Yeeeeeeoooowmm!!!

Rating: 7/10 (28 August 2006)

After the eco-friendly murmurisms of Over The Hedge, the genius behind Toy Story offers up a fable about a world dominated by cars. Those noisy little things that, along with TV and fast food, stopped everyone from walking. The visuals are fab, the jokes somewhat drab but the racing is top notch pixar. Even when they aren't quite on form, it is hard to fault what they do best.
Owen Wilson voices Lightning McQueen, a hot shot race car who, after drawing with two other cars in the final of the Piston Cup, is the favourite to win, a first for a rookie. On his way to the playoff race in California, his way of carriage decides to take a nap whilst trotting along the intersection. As a result, McQueen ends up in the charmingly barmy town of Radiator Springs, the kind of place you'd want to visit, but wouldn't like to live in. His holier-than-thou ways don't exactly impress the simple townsfolk, not least Doc Hudson (Newman), the wise old granddad of the town. He learns those familiar lessons of "There's more to life than racing" and yaddy yada. And it is all perfectly charming and fairly amusing whilst never being particularly effecting.
Except, of course, for it's visuals. Cars is gorgeous, every pixel is beautifully rendered, so we have superb backdrops of waterfalls, the glow of traffic lights and rim lamps in the night, and of course rust. Lots of rust and dirt. Then there's the racing: the nascar-style drives are electric for both kids and adults. So in the end, whilst it has a decent, if predictable cast of characters, it is the aesthetics that win you over. Whilst Cars is probably lacking that great wit of The Incredibles, or indeed the benchmark film Toy Story, but it isn't disappointing. It doesn't necessarily go nought to sixty in 3 seconds, but manages to keep a relatively enjoyable pace for it's overlong duration.