Mike’s New Car (2002)

Mike’s New Car Review

Mike’s New Car is a 2002 animated short film. It is the first Pixar film that was based on the studio’s previously released feature.

This was a companion piece to one of Pixar’s best movies ‘Monsters, Inc.’ In it, Mike buys a new cool car full of great gadgets, but him and Sulley fail to properly start the car and they end up destroying it in the process. This is just a four-minute short that was meant to bring you back to the world of this movie, in particular its characters. Gone are the high emotions and amazing world building of the original in favor of some physical humor meant to appeal to all ages.

While the movie lacked sophistication, it was undoubtedly very well executed in terms of humor, dialogue and animation. The movie is so well animated with the car’s gadgets all looking polished and memorable. The dialogue is slight, but that worked in this instance where the visuals tell the story. It was wonderful seeing Sulley and Mike once again and their friendship was hilariously put to the test here. Mike’s continuous frustrations with his new car made for so many funny scenarios with the ending being the best one. Sulley opening the hood and closing it on his hand was also quite amusing.

Mike’s New Car is a simple, but effective comedy flick that made great use of the characters of Sulley and Mike while benefitting from excellent physical humor.

My Rating – 4