The Incredibles took the plaudits but this takes the biscuit!

Rating: 8/10 (24 May 2009)

Lightning McQueen is a racing car with a career in a hurry. He sees himself as a one man band that needs no help from crew chiefs and resents the sponsor that gave him his break. In spite of all of these character flaws however their is something likable about him as all of this supposed brashness is merely a front for the loneliness he feels inside. On the last race of the season Lightning is involved in a three way tie with his two rivals and has to partake one final race in a weeks time to decide who wins the Piston Cup. However after his rig loses him on the way to the race and he winds up trashing the road in radiator spring he is forced repair the road over the week he is supposed to be travelling down to take part in his final race and on the way learns numerous life lessons.
After the praise that was lavished on "The Incredibles" it would have been easy for this to be an anti-climax, in fact when I first heard that it was a film about cars I thought Pixar had taken the easy option as when I was a kid I often played with cars and imbued them with personality so I though that Pixar were taking the easy option in a way, but nothing could be further from the truth. Unlike the animation in the Incredibles this animation has not dated at all and looks sumptuous and fluid in a way that the Incredibles animation hasn't. The story is a little clichÃ©, but it's handled with charm and panache by the usual Pixar team, with stellar voice performances from Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt and John Ratzenburger, but the big steal in the film coming from the late great Paul Newman, who put in one of his great final performances in this film.
While it's not been praised as much as Incredibles or Ratatouille, it is up there with Wall-E, Monsters Inc and Toy Story 2 for me.
Yet another under-rated masterclass from Pixar.