CARS (2006)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Pixar's latest animated feature, "Cars," is pure automobile nostalgia or perhaps animated automobile porn. If you love cars of all different sizes and shapes (and trucks too), then "Cars" is the movie for you. For the rest of us, it is certainly sleek yet overlong with a flimsy story that feels padded out to two hours. Still, tots and adults may enjoy it more than I did.
Set in a world populated by cars and trucks only, "Cars" begins with Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), a bright red race car whose dream is to win the Piston Cup, the major prize for winning at NASCAR-type racing. In his latest race, he is tied with two other formidable competitors, Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton) and The King (Richard Petty), by literally his tongue on the passing line. Lightning McQueen is on his way to California for another race when he is accidentally let loose while sleeping in a truck onto Route 66. He is chased by the police in a virtual ghost town called Radiator Springs. This town used to be a busy section of a time long forgotten where all the cars would ride along the main highway for leisure. Still, the angry judge of this town, Doc Hudson (voiced by Paul Newman), sentences Lightning to community service - Lightning's job is to clean up the ripped apart road leading into town.
Meanwhile, Lightning makes fast friends with tow truck Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) and Sally (Bonnie Hunt) the Porsche who has a soft spot for Lightning. We have scenes where sleeping tractors are tipped over, houseflies are minute cars with wings on them, a couple of fast-paced racing sequences, a statue of a deceased car, and much more.
Director John Lasseter and his team of animators have invested a lot of ingenuity into the visuals and lifelike animation - it is clearly an astounding technological job. I like some of the personalities of the cars but, let's be serious for a moment, this movie is monumentally silly and didactic. And there is only so much I can take of Owen Wilson's voice, plus Larry "Get 'Er Done" the Cable Guy's voice can be monotonous. Only Paul Newman comes through with cynicism and humanity as the Judge that seems to belong to a better movie than the nostalgic one we are stuck with.
As I've said, kids and adults will probably love it. I am no fan of talking pigs or animals or cars in general (except for "Watership Down"). But on the Pixar meter of quality animated fare, "Cars" is still far below "Monsters, Inc.," "The Incredibles" or the "Toy Story" flicks.
