Take A Look at Disney

8/6/14

The Radiator Springs 500 1/2






Hello  & welcome  back to A Look at Disney  and yay, I get to go back to Radiator Springs.   We've established in the past that I love the world  of Cars.   Cars  is my  favorite Pixar  movie,  it was my first full  Pixar  review,  my  second retrospective series was Mater Mondays  taking a look at all of the Mater's Tall Tales that had been released up to that point.  This  page will direct you to those reviews.   Now,  I know this is an unpopular opinion but  I love this film.   The second movie never happened,  look even as a Cars  fan,  I can't defend that movie. However, where the characters truly shine are in the  Cars shorts that  Pixar  has  made  and earlier this year with the release  of the Disney Movies Anywhere App,  a new Cars  short was released,  which was was aired on Disney Channel for the last time, last week  and it is now on Disney.com,  this is  The Radiator Springs  500 1/2.   And  this  may  just  be  my  favorite    Cars  short.   






The  Plot


Radiator Springs  is  celebrating    it's  founder  Stanley  with  plans  for a leisurely  drive  with  McQueen  filling  in the role  of Stanley.   





But  this  leisurely  drive turns  into  a race  as  some  of out of towners  show up  to  challenge  McQueen  to a race  and this  is where the short  gets  good  as we  get a  great   compare/contrast  between the racers taking the wrong directions  and   Mater  fills  in as Stanley  and takes  the residents  of Radiator  Springs   on the leisurely  drive that was promised  and  we get to see some cool  locations including The Enchanted Forest.





I  wish  but   Cars  wouldn't  fit  into  the world of Cars.   I  just  love  how we get the contrast  between   the nice  and tranquil  driving  with the  Radiator Springs  characters and the race  gets more intense.




And   one  of the best  parts  is  how  Mater  plays a  part  in  being people's  memory in this short including his own  and  he appears  in a thought bubble.



So,  the  cars  on the leisurely  drive end up getting back to town  before the racers  and the racers after  taking their treacherous  path get  the misconception that Stanley was a badass.   I just love that their path  is filled with so many  twists and turns  from  falling down a hill and landing in cactus,  which reminds  me of something that happened in the movie.    And the short ends with  Stanley's ghost appearing above his statue.



This short  is  more focused on comedy than character with the compare/contrast between the leisurely drive and the  intense race going down the wrong direction.   This short is  most certainly worth  checking out.


Characters


Mater voiced by Larry The Cable Guy




Mater  was his   fun lovable  self with his  corny  jokes   that  made him my favorite Pixar  character in this short.   It was  nice to get  spend  some  more time  with Mater again.    


Lighting  McQueen  voiced by Owen Wilson



Okay,  this  is minor  but  in all of the  Mater's Tall Tales,  Keith  Ferguson  voiced  McQueen  and I mean  no disrespect to Ferguson  as  he was good  stand-in  but  when  I saw in the credits  that  Owen Wilson had returned to  voice  McQueen,  I was ecstatic  because  like  Tom  Hanks  as Woody  or John  de Lancie as Discord,  Owen Wilson  is  Lighting  McQueen  and while  McQueen  didn't  have  very  many lines, it was  just refreshing to have  McQueen's  original  voice back.  It  just felt right.


Sandy   Dunes  voiced  by   Steven  Purcell  


      


Now, the racers that came to challenge  McQueen didn't really have  much of a personality  but   I'm  okay with that  in this short as they were just meant to be stock  racers  and  this short  is more concerned with comedy.   And  in that regard,  this short   uses  these characters for a lot  of great  slapstick.



My  Final  Thoughts


If  you like Cars,  this short is so  worth  a watch.  This  short was just so much fun and I was more than happy that Owen Wilson came back to voice Lighting for this short.   Now again, this short is more concerned with  comedy  than  characters  but  it  is  really  good with comedy.   As  a  huge  Cars  fan,   I cannot  wait  to watch this short  again.  Peace!

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