New Movie Review!
Cars 2: Green cars bio-fuel subject of ridicule in Pixar film?
[Jul. 5 — Editorial]
I recently went to see the new animated film Cars 2. Some parents say I may be looking too deeply into the children’s movie message, but what I saw was an animated kids movie that was red — not green. Despite the very real fact the film was fun, funny, had an all-star cast of character voices (like actor Owen Wilson, comedian Larry the Cable Guy, and Hollywood celeb Michael Caine), I left the theater deeply disturbed. To give you a brief overview, it’s about friendships and who is the better racer between the car star Lightening McQueen and a new race car from another country. Now, my impression is that one of the main characters was supposed to represent Sir Richard Branson, a famously wealthy environmentalist. Part of the story line is a competition between bio-fuel vehicles and regular old gasoline automobiles. The movie was visually stunning as an animated project. The lesson most kids seem to be taking away from seeing the film was that bio-fuel products are inherently dangerous and their use should never be trusted.
Seriously, Disney? Really, Pixar? In this modern-day and age, was promoting the oil industry a great thing?
Granted, in the past people have accused Disney of having subliminal innuendos in their movies. Remember when protest groups claimed there were sexy images in the cartoon movie Aladdin with actor Robin Williams? They also got angry there was a black princess who kissed the Frog Prince claiming that somehow this enforced racial segregation and stereotyping. In both instances, the messages were heavily veiled. However, this message about the danger of switching to bio-fuel was no innuendo. The lesson was overtly clear!
For that reason, one has to ask, “Why is it ok for the makers of Cars 2 to teach our children that gas is good and bio-fuels are bad?” It is NOT okay according to green kids and green parents who are outraged that the animation corporations took reckless aim and newly developing technology and to run the green car movement over flat. Why do this? It is simply, in this writers humble editorial opinion, morally wrong!
Gas and oil products are killing our environment through the billions of gallons that have been spilled. Gas is killing our environment by the carcinogens it puts into the air. Gas is the leading cause of most, if not all of the wars over the past two decades. Look at what companies like BP have done to our ecosystems with damaging oil spills. Ask anyone in NOLA what they think about a future that allows the petroleum companies to continue to bash our environment. Were cars worth what happened to the Gulf of Mexico?
I am sad that I gave my money to producers who would release a movie with such a lesson and I pray that the kids who saw that move don’t internalize that lesson. Directors John Lasseter and Brad Lewis should have known better.
On a positive note, I do hope kids who see the children’s film internalize the lesson about friendship that the movie had (as it was a good one). However, I also hope Sir Richard Branson and environmental crusaders like him continue to push for the development and use of alternative fuels [including but not limited to bio-fuels]. Oil belongs in the ground by or before the end of the first half of the 21st century so we can stop fighting over control of it or struggling to repair damage caused by its extraction. We deserve to breathe clean air now and so do our great-grandchildren.
The sad part is, the generation most likely to make a green planet with healthy human symbiosis and sustainability for transportation a reality just watched the Cars 2 movie.
Shame on Disney for making such a reckless and cavalier moral statement that will undoubtedly leave a permanent negative impression about bio-fuel in the minds of young children who see the film. While it is doubtful the Disney people who worked on the film production will lose money on it, they should be losing sleep over their part in making the anti-green political statement that supports the oil companies and the auto manufacturing giants who snuggle up to them.
[Source: Cars 2 Movie]