automobiles
When I read that Pixar was gonna do a movie about, of all things, talking cars, I honestly thought they were in over their heads this time. After megahits like Toy Story, Monsters, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, I believed that this was gonna be their first flop. I mean, seriously, talking cars? Do five-to-ten-year-olds really have that kinda spending power? How do you make something as prosaic as automobiles anthropomorphically believable and emotionally connect with an adult audience? But when I watched it yesterday, I got my answer: you get Pixar to make it, that's how.It was simply a piece of inspired story telling. Anyone can make a little fish look cute or weave a tale about a superhero family. But to get the audience to laugh and cry along with chunks of aluminium and rubber takes some serious horsepower, talent-wise. Go watch it. It's a fun ride that'll take you from chuckle to guffaw in four seconds flat.
(I was initially surprised that there weren't many product placements, even though the movie itself had the potential as an automobile branding vehicle. Beside's the main character's love interest, Porsche, and the VW hippie van, all the other main characters were brandless. Imagine the publicity generated if say, some Jap car company with big bucks managed to get the main character branded as one of theirs. A marketer's wet dream come true! Then again, I believe it was probably a conscious decision on Pixar's part to keep its craft as pure as possible. And the tale was better told because of it.)
