Cars

Title: Cars (2006)
Dir: John Lasseter
Rating: **** out of 5 stars



Jesus, they've done it again. I'm talking about Pixar, of course. Cars marks their seventh movie and by golly, they've still got it. This one reminds me of Toy Story in style but has the touchy feeliness of The Incredibles (aka: less funny, more story).

The commercials looked so bland and the voice talents unlikable, so I had low expectations for this movie. It surprised me, just as Finding Nemo and The Incredibles did before it.

Owen Wilson voices Lightening McQueen, a hotshot racecar who cares about nobody but himself. On this way to an important race, he is accidently abandoned along route 66 and gets stuck in a quiet town called Radiator Springs. Reluctant at first, Lightening befriends the locals, including a dimwitted pick-up truck (Larry the Cable Guy) and a female Porsche (Bonnie Hunt).

I don't wanna give away too much, so I'll end the plot summary there. Cars has a fair amount of humor, plenty of lovable characters, and really touching moments that are bound to choke you up. There's a really great tearjerker scene similar to the "When Somebody Loved Me" scene in Toy Story 2. It has Randy Newman's lyrics, but thankfully he doesn't sing.

Surprisingly, I didn't hate the pick-up truck. I loathe Larry the Cable Guy and his irritating catchphrase that I won't dare utter here. But his character was likable, as were all the others. I won't name off the other voice actors because it's fun to watch the film and go, "Oh my god, that's ____!"

The movie has predictable, cliched moments like any normal family film, but that does not drag it down. I highly recommend seeing this one, with or without kiddies.