Posted on 07/06/2006 7:13:58 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Believes 'Cars' Gives Kids The Wrong Message About Racing Trains
(CBS) -- Is Disney's hit movie "Cars" spinning its wheels when it comes to safety?
CBS 2 West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli reports on the fight to put the brakes on a scene in the blockbuster animated picture about a fast talking rookie racer named Lightning McQueen.
"As I'm sitting there, I couldn't believe it because this is a red car. My daughter was killed in a red car," said Lanny Wilson with the DuPage Railroad Safety Council.
His 14-year-old daughter, Lauren, was killed in a collision 12 years ago when her brother chose to race a train and lost. It was a split-second decision that forever changed his family.
"I don't want this kind of nightmare, this kind of tragedy to happen to other families, especially if we can do something to prevent it," Wilson said.
He believes editing out the train race scene from the DVD version of the film will prevent from other young people from making fatal, split-second decisions.
The president of the Illinois State Medical Society agrees and wants the scene cut from future versions of the film.
"You give children that kind of a message: It cool, it is good to try to go and beat a train. It is the wrong message," Dr. Peter Eupierre said.
In a statement, Disney officials say: "Lightning McQueen's poor judgment in outrunning the train reveals his reckless and thoughtless behavior and is certainly not glorified."
Officials won't say if they're considering editing out the controversial scene.
Until they do, Wilson vows to continue to fight in Lauren's name.
"You never get over it. You just cope and try to go on," he said.
On a more serious note, the jetpack I ordered from the ACME corporation arrived today, and it almost immediately slammed my head into a rock outcropping. Somebody should put a disclaimer on those things. [/W.E. Coyote]
I didn't like the train racing scene!
Plus the movie was too long and could have used some editing... maybe 30 minutes worth.
Otherwise, it was a cute show.
Hmm. I'm pretty sure that by the time one is old enough to drive, the urge to act out scenes from animated Disney movies is all but extinguished.
Yep and if you have ridden the trains for many miles as I once did, you become immune to the idiots trying to beat the train, the idiots walking toward you and looking you in the eye, daring you to NOT put the train in emergency, laughing when you do. This works both ways, believe me.
You never get immune but you do have a somewhat different perspective. I haven't seen the movie but doubt very seriously if it would convince anyone, not so predisposed to reckless behavior, to "race a train".
You know, that scene from the movie kind of bothered me, too. Racing trains is not cute and not funny. Folks who misjudge are turned into tomato paste and the train drivers, who are helpless to avoid the accident, are traumatized for life.
Just ban trains and you won't have this problem. And cars...stop the production of cars too.
IT'S A FREAKING CARTOON!
Me too. I even jumped through the open window of an AMC Pacer like dem Duke boyz did and hurt my back. Can I sue?
No I wouldn't!
I think the fact that this scene was included indicates that the Disney folks don't really understand rural life. From an urban perspective, racing the train may luke cute. But country folks figured out that was just S-T-U-P-I-D dumb a long time ago.
Let's also ban anything from the ACME company. That poor Warner Bros. coyote was dynamited, knocked over cliffs and driven into the sides of mountains by so many ACME products.
If I recall correctly, the dynamite was RED!
Honey I Shrunk the Kids was my first clue to this, and that was ages ago.
The last time I checked, ANIMATED films don't have to be cut, nor are there any out takes or bloopers.
Guess he isn't a Dale Jr fan.
The chance that Disney is going to modify the film at this point is about nil.
BTW, in the Fast and the Furious, in the climactic scene, the two heros are drag racing to beat a train. It's a double whammy!
Oh, and Vin Diesel hits the train with a glancing blow and survives!
People in movies do a lot of stupid things. Characters in cartoons sometimes do even more stupid things. Should we eliminate all the roofjumping scenes from movies? After all, people have died from falls as a result of trying such things. And should we eliminate Wile E. Coyote since he suggests that people who fall great distances will survive (at the expense of having to listen to accordion sounds when they walk)?
Have you ever seen the blooper reel from Monsters, Inc.? It's the funniest part of the film!
I remember a story my great grandmother used to read to me. It was about a horse that pulled a milk wagon but the farmer bought a truck. The horse raced a train in that ancient story to prove that it was still worthy to pull the wagon.
Mikes new car and the birds were hillarious.
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