Make and model citizens

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2006)

The sad reality is that the great American car has lost the one thing that made it most appealing: personality. Even as their commercials brag about the "distinctive styling" of this model or that one, it is painfully obvious that from the late sixties on, most cars look pretty much alike. Forced to shed their fins and their chrome and even their bumpers, little by little automobiles have become stylistically interchangeable, save for a Gremlin here or a P.T. Cruiser there being bold enough to stand out from the crowd.
I suspect that we have an entire generation of children who did not get to grow up looking at the new fall models and fantasizing about how human they looked. With wide radiator smiles, bearing chrome-plated teeth, and round, bulging headlight eyes with hypnotic stares, each car represented a sinister visage of devilish adventure or a teasing grin of motorized freedom. Today, look at the front of most cars and they resemble nothing more than a dead fish -- small gaping radiator mouths with flat, dead streamlined headlight eyes. Even models that have been resurrected from the dead -- the Ford Thunderbird and the Volkswagen Beetle -- are less reborn than merely zombified shells of their former selves, stripped down to banality.
Therefore, it is not all that surprising that most of the stars of Pixar's CARS are older models, representing bits and pieces of our automotive past. The premise of this animated fantasy is that the world has evolved so that the human and the motorized are now one and the automobiles that rule have both human personalities and human-like dexterity. In the story, racecar Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is a superstar jock whose arrogant self-absorption is tested when he detours off the interstate onto the famed Route 66 and is forced to experience life in the slow lane. In the dusty, yet folksy and conveniently culturally diverse, desert town of Radiator Springs, he meets a variety of vehicles who teach him the meaning of life. It's sort of THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS meets Frank Capra. The film's message about stopping to smell the gas fumes isn't exactly Detroit fresh -- we've traveled this road before.
So the film is less about story and more about personality. And Radiator Springs certainly isn't short on personality, albeit stereotypical personalities. The local tow truck (a '50's Chevy Cameo) is a country rube (Larry the Cable Guy); the town father is a gruff but wise '51 Hudson (Paul Newman); the spaced out 1960 VW hippie van has the hippy-dippy voice of George Carlin , etc. All the citizens of the town have distinct automotive stylings matched by distinct (and obvious) voices.
Some of the casting in CARS is inspired, though, of course, one can quibble. For instance, with a name like Sally there must have been an impulse to cast a Ford Mustang in the role of Lightning's love interest. Certainly, lyrics like "Mustang Sally, think you better slow your mustang down" would seem appropriate for one who down shifts from freeway to blacktop. Though perhaps there is a sexual subtext to the Wilson Pickett song that Pixar wished to avoid, thus Sally is a Porsche, even though she has the all-American voice of Bonnie Hunt. Likewise, while a sleek 1959 Chevrolet Impala is perfectly acceptable as the low-riding Ramón (Cheech Marin), a '58 model would have been far more photogenic. And there is much to be said for the distinctive styling of the 1951 Hudson Hornet as the retired racing great Doc, yet I think casting the role with an equally legendary '56 Chrysler 300 would have added a great deal more elegance and stature to the part.
The role of Lightning is more problematic. Based vaguely on a Ford GT racer, the star of the film seems too generic; and maybe that is the point, that McQueen is so superficial his personality is no deeper than his pasted-on fake headlights. The film has the right idea when Lightning gets a temporary make over to resemble a "Route 66"-styled Corvette. Indeed, Lightning McQueen would be so much more appealing played by a Corvette -- or a Shelby Cobra or a gullwing Mercedes Benz 300SL, or even a Volkswagen Beetle (but then his name would have to be changed to Herbie!).
And then there is the controversy over windshield eyes versus headlight eyes. By placing the eyes in the windshield, Pixar, no doubt, made it easier for the animators to play with expressions. But, I think there is something creepy about having two peepers floating around inexplicably in a rectangular sea of white. It's like some alien form floating around in an automotive helmet. Plus, on many of the cars, you get the illusion of their being four eyes on the car's "face." This fleet of vehicles are undeniably cute, but Chevron's famous spokescars in their commercials had so much more personality.
Though a tad too long, CARS is still worthy of a spin around the park. It is cute enough for kids and satirical enough for adults and it is steeped in an American Graffiti sense of nostalgia for a fading bit of the landscape. And it is sweetly devoid of road rage, taking the scenic route and not the cynic route.