Fast cars in long movie!

Rating: 7/10 (18 February 2015)

This is a Disney/Pixar movie about a hot-shot race car named Lightening McQueen, who was traveling to California to win a final race against The King and Chick Hicks. McQueen ends up accidentally damaging the road of the small town Radiator Springs and is sentenced to repair it. At the town, while working hard to repair the road so he could leave for the race, he finds friendship and love within the town's local cars.
John Lasseter and Joe Ranft did a a nice job in directing this movie, grasping the audience's attention from the start with a roaring racing intro. The story does take several minutes to gain any steam after the race, but the plot does identify the issue when McQueen gets lost by the roadside and ending up in the town of Radiator Springs. The plot then takes a little intriguing turn when McQueen will have to repair the town street he accidentally wrecked and then wonders how he is going to get to the California race in time.
The entire voice cast did a nice job in their respective roles, making the characters memorable. Owen Wilson did a convincing hot-shot personality of McQueen, Paul Newman did a mysterious personality of Doc Hudson and Bonnie Hunt did a warming job in voicing Sally Carrera. I especially enjoyed seeing the various American accents spoken by the Cars characters and some of the human traits they exhibit, and also especially enjoyed the all-star voice cast in the movie, even including sportscaster Bob Costa in a role.
In addition, the music score from Randy Newman is quite spirited and the animation team did a splendid job in capturing the racetrack, town and beautiful countryside.
This is known to be one of the longest, if not the longest, Pixar movie. It gives enough time for the characters to grow on you and generate your sympathy. The only downside is that I thought it lacked the excitement, suspense and fun of other Pixar films like Finding Nemo and the Toy Story trilogy. But overall, it's still a pretty nice, heartwarming Disney tale that is fine for the entire family to enjoy!
Grade B-