Cars: The World Premiere - Report From the Red Carpet

[Loomis]

Love the report, Aaron, but your review has confirmed for me everything I feared about Cars.

I'm having a tough time convincing my girlfriend to go and see it with me, and the fact that I am not all that enthusiastic isn't helping.

Still, a fair and balanced review. I'd take that over a high-paid journo any day.

[Wonderlicious]

Still, a fair and balanced review. I'd take that over a high-paid journo any day.

I've got to agree with what Loomis just said.

I am obviously going to watch Cars open-minded (for all I care, what Aaron thinks about the film could be greatly different to what I will think once I've seen it), but I'm worried if the gas jokes will be too much to handle. I think that I will like the movie at least to some degree (aka giving it a 6/10 or above), but I can't see myself giving it a full 10/10 either.

[PixarFan]

Hmm...excellent review of both the premiere and the movie, and I respect your opinion very much, Aaron, but I'm still expecting Cars to be great. Out of all the reviews I've read, most of them say it's really good (a couple even called it Pixar's best yet). Over the past week, a few have trickled in that aren't as positive, yet they've still said something along the lines of "not Pixar's best, but not Pixar's worst, either." I won't have as high of expectations as I have for past Pixar films (I don't anymore, anyway---I had super high expectations for Finding Nemo, and it disappointed me, so I don't go into any Pixar movie anymore with very high expectations), but I'll still be there opening night.

By the way, does anyone know why the French version of Cars is five minutes longer than the U.S. version? Not that I'm complaining...an hour and 56 minutes is plenty long for a movie about cars.

[Luke]

By the way, does anyone know why the French version of Cars is five minutes longer than the U.S. version? Not that I'm complaining...an hour and 56 minutes is plenty long for a movie about cars.

Well, I'm sure it isn't. In fact, I'm not even convinced that the 116 that IMDb cites is the proper runtime. But we'll probably know when more reviews trickle out next week and if not, we can bring stopwatches into our various screenings!

I'm not even sure where my expectations are now. It feels like it's been a long time since I've been really jazzed about a new/upcoming movie, and Pixar films have usually filled that quota. But Aaron and I rarely disagree significantly on a movie or show's merits and he certainly made a well-reasoned case for this being Pixar's first failure. I'm still there on opening day!

[PixarFan]

By the way, does anyone know why the French version of Cars is five minutes longer than the U.S. version? Not that I'm complaining...an hour and 56 minutes is plenty long for a movie about cars.

Well, I'm sure it isn't. In fact, I'm not even convinced that the 116 that IMDb cites is the proper runtime. But we'll probably know when more reviews trickle out next week and if not, we can bring stopwatches into our various screenings!

I didn't think so at first, either. But Aaron's review had the 116 minute run-time also, so I figured it was probably correct (even though I can't imagine it being longer than The Incredibles). Fortunately, my watch has a handy stopwatch feature that I've used on dozens of occasions.

[AwallaceUNC]

Thanks a lot for all the feedback on the red carpet report and the movie review. It was a lot of fun but the writing/video also took quite a bit of time so that so many people have responded means a lot. It's also nice to know that I haven't (yet) been clobbered for my review of <i>Cars</i>.

The funny thing with reviewing an advanced film is that it sort of puts out a level of expectation for everyone else. As MadonnasManOne said, I encourage everyone to go into the film evaluating it as it is rather than comparing it against what I've said in my review.

Wondy- As for the extent of the film's innuendo, fart jokes, etc., I didn't find them to be as crass as in, say, <i>Shrek 2</i>. But then, <i>Shrek 2</i> is a heck of a lot funnier than <i>Cars</i> (not that comedy is paramount, but it's clearly what <i>Cars</i> is going for)... and I'm no <i>Shrek</i> fan. That they've shown up in a Pixar film at all strikes me as an unnecessary act of desperation.

The 116 minute run-time came from IMDb.com. I did not time the film exactly during the premiere (I wish I would have thought to do that), but it is rather long. The movie began right around 10pm and the fireworks ended right around midnight. The fireworks show began the very second that the end credits finished and lasted probably 5 minutes (maybe a little more)... therefore the 116 minutes is at least pretty close if not accurate.

Thanks again, everyone!

-Aaron