Cute but a step down from the usual Pixar/Disney Masterpieces

Rating: 8/10 (24 July 2006)

Cars seems to be all the rage right now and that's awesome!! For me though I admit I was a little disappointed considering Pixar films have always scored at least a 9/10 on my scale. Cars didn't quite capture the usual magic of say The Incredibles or Over The Hedge. First and foremost it dragged a little long being two hours is a quite a feat for Pixar animated film. I'm not sure that it needed to be that long and the middle of the film dragged significantly. I think that really was one of the major things that dragged Cars down. On top of that despite a really cute and interesting supporting cast the main character of Lightning McQueen wasn't as strong as he needed to be. While it's important and a Disney specialty to have an interesting supporting cast they shouldn't outshine the lead character and they do for certain!!
Owen Wilson voices Lightning McQueen, the hot shot race car rookie that ends up getting lost on his trek to the next big race. Wilson's voice is strong and fits McQueen well but the character is written with a bit of an understatement to him. He gets overshadowed by the supporting cast that has a lot more personality than McQueen. Paul Newman is terrific as Doc (in perhaps the veteran actors last role??) You can practically see Newman in the old, grumpy, and gruff former race car. The car's personality fits Newman's typical role perfectly. I admit one of the greatest moments in the film is in the last race scene when you hear Doc's voice over Lightning's pit crew head set...almost got me choked up. Bonnie Hunt is Lightning McQueen's romantic leading Porsche, Sally. I didn't recognize Hunt's voice at first but she does a terrific job voicing the intelligent and caring Sally. Larry The Cable Guy turns out probably the definitive Cars performance as lovable if not slightly missing a few bolts Mater. Mater is adorable and sincere and I thought Larry The Cable Guy's performance would annoy me like he does but he was just awesome!! Cheech Marin, Tony Shalhoub, Guido Quaroni, Jenifer Lewis, John Ratzenberger and Michael Keaton all provide their voices to various supporting members that are all terrific. The small town of Radiator Springs is endearing and the perfect contrast to Lightning McQueen's fast paced, revving personality.
I found Cars to be significantly slower paced than previous Pixar installments but it is true that characters and setting grow on you. I'm still not sure the film needed to be as long as it was. Still the story is there, the characters are undeniably cute and watchable and the Disney Moral of the story is still in tact. I can see why kids find themselves drawn to the characters each one being so different from the other and every person can find their favorites (Doc and Mater are my tops!!) Cars is absolutely one you should see, there is nothing over whelmingly disappointing about it, I'm just not sure adults will find it as entertaining as some of the other Pixar films as of recently. I don't mean to downplay the film, I just have to review it like I see it and although it has some major plus's Cars doesn't quite match some of it's predecessors. However my beautiful girl Sarah would vehemently disagree as she adored the film!! Cheers to her newest fave ;) 8/10