Cars - Palm Beach Post movie review

'Cars' is entertaining, but it's a long trip

By HAP ERSTEIN
Palm Beach Post

Do you suppose Pixar's creative guru John Lasseter has been studying the classic social comedies of Preston Sturges?

The tykes of the Toy Story generation will not notice or care, of course, but if older film fans squint at Cars, the latest epic from the computer animation division of Disney, they might make out an homage to 1941's Sullivan's Travels, but populated by automobiles.

Buena Vista Pictures

'Cars'

The verdict: A car 'toon in the glossy Pixar style, at its best when it is up to speed in the racing sequences.

Directors: John Lasseter, Joe Ranft
Starring: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Richard Petty, Cheech Marin
Run time: 116 minutes
Release date: June 9, 2006
Rating: G
See showtimes

Test drive!
Get to know the characters with these stills from the movie.

Behind the wheel
• Hot wheeling it with Pixar's John Lasseter
• The cars in Lasseter's life
• Five 'animated' voiceovers

On the web
Official movie site
View the trailer
Trailers require Quicktime

Whether or not it was Lasseter's model, this homage to Route 66 starring a race car that learns a few life lessons from the real folk — I mean, real vehicles — in a small, dilapidated town bypassed by the interstate has a touch of Sturges' humanity, but without a single human in sight.

Just to get our attention, Cars begins with a flashy, pedal-to-the-metal, high-speed auto race, the Piston Cup, which ends in an improbable three-way tie. The race gets the story in motion, but it also allows director Lasseter and his army of animators to show off. From the gleam of the enamel finish on the race cars, the clouds of exhaust fumes and the crunch of a few side-swiping collisions, Pixar has clearly made new technical leaps since 2004's The Incredibles.

Interestingly, however, the look of Cars' characters is the most cartoon-like to come from the studio. To humanize these hunks of metal — or is that fiberglass? — they have large, expressive eyes peering through their windshields and the occasional glimpse of tongue emerging from their front grills.

Specifically, there is rookie racer Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), already so cocky that he underestimates the importance of his pit crew and loses his lead when his unattended tires blow out in the final lap. So he hops a van heading toward the runoff race in California. But en route, Lightning loses his ride and gets arrested for speeding in Radiator Springs, "the cutest little town in Carburetor County."

When the cranky judge, a former stock-car champion named Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) sentences him to a community service repaving chore, Lightning is forced to interact with the local yokels. There's a buck-toothed tow truck, Tow Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), an Italian tire dealer named Luigi (Tony Shalhoub), a hippie-dippy VW bus (George Carlin) and — wouldn't you know it? — a lawyer-love interest, a Porsche called Sally (Bonnie Hunt). Expect Lightning to catch on to the importance of friendship and make it to Los Angeles in time for the big race.

Cars has all the elements for high-octane entertainment, but ultimately, it falls short of the best films in the Pixar showroom. It is longer than most animated features — closing in on two hours — and feels it in the fairly flabby center section, with its detours for tractor tipping, a tortoise-and-the-hare race between Doc Hudson and Lightning, and a pokey romantic road spin for Lightning and Sally. If you like going out to the concession stand for popcorn, there are plenty of opportunities in the middle of Cars.

Fortunately, the movie snaps back into shape for the race finale. And yes, stay for the final credits, where Lasseter and company recast many of Pixar's earlier hits for this automotive alternate universe. (A Bug's Life, for instance, features winged Volkswagen Bugs, flying about or crawling up the movie screen.)

Cars could be more streamlined, and, at times, it really helps if you are steeped in NASCAR culture, but even with its drawbacks, Pixar still rules the animated feature roost.