Mike's New Car

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.

With the money from his new found fame and success, Mike buys a brand new powerful car to replace his old one. With state of the art gadgets and controls, Mike is eager to show it off to Sully. However this car is a little more complex than his last model.

When I borrowed the Monsters Inc DVD off some friends I was impressed by the sheer number of extras on it, whether the tv spots or the weird Japanese games or the outtakes etc. Of all the things additional to the movie, this short is the second best extra (the best being the musical `Put That Thing Back Where it Came From Or So Help Me').

Although it relies much more on physical humour than the film does I must admit to still being tickled by it. It appealed to the toddler audience a lot more simply because there were no real `over the head' jokes aimed at adults and not at the kids – plus it involved one character being hurt!

Overall I enjoyed this short and, when I watch Monsters Inc with any young relatives, I always make sure that the musical and this short are part of the viewing agenda.

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.

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

This is a funny short and if you like Monster's Inc. it is worth checking out. It feel much more like a deleted scene from the film than anything else. It has no life outside of its connection to the larger work. And it's the second feature that makes me downgrade it so much. This is the first short film made by Pixar connected to feature film made after the film. None of these works are particularly engaging and while Pixar has continued to make original shorts I wish they merely experimented in the short form. There's no great need for a short film with these characters.