A different kind of Road-Movie

Rating: 5/10 (30 October 2006)

As Pixar, Blue Sky and DreamWorks continue to tick off the list of cute cuddly animals to make films about, director John Lasseter and Joe Ranft (the latter sadly and ironically died in a car crash last year) brings us a story about cars in incongruous human setting. Nine years of hard work in combining Lasseter's two great interests, cars and animation, finally gives us a satisfying end product but regrettably 'Cars' is just that. Satisfactory and utterly charmless.
The story, for one, is one of the most predictable riffs I have ever seen in an animated feature. It zooms in on an exhilarating, high-profile race for the prestigious 'Piston Cup' and the third lap offers a sense of impending doom. It is Lightning McQueen  rookie at the top of his game, and voiced by the energetic Owen Wilson  that races in pursuit of prestige... so much that he alienates everyone around him, even his pit crew. The race becomes a three-way tie between him and his competitors and now the final showdown will be held in Los Angeles in one week. It is on the way to L.A. that 'Cars' really starts up its engine, specifically when McQueen takes a detour across the desert-laden terrain by route 66 and gets caught for speeding by the local sheriff. He is sentenced to community service in the seedy little nowhere-town and, predictably, here the arrogant McQueen learns the true meaning of friends.
For a movie about fast-paced vehicles, 'Cars' starts slowly and keeps in this lane for far too long. One hour into the film, Lightning still has not learned the mandatory 'morals & message' lesson that you know Disney is just waiting to dish out with a wagging finger. Undoubtedtly its fatal flaw is its length: there is absolutely no need to stretch a Disney comedy across two hours. This problem escalates as the extremely safe and passive approach to humour makes its mark; soon it is clear that the film is not going to tip over into goofball or absurdist humour but remains sedated and expects us to find the mere facial expressions of the cars hilarious  and they are not, because cars are too clunky and mechanical to effectively emote.
Yet it needs to be said for all its comedic shortcomings, 'Cars' remains afloat simply because it makes no pretense about being a Disney/Pixar film of a different calibre. It is obvious that it caters more to the younger audience than, say, the heavyweights Shrek, Nemo or Ice Age that are all about adult references. Only once or twice does the film sneak in a subtle racy element such as the bitch-tag at the back of the female Porsche's rear or the 'organic fuel' that the hippie-van uses. On that note, "hillbilly hell", as McQueen bitterly spits, is beautifully crafted in terms of animation. The CGI environment is crisp, fluent, lean and simply superb in capturing the well-oiled sleek machines of superstardom juxtaposed with the rusty hicky complexity of the hillbilly town. 'Cars' is possibly Pixar's greatest feat in animation, but its weakest jab at story and entertainment.
Although Paul Newman brings perfect charisma to his bitter-and-doomed-but-good-old-mentor character, none of the other cars shine. Indeed, there is a frightening lack of funny sidekicks with assigned quirks and the closest Cars gets to this is its shy firewagon truck Red. This wide-ranging mediocrity also applies to the soundtrack which is noticeably sub-par and unimaginative: either cheesy mellow 'mood' music or Sheryl Crow pop. Where's the oomph in the engine of 'Cars'? Step up, Disney, because you cannot ride on the success of Finding Nemo forever.
5 out of 10