Sweet, fun movie

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2016)

It is the Piston Cup, the most prestigious event on the racing calendar. After a close-fought race, rookie Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is within sight of victory when a flat tyre enables two competitors to catch him, resulting in a three-way tie for first place. To decide the winner, the three will race off in California in a week's time. En route to the event, a series of unfortunate events sees McQueen end up in a small town in the middle of nowhere, Radiator Springs. Convicted of driving offenses he has to fix the town's main road, and this could cause him to miss the race. Initially he hates the town and its inhabitants but over time his view changes...
Sweet, fun movie. Quite innovative, with animated cars taking the place of humans in the story, with matching other replacements too (eg tractors for cows, flying mini-cars for flies). The car universe is reasonably well thought-out.
Plot is fine. At one stage, when McQueen first ends up in the town, the movie looked like it was going down a rather cheesy, dull path. However, over time it finds its direction and ends up being quite emotional, and reasonably profound.
Will certainly appeal to kids but there is more than enough to keep adults interested too. Some of the jokes only adults will get (not that they're dirty, you just need to be an adult to know what they're talking about).
Great animation, but this is Pixar, so that is a given.
Good casting too with host of stars providing the voices, and all being spot-on for the roles: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Cheech Marin, Tony Shalhoub, Michael Keaton and the ubiquitous John Ratzenberger. Look out during the end credits for a rather humorous skit that satirizes how Ratzenberger seems to be in every Pixar movie.
Good soundtrack too.