A very impressive Pixar Animation Studios Film and it's not just the story that caught my eye...

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2006)

Cars/2006/***1/2
By Eric Staab/ July 3, 2006
Main Stars: Owen Wilson Paul Newman Bonnie Hunt Larry the Cable Guy
Throughout the entire month of June, John Lasseter's very impressive film Cars has been one of the most talked about films in the nation and has been one of the tops at the box office which is why I wrote my review later to show you how popular the film really is. It still is making some big bucks so the three years of making it was obviously worth it. It was positively impressive and I'm not just talking about the clever story; I'm talking about the crystal clear animation. It was incredible just like Brad Bird's prior Pixar Animation Studios Film The Incredibles which is still THE BEST Pixar film yet followed closely by Toy Story (1&2) and Cars and all the others and I won't name them now. When I saw the previews for this film I thought it wouldn't be that entertaining because it's about racing and I'm not as huge a fan of that as I was years ago. But it turns out the film wasn't just about sports car racing it was about friendship. The film didn't always have a racetrack as a set. There was a town called Radiator Springs (clever name) and that's where most of the story takes place. As you may well know, there are no humans in this movie which makes it even more entertaining to watch. Instead of pesky little flies, they are actually tiny cars with wings which was very clever from the animators. Everything living has to be a vehicular object: a car, a tractor, a truck, a bus, even a Ford Model T which was played by an extremely old woman. That's another thing. Newer cars are younger people. Older cars are older people. The age of the car resembles the age of a person which was very clever indeed. Instead of cows there were tractors so the tractors would go "MOOOOOOOOOOO" but you can't mess with Frank (the enormous plow) or he'll practically cut you up. Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) calls it tractor tipping instead of cow tipping and Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is the main character who is told this. So Lightning McQueen is the big rookie car star that everyone likes. And if he wins the Piston Cup (the championship trophy that the racecars win) he'll be the first rookie to have done it in, I guess, ages. Unexpected guest voices are instead of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno it's The Jay Limo Show where Jay makes a silly joke about Lightning McQueen which makes everyone in his audience laugh and Leno himself plays Jay Limo. Then instead of Bob Costas, it's Bob Cutlass and played by Costas himself. Richard Petty (an elderly former National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing racecar driver which is abbreviated NASCAR) is in this film playing The King. And Michael Keaton plays the sinister Chick Hicks (who is very aggressive like Dale Earnhardt). Dale Earnhardt Jr. plays Junior in this film or the number 8 car which he always has been. Darrell Waltrip (another real racecar driver) is in this film playing Darrell Cartrip. So they got quite a few stars in this film and then there's Paul Newman himself playing the crotchety Doc Hudson. He's the leader of the Radiator Springs town. The top dog, big cheese, head honcho (a line from Airplane!). The film shows a point not just about racecar driving but friendship. McQueen makes quite a few friends like Sally Carrera (CARrera) who is voiced by Bonnie Hunt. She seems to really like McQueen in this film. However, the Doc is not too fond of him and tries to avoid him more than speak to him or settle out his problems. He's a bit stoic and doesn't like to settle his problems with anyone, more just wants to keep it in himself. After McQueen is reported missing he finds the tiny town of Radiator Springs and simultaneously being chased by a sheriff. That's where he meets the interesting ol' gang. He even has to do some manual labor before he's supposed to be let free after messing up their road with his reckless driving after being chased by the sheriff for a few minutes. His final destination is California where he is supposed to have his next race but the manual labor needs to be completed before he is let go! It is a fun movie with an impressive story and interesting characters. I know very young kids won't be astounded by the animation but they'll most likely still have fun. And at the end you feel good because McQueen did the right thing and it was all thanks to his Radiator Springs buddies who influenced his life in a good way. Movie directed by John Lasseter and Joe Ranft.