11/17/2011

Overthinking Cars (Or What Happens When Your Child Gets Fixated On A Movie)

So the latest movie that is on anytime I will allow it now is Cars 2. This started out as a welcome relief from the original Cars, which I'm pretty sure I could quote completely backwards. However, Cars 2 has brought up some questions that I'm not sure how to answer. Thankfully these questions have not yet come from the kiddo, but I'm expecting them at any minute.

See, in Cars 2, we travel around the world to various races and we get a chance to see other kinds of cars. The Japanese cars are all petite, for example. And it got me to wondering...in a world where there aren't people, just cars, do you get to decide what you want to be when you grow up or are you what you are based on the body type you have at manufacturing? And how did you get that body type? Do your parents choose? If, for example, Lightning McQueen and Sally go on to get married and have a baby, what will it look like? Will it be a small stock car? A small Porsche? Half and half? What if it doesn't want to be a race car? What if it decides it wants to be a tow truck like Uncle Mater? At the end of college, do cars undergo extensive reconstructive surgery to allow them to participate in their chosen career? Or, if you're born a Porsche, are you just SOL if you decide you want to be a tow truck?

Also...what happened to Doc Hudson? At the start of the movie they talk like he's gone...but how does a car die? And do they bury them or recycle their parts? (Is that similar to organ donation?)

Honestly...this movie needs to go missing sometime very soon.

1 comment:

  1. My son is totally enamored with Cars. He has a vast collection of the Cars cars. Even in spite of the fact that we seriously limit his TV viewing time, we've probably watched the movie 20 times. It's an underrated movie - it has a lot of heart, some valuable lessons, and is a tender story.

    Cars 2? Ugh. The movie is far too frenetic. Far too violent - with talk of "killing McQueen" sending my little guy out to the movie theater lobby totally distraught and tear-soaked. The story and its afterthought, thin lessons are convoluted and meaningless. It has almost none of the heart of the original.

    Pixar has got to get off of the sequel bandwagon! Toy Story 3 was, likewise too dark and violent for my tender-hearted son. That movie was his first theatrical experience and it overwhelmed him towards the end. I loved Buzz's Latin spin, but the underlying prison theme was too seedy and ominous for little children.

    Gotta say tho, we LOVE Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Up! and even Ratatouille! I'm a Pixar fanboy from way back, hoping that Brave puts them back on track.

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