A Sparkplug for CARS (The Movie)

Wearied with telling my children that it's too expensive to take them all to see Dead Man's Chest (the sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean that just came out), I racked my jaded brain and recalled...the dollar theater! (Which, it turns out, has gone up to $3 a seat.) I hadn't set foot in one since our firstborn was a baby, and certainly not since they built the amazing megaplex nearby, which turned Papa Rooster into something of a theater snob--nothing else can compare to the experience there. But my poor deprived children rarely set foot in any theater, and the sticky floors of the dollar theater would be a novelty for them, I decided.

So, what to see in the cheap seats? The boys all voted for X-Men 3, and it shows how far down the slippery slope we've slid when I admit that they have all seen the first two. (All the boys, that is. And Blondechick 13. Not Chicklet 3 or Bitty Bantam, who though technically a boy, at 18 months is still designated "the baby" and is not lumped in with the expression "the boys." Just to clarify.)

But they saw the first two in our home on a small screen TV, and Mom and Dad had the remote at the ready to fast-forward through anything unsuitable. I wasn't so sure about this one, in the theater, but was almost willing...till we saw that there was no showing within our time frame. (Phew! We'll catch it later on DVD, with remote in hand.)

But we could see Cars--perfect! And we could take Chicklet, who wouldn't have been happy about staying home with Bitty Bantam and the friend who's living with us.

So Cars it was. And now I'm a raving fan!

I had heard it was good, but I thought it was REALLY GOOD. Of course the animation was excellent, as we've all come to expect from Pixar. But the story was great too. It wasn't predictable or formulaic, and the main character grew and grew up by the end of the story. Plus, it was chock-full of character illustrations throughout. There were mini-lessons on:

• compassion
• friendship
• loyalty
• doing a job right the first time
• choosing relationships and quality of life over career and money
• fulfilling a flippant promise
• empathy
• tolerance (not the usual p.c. type; I'm thinking of two cars who are neighbors but couldn't be more different)
• "winning isn't everything"
  
• commitment to those who've been committed to us
• using your abilities and resources to help others

So do rush out and catch it in your local dollar theater, if you have one. And if you don't, snap it up when it comes out on video!

And I never say that. (I hate owning, storing, sorting, matching to their cases and dusting all the DVDs and VHS tapes that seem to forever grace our AV area; I prefer to "store" them at the local library.) But this is one I'd be happy for my children to watch over and over!

So twelve thumbs up--for CARS!