Mike's New Car

Mike and Sully are one of my favourites characters from the Pixar universe. They're so wavering. And it's funny to watch them. In this case, they're entertaining us with Mike's new car and it's absolutely hilarious. I would love to see a movie staring only these characters.

Mike and Sully, the two heroes from Pixar/Disney's MONSTERS INC. are back in this short film about Mike's new car. At first, Mike is very, very proud of it, but over time, more and more and more goes wrong--and in the process poor Mike and Sully are bashed to pieces by their overly-gadgeted car.

I saw this film recently in the new DVD of Pixar animated shorts and while it was very pleasant and funny, I was rather shocked to find out it was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short Subject--which it lost to the better short film THE CHUBBCHUBBS! Now this isn't knocking MIKE'S NEW CAR--it's well executed and fun. However, it just isn't special enough to be considered much other than perhaps a DVD extra.

See CHUBBCHUBBS!

This is a quick comment about new cars and all the buttons on them. The "message" being sometimes it was a lot better with a basic simple machines of the past.

"Mike" (Billy Crystal) has a new car he wants to show off to "Sully" so he invites him to take a ride. They never get to the ride because "Sully" (John Goodman) either hits a wrong button or does something to stall things, driving Mike nuts. Poor Mike takes a beating. The cartoon also is a comment on the sometimes-annoying noise the car will make if your seat belts aren't secured.

This animated short came with The "Monsters, Inc." DVD and is a fun four minutes. Mike and Sully, of course, were the stars of the feature film.

P.S. The car is very cool.

Mike's New Car (2002)

*** (out of 4)

Fun Pixar short has Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sulley (John Goodman) from MONSTER, INC. doing more damage. Mike gets a new car and decides to take Sulley for a drive but he doesn't know how all the controls work yet, which leads to a lot of trouble for the duo. I actually haven't seen the full length film that the characters are from but after seeing this I'm certainly going to try and make a stronger effort in getting it on. I thought the film showed a lot of imagination considering how little time they had to tell the story. The idea of various instruments going wrong could have made for a simple film but the nice imagination takes the idea and really runs with it. I loved the sequence where Mike gets sucked up in the engine and his only way out is by making a phone call to Sulley who's still sitting in the car. I was a little surprised to see that this was nominated for an Oscar but either way it's an enjoyable little film.

I saw Mike's New Car not just because it was Pixar but I just love Monster's Inc, finding it very funny and with lots of heart. Mike's New Car is not as good as Monster's Inc, and I do prefer other Pixar shorts like Geri's Game, Presto, One Man Band, Knick Knack and Jack-Jack Attack. The short is short, perhaps too short, so while funny it sometimes lacked the heart of some of Pixar's other work, and I wasn't crazy about the intro, lovely understated jazz music but the miniature versions of Mike and Sulley look odd. The story is simple but at the same time forgettable and perhaps over-reliant on the physical humour. This said, the physical humour is great, very funny especially the ending, and there is some dialogue, and it is witty with the best being the "PUSH THE BUTTON!" exchange . Mike and Sulley are likable characters with an easy-going chemistry, and they are voiced wonderfully by Billy Crystal and John Goodman. The music is jazzy but with a soothing quality, but the best asset is the beautiful animation, like with Monsters Inc I am still impressed at the lengths given to make Sulley look as furry and as real as possible. All in all, nice but I've seen better from Pixar. 7/10 Bethany Cox