Doc Hollywheels

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2006)

Well, what can we say? It's Doc Hollywood on wheels.
Only not quite. The Michael J. Fox original was the story of a lone man with no soul, who was kindly provided one by the inhabitants of small-town America. It's about the development of an individual.
Pixars' Cars, on the other hand, is the story of a small town in need of re-energizing, which is kindly provided an infusion of energy by a lone man..er, car. It's about the development of a community.
This difference affects not only the individual characterizations, but the overall thrust of the narrative, the humor, even the artwork. The foreground characters sometimes disappear into vast landscapes, particularly during an extended middle digression of some ten or so minutes in which Sally Porsche, our heroine, introduces Lightning McQueen to the virtues of small town life, meandering along Route 66, quaint hotels, and the painted desert.
For all its occasional preachiness about the glories of small-town life, and the need for inspiring heroes are good by virtue of their character rather than their athleticism, at no time is your heart in danger here: there's nothing like the poignancy of Buzz Lightyear's fall in Toy Story, much less Jesse's reminiscence scene in Toy Story 2. There's not even the real tension and family feeling of Finding Nemo. Cars don't have families, and struggle though they have to personalize these mechanisms, the Pixar animators simply can't add the rough physicality necessary to convey broad emotion to something which has to keep 4 wheels on the ground. It's fine popcorn fare, sometimes amusing, and harmless fun.