A triple-whammy: brilliant animation, witty script, strong and moving story-line

Rating: 10/10 (24 September 2006)

I went to the cinema with hesitations. Although I had very much enjoyed previous Pixar movies (such as the two 'Toy Story' films, 'Monsters Inc.' and 'A Bug's Life'), I was distinctly dubious about a story involving cars. Toys and monsters and insects seemed somehow more easily anthropomorphized and characterized; but vehicles? Surely not! I was completely wrong. The range of fully realised characters in this film is at least as impressive as in those other movies; in fact, 'Cars' probably goes one better. From the cocky 'Lightning McQueen', to the rust-buckety old tow-truck 'Tow-Mater', to the gorgeous Porsche who has had too much of 'living life in the fast line', every single automobile acquires a convincing and ingeniously worked personality. The animation skills required to establish such a believable cast were married with perfectly chosen voices, which were all the more effective for being, in the main (only Paul Newman's excepted), unidentifiable and unpicturable. In short, the 'dramatis personae' worked superbly.
But characters need a story. Would they be supported by a good through-line or not? Again, the film triumphs in spades. The first act introduces us to the surprisingly ambiguous 'Lightning McQueen'. By ambiguous I mean that we want to root for him because he's obviously young, keen and enthusiastic, and not either jaded or cruel-hearted, like his two chief opponents in the world of racing. On the other hand, he's also arrogant, vain and selfish. You're not entirely sure where you are with him, but you want to see the denouement that you know to be in the offing: the show-down between these three characters which is to happen in California in a week's time. You want to see him get there and win what is obviously his to win.
In the middle act, he loses his way. He finds himself holed up in a 'hill-billy hell', where he feels his IQ dropping by the minute, a dusty and faded town called 'Radiator Springs'. Here he is impounded for criminal damage. The full weight of the law comes to hobble him: first he is 'wheel-clamped', then his gas is siphoned, then he is given a huge reparations job. How will he possibly reach California in time? Despite being up against the odds, oddly he isn't crushed by these trials, but blossoms in the unchosen company of friendly, unpretentious vehicles who live in this one-eyed, dead-end place. The scene in which McQueen first falls in love, then has his eyes opened to the lost values of 'Radiator Springs' - in a beautifully judged elegy to Route 66 - is a piece of absolute genius. Route 66 has been superseded by the interstate, on which, we are told, 'cars drive to make a good time, not to have a good time'.
Then comes the third act. But I don't want to spoil this for anyone who hasn't seen it. Again, like the first act, it is surprisingly ambiguous. McQueen 'wins', but not in the way you might expect. The film turns out to be a paean of praise to gentleness and self-effacement. That might make it sound unduly 'pious', but it doesn't feel preachy because you have come to know and love the protagonist, and you know that this is what he needs for his journey to be complete. You hadn't quite seen that this was coming at the outset, but you understand in retrospect that it is the ideal fulfilment of his personality and his individual need. There is a genuine feeling of goodness and wholeness achieved, without cheese. This is a prize hard to attain in story-telling. In fact, it is so rare, that again I find myself reaching for the word 'genius'. Pixar have excelled themselves. I give 'Cars' full-marks and advise anyone with an imagination to see it as soon as they can.