Mater’s Tall Tales-Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales (2008)

Directed by: John Lasseter, Rob Gibbs, Victor Navone | 37 minutes | animation, family, short film | Original voice cast: Larry the Cable Guy, Keith Ferguson, Elissa Knight, Mickie McGowan, Jan Rabson, Bob Scott

‘Cars’ (2006) may not have been Pixar’s best or most successful film, but it was the most loved by many young children. In addition, you most often encounter the characters who saw the light of day in this animated film in any toy store: entire shelves are full of related products, such as cars (of course), backpacks, stationery and things for the decoration of the children’s room. Lightning McQueen and Mater are the most appealing characters and given the target audience it is not surprising that Pixar has made the charmingly rusty Mater main character from a series of short animated films, which were broadcast on TV in the United States. These are all collected on the DVD and Blu-ray release ‘Cars Toon: Mater’s tall stories’ (a pun that will pass the little ones).

What Takel has been through in his life is almost unbelievable, but it is made clear here in scents and colors that it is really true. Lightning also has trouble taking the tall tales his best friend lays out for truth. In nine, less than five minutes long, films we see Mater as a stuntman (‘Takel the Great’) (where he takes an obstacle of dozens of cars in his own way) and as a rescue team (‘Rescueteam Mater’), where he first acts as a fire engine, saving Lightning from a burning petrol and match factory (!) and then as a surgeon repairing the broken car. In ‘Monstertruck Tow’ we see how our favorite tow truck can effortlessly compete against the most spectacular monster trucks and thus become champions, under the motto: ‘If you are not strong, you must be smart’.

One of the funniest movies is Unidentified Flying Mater, in which Mater befriends a small UFO. It evokes memories of his early friendship with Lightning in ‘Cars’, when Mater taught Lightning to reverse. ‘El Takeldor’ and ‘Detectakel’ are less successful, although the latter is beautifully designed as a real film noir. However, the story is too complex for the short running time. To see Matador as Matador after ‘Monstertruck Matador’ feels more like a repetition of moves and is only nice because of the animation. It is indeed clever how the tow truck remains so recognizable despite a completely different appearance.

The story of ‘Heavy Metal Mater’ is also very thin, but some funny references to the music world make the film worth watching. In the fun ‘Moon Mater’ (which, like ‘Detectakel’, has not been broadcast on TV) our hero, who is being trained for an emergency job to become an autonaut with rocket Roger (good for some “Roger, Roger” jokes) flies to the moon to towing the car. “I used to be an import too,” Takel begins his story in ‘Tokio Takel’. He says that he had to tow a car very far away and ended up in Tokyo. There he is challenged to participate in a ‘drift’ competition and that means a lot of action and fast flashy cars. Of course, the setting offers plenty of opportunities for beautiful neon colors and comic types such as small Japanese with big eyes and a bunch of Ninja vehicles.

Each film is constructed in the same way, which is very pleasant for the young viewers. Recognition will increase their viewing pleasure. For example, Mia and Tia (Bliksem’s biggest fans) are in every great story of Mater, and Lightning often finds herself in a predicament when Mater takes him on the scene. The tow truck also invariably knows how to prove that it really doesn’t make up the stories, er, band,… ‘Cars Toons: Mater’s tall tales’ is a nice snack from Pixar. If you have a toddler who already knows the first Radiator Springs movie by heart, you can assume that this one will also find its way.