Another great Pixar film

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2006)

Cars takes the themes of maturity and development and, with Pixar's usual grace and wit, animates them in the context of a world of anthropomorphized cars. The animation is so realistic that you would swear that the skies and cars in some scenes are photographed. The science of animation has advanced a long way since Toy Story (1995). However-and this is perhaps the ultimate irony about the success of Pixar -as inventive as the animation has been-and it has been fantastic, their films have been most characterized by intelligent and witty storytelling. This might say as much about the paucity of intelligently written films currently but nevertheless, Pixar has become well-known more for the intelligence of its screenplays. Some animated films succeed without good stories, and some fail without them, but the common thread among Pixar films has ensured that the films have usually been critically lauded, if not always (though the majority of the time) financially successful.
This film is very enjoyable although I do not think it is Toy Story quality. The film is about a car in the heat of a championship race with one classy, legendary car, The King (Richard Petty playing some version of his real life persona, presumably) and a tough, hard-nosed and also quite successful car, Chick Hicks (a wonderful Michael Keaton) in the prime of his career who intends to concede nothing to the brash up-and-coming star, Lightning McQueen, a rather oddly-named car referencing the connection of Steve McQueen to race-car films, voiced by Owen Wilson, who imbues the car's, um, character with a youthful cockiness which is tamed somewhat over time as he learns some tough lessons about his abilities and about how to relate to others. Wilson conveys a wide variety of emotions that convey the transformation which his, um, car's character undergoes. The end of the film is not predictable but is in keeping with the remainder of the film. Bonnie Hunt is fantastic as the love interest in the film, a car, um, lawyer named Sally Carerra who made a lot of money as a big city lawyer but yearned for the more relaxed pace of life of a town named Radiator Springs which she came across while vacationing. While the town is considered backwards by some, during the film its inhabitants are depicted as good, decent people and the value of people over superficial attributes is determined.
Several actors depict a wide range of varied characters, with particular credit due Cheech Marin, Larry the Cable Guy depicting a somewhat slow lifelong resident of Radiator Spring, Jenifer Lewis as the energetic general store owner, and also recommended performances from Paul Newman as the city's de facto leader, a man who has a secret unknown to anyone in the city, and George Carlin as a rather tired conglomeration of '60s clichÃ©s.
As said, the animation is amazing and on many occasions, it seems an animated scene is real. There are lots of clever references, as is usually the case in Pixar movies, to real events and figures which gives the film a sophisticated undertone that will entertain adults while the animation and colorful characters will certainly amuse children. While this isn't Toy Story, it's nevertheless a very, very good film and better than the vast majority of mainstream fare during the summer.