



Radiator Springs 500½, is packed full of fast-paced action, eye-catching camera angles and puns atop of puns. All this adventure is balanced perfectly against a leisurely stroll as the townspeople retrace Stanley's original frontier route as he discovered Radiator Springs. Before you read any further though, if you haven't already watched the six minute and twenty second short film yet, be sure to head over Pixar's latest tale,is packed full of fast-paced action, eye-catching camera angles and puns atop of puns. All this adventure is balanced perfectly against a leisurely stroll as the townspeople retrace Stanley's original frontier route as he discovered Radiator Springs. Before you read any further though, if you haven't already watched the six minute and twenty second short film yet, be sure to head over Disney Movies Anywhere and watch it for free.









PLOT SUMMARY

The town of Radiator Springs is just about to kick off their annual "Stanley Days" celebration (in honor of their town's founder), when Mater spots a cloud of dust in the distance. A group of baja racers has sped into town looking for Lightning McQueen (having heard he was the fastest race car around). Shortly thereafter the baja racers insult Stanley prompting Lightning to utter, "Looks like our leisurely drive just turned into a race".





Mater informs the racers of their course with a series of extremely quick and confusing directions which sets up the ensuing chaos. While the racers are speeding their way across the terrain, Mater leads the rest of the gang on the relaxing frontier path. When Mater and crew arrive back in town, they wonder where the racers are (they should be back by now). As the racers speed back into town after dark, they are humbled by Stanley's bravery - they can't understand how a car like Stanley could have traveled on such a treacherous journey (not knowing that they took a completely different path).





THE CHARACTERS

Flo in her "Roaring 20's" Gatsby outfit

(perfect pun on cars having 20" wheels")





We had previously mentioned how excited we were to see a few of our favorite Radiator Springs characters with new paint jobs, but after seeing all of the characters, we really think Pixar did an outstanding job giving the entire gang an early 1900's look (since Stanley founded Radiator Springs in 1909). At one point, Flo even jokes that she's, "roaring her 20's" as Lightning McQueen asks, "Everyone dressed for adventure?" That was just one of many puns which are spread across the entire short - in fact, we love the quirky nature of the jokes as the Rimshot Pitty rolls into frame hitting his drums with the signature, "ba-dum-crash".





Coconuts Mater & the hilarious Rimshot Pitty

Classed-up Sally

Ramone with his Radiator Springs skyline paint job

Fillmore with his jugs of fuel

A gold-clad Red

Lizzie, Sarge and Sheriff all dressed up

The green-tinted Luigi and Guido

The amazing looking re-design of Sheriff

Lightning McQueen as Stanley

Mater as Stanley - also with the Rimshot Pitty as mater exclaims,

"I'm beside myself!"

Small Fry among many others). Idle Threat (voiced by Toy Story 3 among many others) has the open wheel design of Francesco Bernoulli and Sandy Dunes (voiced by Pixarian Brave) is the instigator of the baja group. The baja racers are designed with the same amount of detail and style as their Radiator Springs counterparts. Personally, we love Shifty Sidewinder's design the most (voiced by Danny Mann - another veteran of vocal work in Pixar films) - you just can't go wrong with a Volkswagen Baja Beetle in vibrant green. We also loved the reference to True Grit by naming one of the characters Blue Grit (voiced by Jess Harnell - Fun meal Zurg inamong many others). Idle Threat (voiced by John Cygan - Twitch inamong many others) has the open wheel design of Francesco Bernoulli and Sandy Dunes (voiced by Pixarian Steve Purcell - co-director of) is the instigator of the baja group.





I know I've talked about this before (on our podcast as well as in additional posts), but I can't wait for the baja racers to be released as a set of die cast characters (details below). Additionally, I hope we see a larger series from this short with the Radiator Springs group all decked out in their throwback looks.





THE DETAILS

I have to admit that when I first heard the summary for the story a while back, I was perplexed at how they could fit all of that content into roughly six minutes. True to Cars Toons form though, this entry into the Tales from Radiator Springs catalog found its way to balance humor and action in a way that left me wanting more. The camera angles blew me away and the dispersed lighting between the clouds of dust as the cars raced by was jaw dropping.





The low camera angles as the cars flew overhead was one of my

favorite moments in the short

The side-mounted cameras mounted to the cars really took us into the action









Brilliant warmth in the lighting and subtle water

movement in the reflections.

I have already watched Radiator Springs 500½ several times and I look forward to watching it again and again as I attempt to pick up more of the subtle nuances scattered throughout. One moment that I can't help but make a connection to the original Cars movie is when Sandy Dunes says to McQueen, "How's our dust taste city boy?" This sounded so close to Sheriff saying, "Get a good look city boy?" while he was being "operated" on by Doc Hudson in the original movie.

Cars Toons director/co-director, Rob Gibbs. It should also be noted that this is also one of the final projects worked on and finalized at





The story was original conceived by John Lasseter, Rob Gibbs and Jeremy Lasky and was directed by veterandirector/co-director, Rob Gibbs. It should also be noted that this is also one of the final projects worked on and finalized at Pixar Canada DIE CAST CHARACTERS While we can't be 100% certain that any of the final die cast cars will in fact look exactly like the images below, the folks at Take Five a Day posted these images of the toys a few months ago and I can't wait to get a closer look when they hit store shelves (no word on a release date yet).







DISCUSS Radiator Springs 500½ we'd love to hear your thoughts on the short - leave a comment below and let us know, or Now that you've seenwe'd love to hear your thoughts on the short - leave a comment below and let us know, or cast your vote on the Pixar Post Forum (scale of 1-5) and chat about the short in more detail.

HOW TO WATCH THE SHORT Radiator Springs 500½ will be shown exclusively on I also appreciated the moment when the race first started and the cars sped off of Radiator Springs' Main Street how the loose dirt at the edges of the pavement picked up and swirled in proper vortex patterns.will be shown exclusively on Disney Movies Anywhere (as a part of the iPhone/iPad app, or online). All you have to do is log in and click the Discover button then select the short to watch it. You can read more details regarding Disney Movies Anywhere in our post highlighting a Pixar Easter Egg hunt video (also exclusively released on the site). You can also download the Disney Movies Anywhere app in the iTunes App Store by clicking the button below.





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Another detail that I absolutely loved was when the camera cut to the point-of-view angle, the audio details also changed. For instance, in the screenshot above, as the camera cut to this angle, the audio followed suit including more detailed sounds of rocks and debris hitting the inside of Lightning's wheel wells. I know I should expect nothing less from Pixar's team, but these little details floor me every time.Pixar Post - T.J.