I am teaching a
workshop in February and March of 2007 on the movie Cars, spending about ten hours
(over the course of five weeks) examining the film in-depth, paying particular attention to the characterization,
plot, and storytelling techniques.
In preparation for teaching this workshop, I am in the process of
assembling a list of links: articles (such as those in automotive and animation magazines and e-zines),
interviews, and reviews (positive reviews only). If you have seen or bookmarked any such references, I would
welcome the chance to review them and possibly add them to my list.
(I would also welcome print sources or
VHS/DVD recordings of interviews or TV specials, if you are willing to mail them to me.)
Hi and welcome to
Pixar Planet.
I should say that having Cars as part of your lesson plan must
be really exciting 
The following link should be a good place to
start:
[url=http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/cars/]Official Cars
Website[/url]
As for reviews, you can find many positive reviews in the following
link:
[url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cars/?critic=all]Cars in Rotten
Tomatoes[/url]
If you’re unfamiliar with Rotten Tomatoes, it is simply a website that compiles critics’
reviews on certain films, and sorts them into two categories: (1) Fresh, indicated by a red tomato, which means
that the critic liked/loved it, or (2) Rotten, indicated by a green splattered tomato, which means that the
critic didn’t like the film. The link that I gave you includes reviews from non-professional critics, so if you
just want to stick with professionally written reviews, you can click on the tab that says “Critics”
(right beside “Users”).
The following is also a pretty good
resource:
[url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=10387]The
Technology Chronicles: Inside Pixar’s Cars[/url]
This link includes a podcast that you can listen
to.
I hope that helps.
Thanks! I proposed the workshop to two different organizations – one picked it up; the
other thought that no one would want to sit through ten hours of talking about a Pixar film!
I have links
to Pixar, to the Cars movie site, and to Rotten Tomatoes, but the Tech Chronicles link was one I don’t have, so
thank you!
I don’t have any
links but welcome to pixarplanet Lightning NC! 
Mitch
#5
Lightning_NC - Welcome to
Pixar Planet, Lightning_NC!
It seems as if
CountSolo has already given you an excellent list of websites to use, but, if
necessary, here is one more:
[url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060608/REVIEWS/60606002]Ebert’s
Review[/url]
This is a review on Cars that the well-known critic, Roger
Ebert, gave some time ago, when the film was first released in theaters. I have always loved reading Mr. Ebert’s
reviews, and this particular one on Cars is pretty positive. He gave it a
“thumbs up” (three stars out of a possible four/five).
Again, welcome to [i]Pixar
Planet[/i].
You are very welcome
For the sake of accuracy, it’s three out of four stars.
I also read Mr. Ebert’s reviews very frequently. He’s a critic whom I respect very much, even though
there are times when I don’t agree with his reviews (e.g., Attack of the Clones,
obviously 
). The thing is, he’s not the type of critic who “flames” on bad movies, if you know what
I mean. Instead, he uses his wit (sometimes with clean sarcasm) to review movies that he disliked or despised.
Also, several of the films that made it to my list of top films (and others that didn’t make it but were still
great) would not have been there had I not read Roger Ebert’s reviews on them (i.e., I wouldn’t have known what
these movies were). Here’s hoping that he recovers soon.
Anyway, I better get back on
topic…
Here is another link that could be helpful to
Lightning_NC:
[url=http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=14741]Pixa
r Mastermind John Lasseter[/url]
This one’s an interview (by Comingsoon.net) with John Lasseter. I don’t
know if you’ve seen it, but it’s a nice little interview
Well, I know a site called rottentomatoes.com. It is a
review site for movies. All reviews are official and are from the pros. You can choose which one you want to look
at. All of the good reviews are distinguished from the bad ones.