able to enjoy it, but there was a feeling of sadness after I finished the film. 

      Cars is a film that’s very well polished on a visual standpoint. The computer-generated imagery still is aesthetically pleasing, and there is nothing that makes the film feel outdated. It retains the sense of timelessness that many Disney/Pixar films are revered for. Lightning McQueen is a solid protagonist, if a bit underwritten, due to mostly relying on sports film tropes to craft an arrogant and pompous athlete that learns to be humble. The quite awkward romantic dialogue between Sally and Lightning McQueen is nonetheless charming and cute. Many complain about the overbearance of Mater, but he is given an emotional tether to Lightning, so I can’t be too mad at his antics. In fact, I quite enjoyed the various jokes he made in the film. The visual aesthetic of Radiator Springs is comfy and cozy, something to further emphasize the film’s theme of small town love, something which I was able to connect to now, but not back then. The film is also quite “adult” in its jokes, much of which just flew over my head as a child. Doc Hudson and Lightning are similar in terms of how I viewed them, because I felt as if their transition of world-views was too abrupt, but it is what it is. The soundtrack, in particular “Life is a Highway” and the opening song, brought lots of joy from the sheer basis of nostalgia. The opening lines are iconic, and the racing scenes are exhilarating. Something I’ve always loved from this film, back then and now, is the climax of the film, which is a 10-15 minute racing scene with a spectacular conclusion. It never failed to create emotions in me, both as a child, and as a teenager. There’s something quite profound in the spirit of sportsmanship, almost as if it represents humanity at its best, and Cars nails that aspect with poignancy and elegance. 

  There’s a lot to be obtained from the film’s messages. As a child, I took away that winning isn’t everything and that life isn’t always about the trophies that many chase for. I also learned the value of humility, and how it can change a person for the better. Since then, I’ve tried very hard not to do anything that would show arrogance, but sometimes it slips through. Now, while the story’s thematic exploration is very much sleight in comparison to something like Monsters’ Inc or The Incredibles, I can still appreciate the film in comparison to other relatively lazy animated fare.

    Now you may be thinking, “Matthew was sad because the film wasn’t as good as he remembered.” However, that’s not the case, as I very much had fun with Cars this time around. I feel a sense of sorrow because of the weight of conformity.

     The film series has been ragged on so often that people come to expect the worst of things, and more specifically, it is quite disheartening for fans of the series, as they have to constantly defend something they dearly love. I’m not the biggest fan of the series, but I clearly am partial to the series, and happy that it played a part in my childhood development. You may be inclined to go and change your opinion to fit the masses, but don’t do it right away. It suddenly became cool to hate on the Star Wars sequel trilogy because of this. Before you do, please look at the very object or piece that you are evaluating, and experience it for yourself. Form your own opinion of it. No need to think what everyone else thinks. I like Cars a lot more than other people, even more than other people from my own grade, but their opinions on the films shouldn’t matter to me. If I cherish the film, that makes the film all the more special to me personally, and isn’t that what matters in the end anyway? 

Now I would like to give way to a very special person, someone whom I admire dearly. My friend Solyana Chan! I was really lucky to be able to collaborate with her, and I was ecstatic when she said she would be happy to participate. We came up with the idea of comparing different perspectives: One of Cars as a childhood favorite, and one as a person who is older that is watching it for the first time. So, without further ado, I proudly present Solyana’s take on Cars.

Unlike Matthew, Cars was never my favorite movie growing up. It simply just didn’t have much appeal to a four-year-old girl at the time, so I never bothered with the movie. Fourteen years later, and now, the four-year-old girl is now an eighteen-year-old adult.

Rewatching it, I could understand why the movie wasn’t the right match for a little girl -- the boyish cars, the mature jokes, the themes, and so much more. I simply did not have the mental capabilities nor life experiences yet to treasure the movie to its real worth. Watching Cars now, the young-adult Solyana found herself cracking up to every joke and sympathizing with the characters much more than any other movie. Cars is truly a real gem to Disney, but it was a poem that I couldn’t read until much later on in life.

Besides being gifted with the visual aesthetics of Radiator Springs as Matthew mentioned, Cars brought many gifts to the table. For one, I absolutely adored Mater. Mater was exactly the kind of car that Lightning McQueen didn’t want to associate himself with -- a rusty, old truck. However, Mater was definitely the brightest car and outshined the rest with his naive sweetness and heart of gold. He didn’t hesitate to reach out to Lightning McQueen, single-handedly widening Lightning McQueen’s discriminatory views. Mater is definitely the textbook definition of “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

Another lesson I took out was that a victory is useless without morals. Chick Hicks may have gotten first place in the race, but he didn’t win. After pulling cheap, dirty tricks, no one was interested in his achievement and the well-sought-after Dinoco offered Lightning McQueen a deal instead, despite the fact that technically, he finished last. Ultimately, good cars (and people) will still emerge to win what they deserve.

Most notably, I emphasized the most with Sally. Sally’s character is arguably one of the least underdeveloped main characters in Disney, and personally, I didn’t have any real affection with her character. There wasn’t anything too special about her when we had characters like Mater and Doc Hudson stealing the spotlight, but I absolutely loved the (very) little backstory she gave-- a once prospering, successful lawyer now in an old town. Unlike many of my other ambitious peers, my future aspirations align very similarly to Sally’s. It isn’t the spotlight and fame that calls for me, but rather a humble town filled with a small, loving community. Rather than dreaming of having my own Wikipedia page or a little newspaper article on my achievements, I want to live a humble, slow life enjoying the small pockets of happiness, keeping myself busy with the people I love. My dreams are definitely not on par with others, but like Sally, I’d find myself content with it. She helped me to realize that my humble dreams were worth just as much as others’, and I wouldn’t be missing out on anything.