Cars
 DJ Hufford  rates it:    Community rates it:
   290 of 592 readers found this review helpful.

Let’s face it; you pretty much know what you’re going to get out of a Disney/Pixar film. It is entirely geared to marketing products at little kids. The animation and effects will be of the highest quality. There will be a character representing almost every stereotype that the producers can think of, in an effort to appeal to every kid on the planet. The main characters will start off happy, encounter some obstacles, and overcome all in the end. And if Disney’s involved, you can bet there’s a 90% chance a mother will die tragically.

Cars delivered on all fronts. From the Italians to the Mexicans to hillbillies, they pretty much had all the stereotypes covered. Unusually, not one mother died. Odd. As the story begins we find ourselves in the middle of the Piston Cup championship. Apparently, that is this race series’ highest circuit. The season championship has come down to just three contenders. A Richard Petty type, a Dale Earnhardt type and the main character, Lightning McQueen. After a very dramatic heart stopping race, all three of them tie. The officials decide that a tie-breaker will be held in one week across the country.

So McQueen and the boys head out. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere along a freeway that is near Route 66, McQueen’s hauler crashes and he gets lost in a hillbilly town. In an effort to escape he completely destroys the towns road. He goes to court and it is determined that his punishment shall be fixing the road.

Here come the obstacles. He now has less then one week to fix the road and get to California. While he stays in this podunk town he of course falls in love, learns something about life, and becomes a better person as a result. All very typical.

However, something about this movie gripped me. I would think maybe because I’m a racing fan and this concerned racing. But no, that’s not it. This movie actually had decent writing. I really got into the movie and found it to be quite the entertaining experience. Owen Wilson was perfectly cast as McQueen. If somebody can pull off a cocky hotshot, it’s him. Believe it or not I actually didn’t hate Larry the Cable guy either. Now usually I loathe him. I hate his comedy and I think he’s a hack. But he was perfectly cast as the buck tooth Mater. I think Larry’s got the hillbilly shtick down to an art form.

There was a lot of laughter, and not a lot of tears. I kinda expect the tears with Disney, but whatever. It worked well, You already know the animation was flawless, and the soundtrack wasn’t bad either. They collected a bunch of southern pop acts like Sheryl Crow and Rascal Flatts. While I am not a fan by any means, the score really worked well in the movie and helped to paint the story.

The DVD extras were quite hefty. They included all new Mater story, and a great one man band short. Of course you had the usual deleted scenes and directors blah blah blah. This movie clocked in at just under two hours, which is a little long by Disney/Pixar standards. But it flew right by. This movie was defiantly well put together. If you want to check out an animated feature, you could do a lot worse then this one.

Added:  Thursday, February 08, 2007
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