Just perfect...

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I might have seen this short when renting 'Cars' a few years ago but had forgotten about it. Upon renting the first volume of Pixar shorts on DVD, I watched it to refresh my memory but I didn't find it as engaging as 'Jack Jack Attack,' 'Burn-E' and 'Dug's Special Mission.'Two of the strongest aspects are the song 'Behind the Clouds' that opens and closes the short and the lovely fluorescent-coloured lighting that sufficiently illuminated the dark sky for the most part but some shots are too dark and not detailed enough, especially those when Mater is left alone and is scared of what he thinks is the ghost light. There a a few clichéd moments such as the record scratch when the police car mentions the ghost light, the false alarm situation of Mater thinking the cute lightning bug was the ghost light and a slow-motion scream. The dialogue was a tad simplistic and at one point repetitive, but I liked the upbeat-to-slow country music playing after the generic-sounding scary music. There were also some laugh-out-loud moments such as Mater playing tricks on the other cars and trying to scare them, especially Lightning McQueen hoping Mater wouldn't scare him, the brief appearance of the cow tractors (they made me laugh in the main feature) and Mater not noticing the Screaming Banshee after the opening credits. Overall this is one of the weaker feature-related Pixar shorts but its music is mostly worth a listen and the lighting is on the whole beautiful. 7/10.

"Mater and the Ghostlight", made by Pixar dinosaur John Lasseter and the rather-new Dan Scanlon, is an okay little short-film with the main protagonists from Cars and can make for a decent watch during Halloween for example. It's the last movie ever with screen legend Paul Newman. The first 90 seconds or so, we just see all the characters, like a fire-fighter car watering a bunch of flowers etc. Then it enters scary territory as one of the cars tells his very own little horror story and we see it brought to life not much later.People often say the Cars films are Pixar's weakest and this one here is probably the equivalent when it comes to their short-films. Of course, it's not totally bad at all. The animation is great as always and I liked the "the scream of what?"-twist towards the end. This was pretty funny. Otherwise, it's not really a must watch unless you're still very young or you really loved the Cars movie.

Mater and the Gaslight is definitely not bad, but other than the animation really there is nothing special I particularly find about it. The animation is indeed gorgeous, like with all of Pixar's other work, not only beautiful in the colours but there is a sense of atmosphere too, the music fits wonderfully, the Ghostlight is creepy and the voice work especially from Paul Newman and Michael Wallis is great. However, it all feels rather routine, apart from the sight of Mater shaking and looking scared, there is never really anything that across as funny or moving, and the rather thin story holds few surprises. I also have an issue with Mater, I find him much better as a supporting character than a lead, by all means his appearance is not as problematic as it was in Cars 2, but he is rather bland here. In conclusion, worth watching for the animation but it is just lacking for me in humour, charm and heart. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Following on from the action in Cars, the town is all being subject to practical jokes from Mater the tow truck. When Lightening learns of the legend of the ghostlight and the fear in puts into everyone (not least Mater), he decides to get a little payback on his friend.Every Pixar DVD contains an extra short film and, in addition to the one often screened before the film proper, it is a nice touch that I genuinely do appreciate – I would like more films to include a short as part of some of their screenings just as a way of improving experience (rather than, say, 30 minutes of trying to sell me things). Generally the quality is high which will come as no surprise to anyone who understands how high the Pixar bar is set. However nobody can hit every time and for me Cars was OK but certainly nothing all that special in terms of the material. This short continues that trend and also focuses on one of the weaker characters in Mater.The material is straightforward and pretty much comes down to a series of comic over-reactions from Mater to a light. And that's about it. For younger viewers it has enough energy and timing to provide plenty of amusement but those looking for the edge of adult wit and comedy beloved of Pixar will find themselves wanting. Overall then what we have is a colourful and amusing DVD extra that will be good enough for children but sadly offer nothing to the wider audience that I'm used to Pixar expertly catering for.