The Best Movie So Far This Year

Rating: 9/10 (2 July 2006)

The first half of 2006 has been a very lackluster year at the movies. There hasn't been too many big hits this year. So far, "The DaVinci Code," although it broke the $100 million mark, was a confusing mess, and I found that when I read the book to prepare for the movie, the book moved even faster than the movie itself.
But we can always rely on Disney/Pixar for a solid midyear hit. This year, it's "Cars," and like many other Pixar movies in recent years ("Monsters Inc.," "Finding Nemo," and "The Incredibles," to name a few), it has every Pixar element to offer - a great big-name voice cast of stars from varied backgrounds and the cast voice characters that best match their personas, colorful, cheery animation, and a story that evokes emotions. Pixar just never disappoints. We hope that Pixar, whether sided with Disney or not, just gets more hits flying.
In "Cars," the main character is Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), a self-absorbed red racing car that after departing a big NASCAR race, travels the legendary Route 66 and gets stuck in a small, forgotten town called Radiator Springs. He makes friends and learns various lessons about life, love, and the meaning of being a car. This sounds all-too familiar in the "Toy Story" movies, which deal with the philosophical meanings of toys' lives, but now the story is transferred to cars. He makes friends with the hillbilly tow truck Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy, a comic hoot), the pert blue Porsche Sally (voiced by Bonnie Hunt), and in a strong performance, a has-been race car Doc Hudson (voiced by Paul Newman, a race car driver in his own right as well as a legendary actor.) Mater delivers the laughs with that southern accent, Sally delivers common sense, and Doc Hudson tells Lightning McQueen, that he once crashed, and there is more to life than just being a race car. Once lessons are learned, Lightning McQueen must go back for one more big race.
Other actors voicing colorful characters in small but pivotal roles are Cheech Marin as the Hispanic car Ramon, Tony Shalhoub as the hilarious yellow car Luigi, and Michael Keaton as Lightning McQueen's rival Chick Hicks, who ties with Lightning McQueen in the race in the beginning of the film.
I thought it was amusing to see that at the race track, everyone is a car. There are no people. The spectators are cars, the press are cars, and the models are cars with feathers on their roofs.
Cars is absolutely wonderful and perfectly fast-paced, the whole ride through.