Cars

Rating: 6/10 (15 September 2010)

This was the seventh Pixar/Disney release in the cinemas, and it was also the celebration of twenty years of the two studios collaboration, and after seeing plenty of clips I was looking forward to it. Basically in a world where all characters are motor vehicles, in California, hotshot rookie Le Mans endurance racer car Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is competing against two main competitors, Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton) and Strip 'The King' Weathers (Richard Petty), to win the Piston Cup. When the three racing cars tie across the finish line, they all start travelling to Los Angeles to the tie-breaker race, and with sleepy lorry Mack (John Ratzenberger) transporting Lightning, the racing car in unintentionally dropped off, ending up in the detoured Route 66 town of Radiator Springs. In his stride, he manages to damage the road, and he is sentenced by Hudson Hornet Doc Hudson (Paul Newman, in his final film role) to repair the road, which will take about five days, not very good if he wants to get to the race track. Lightning initially rushes the community service job to get out of the town as quickly as possible, but this just ends up keeping him there longer, starting all over again. As he stays however he makes some good friends who teach him some valuable lessons about life, including rusty pickup truck Mater (Larry The Cable Guy), and the cute eventual love interest, Porsche 911 Carrera Sally (Jumanji's Bonnie Hunt). After discovering the reason for the town being so quite, being cut off from the interstate and taken off the map, and also that Doc used to be a successful racing car himself, winning two Piston Cups, Lightning wants to help more than just fixing the road. After lighting the town up with some great neon lights, he is then finally found by the press and Mack who want to take him back to the racing track in Los Angeles ready for the big race. Lightning does initially keep thinking about Radiator Springs, but then he sees all his new friends, including the originally uninterested Doc, are watching him in the audience, and the race gets underway. Lightning remembers one or tricks he learnt in the town, and it comes to the final lap, where Chick rams The King so hard that he is very badly damaged in his crash, and Lightning sacrifices his winning place to help him across the finish line. In the end, winner Chick is booed and it is Lightnign offered the sponsorship from Dinoco (the motoring company from Toy Story), but he turns it down to stay with his Rust-Eze sponsors, and he makes sure Route 66 is back on the map, and obviously to get the affection of Sally. Also starring Richard 'Cheech' Marin as Ramone, George Carlin as Fillmore, Tony Shalhoub as Luigi, Ratzenberger as Hamm Truck / Abominable Snow Plow / P.T. Flea Car (all in credits in-jokes), Jeremy Clarkson as Harv (U.K. version), Jeremy Piven as Harv (U.S. version), Michael Schumacher, Jay Leno, Tom Hanks as Woody Car, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear Car, Billy Crystal as Mike Car, John Goodman as Sullivan Truck, Dave Foley as Flik Car, Sheryl Crow as Elvis and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Sven 'The Governator'. I can sort of agree with the critics, this could have been a little better, but with a great cast list, some good in-jokes and heart, some good nostalgia of past Pixar successes (including "Lightyear" tyres and For the Birds cameos), it is not a bad animated comedy fantasy. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Song for "Our Town" and Best Animated Feature Film of the Year, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Animated Feature Film, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Film. Good!