Disney steals another one

Rating: Null/10 (10 June 2006)

Looks like Disney's habit of "borrowing" from other, original sources has infected Pixar. The anthropomorphic vehicles are cute--until you remember animator Tex Avery's delightful "One Cab's Family" and "Little Johnny Jet" for MGM 54 years ago. Unfortunately, anyone in a position to fully appreciate this movie (who remembers the American highway between the end of World War II and the start of the Interstates) is probably going to remember them. My family DID have a Hudson. And I have to agree with Roger Ebert: Whereinhell is the Studebaker (they were made less that forty miles away)? Definitely several cuts below "The Incredibles," and can we please lose the self-reflexive humor (the Pixar self-parodies at the end)? All of P's previous efforts were able to stand on their own without showcasing pop-culture references, especially obsolete ones from the fifties. I doubt anyone will get the Cozy Cone joke unless they've visited the Teich Postcard Museum in Wauconda, Illinois.