After this, Disney & Pixar are one.

Rating: 6/10 (10 September 2006)

It should be no surprise to those who know me(including some on the internet who've never met me) that I'd see this movie. 1)I'm a certifiable car freak. 2)I've had a long-standing interest in animation. 3)This is officially the last Disney/Pixar collaboration. Disney now OWNS Pixar. 4)This may be the last Paul Newman movie, and even if you're not a big Paul Newman fan, any film buff should understand the merit of that.
Lightning McQueen(Owen Wilson), who surprisingly was not named after Steve McQueen, is a cocky as hell hotshot rookie NASCAR racer who thinks he's so good, he doesn't even listen to his pit crew when they insist he should get his tires replaced. He has a huge ego, some loyal groupies, a sponsor he doesn't believe in, an agent who talks to him on a videophone from his trailer, and an eye on the finish line. Luckily he gets that along with his two rivals, the aging King(voiced by real life NASCAR racer Richard Petty), a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird, and Chick Hicks(Michael Keaton) a Mid-1980's Buick GNX, who loves to push other cars around on the track. This means a tie-breaker race has to take place, and so it's on to California. His only friend at this point is his transporter Mack(John Ratzenberger), a Super Liner who hauls him to every race in the Piston Cup Series(They're obviously not going to use a real-life tobacco company for a kids' movie), but even Lightning won't let him rest when he needs it. When Mack falls asleep on the way to L.A., and is startled by a gang of street rods in the middle of the night, Lightning falls out of the trailer and gets lost. Lacking real headlights, he tries to get back on the interstate, and gets tangled in some telephone wires in a town called Radiator Springs, and wrecks their main road -- the famous U.S. Route 66. Radiator Springs was founded by a Stanley Steamer, and the statue erected in his honor is among the casualties. The town sentences him to community service, forcing him to repair the road by towing some old paving equipment. While there, McQueen is arrested by the Sheriff(author and cultural guru Michael Wallis), a 1949 Mercury, impounded by Mater(Larry the Cable Guy), a Chevy 3800 Tow Truck, prosecuted by Sally Carerra(Bonnie Hunt) a cute Porsche 911 who also owns the Cozy Cone Motel, and judged by Doc(Paul Newman), a 1951 Hudson Hornet. While there he starts to fall for the very girl who prosecuted him. During this time she takes the opportunity to show him the world around the town. She also gives him an education about the history of Radiator Springs, and he finds out something very interesting about Judge Doc Hudson. What happened to the fictional town of "Radiator Springs" is what happened to many of the towns that ran along the former US 66 in real life. The Interstate Highway System passed them by, specifically I-40, I-44, and I-55, and the towns went bust. Although, truth be told, an interest in the former Mother Road by nostalgia buffs and roadgeeks such as myself, has lead to an increase in tourism to these areas. To be fair, I think the federal government wanted the Interstates to benefit these towns too. So even after this movie, you still won't catch me shouting "Damn the Interstate." In fact, I'd love to see a couple of them built across Long Island Sound(I-287 & I-495), along with some other highways.
What makes this so good isn't the fact that it has motor vehicles as characters. Those kinds of cartoons were around before they ran cartoons on television. It's that the movie actually has good background scenes, especially the road scenes, whether it's on Route 66 or the Interstate on the way to California. Even the "natural" scenes are cool, some of which are rock formations shaped like cars of the 1930's and others are modeled after the famous Cadillac Ranch. I also like how the Los Angeles Memorial Colesium was converted into the "Los Angeles International Speedway." To be honest, I was looking for a different ending with similar results. But "Doc Hollywood" rip-off or not, it's still an enjoyable movie, even if "The Incredibles" was better.