Cars Blu-Ray Review

Rated G

Running Time: 1 Hour & 57 Minutes

Cast (voice):

Owen Wilson-Lightning McQueen

Daniel Lawrence Whitney aka Larry the Cable Guy-Mater

Bonnie Hunt-Sally Carrera

Paul Newman-Doc Hudson

John Ratzenberger-Mack

Richard Petty-Strip ‘The King’ Weathers

Michael Keaton-Chick Hicks

Cheech Marin-Ramone

Jenifer Lewis-Flo

Tony Shalhoub-Luigi

Guido Quaroni-Guido

Michael Wallis-Sheriff

Paul Dooley-Sarge

George Carlin-Fillmore

Katherine Helmond-Lizzie

Directed by John Lasseter and Joe Ranft

It doesn't quite meet the high expectations that Pixar set for themselves but "Cars" remains a fine, if overlong, animated film.

“Cars” has always been the black sheep on Pixar’s close-to impeccable résumé. When the animated film was released in 2006, overall reception was positive but critics agreed that it was Pixar’s worse effort at the time. Featuring a world full of anthropomorphized cars with no humans in sight, the concept of “Cars” was somewhat hard to swallow compared to talking toys or animals when real-world logic was applied. After all, how did these cars evolve? Were they born from a primordial iron-soup? What about reproduction? Ultimately, it’s not the concept that holds “Cars” back but its rather simplistic story as it lacks the thematic ambition audiences have come to expect from a Pixar film. The pacing is sluggish during the film’s midsection with too much filler material used for easy jokes and while the studio once again raises the bar for CG animation with some gorgeously lush visuals, the film cannot shake off its predictable, been-there, done-that feel. 

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is a hotshot rookie determined to take home the gold in the Piston Cup championship. However, the final race in the event results in a three-way tie between current champion Strip ‘The King’ Weathers (Richard Petty) and Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton), an ambitious race car who’s unafraid to resort to dirty tactics in order to gain an advantage such as ramming fellow racers off the track. With no clear winner, a tiebreaker race is held in one week’s time at the Los Angeles International Speedway. Lightning is desperate to win as it will allow him to leave his current, less glamorous sponsorship of Rust-Eze (a company specializing in rust treatment for old cars) for the more prestigious Dinaco. Eager to get to California for a head-start on training, Lightning pushes his big rig, Mack (John Ratzenberger), to travel all night without rest. Exhausted, Mack eventually drifts off but is startled awake when three reckless street racing cars force him onto the rumble strips of the road. The resulting vibration causes the trailer door to open and a sleeping McQueen to roll out onto incoming traffic. Lightning wakes up and tries to find Mack in a mad dash through the highway but ends up in a small town called Radiator Springs when he unknowingly takes a detour on Route 66. During a chase with the town’s sheriff (Michael Wallis), Lightning inadvertently tears up the pavement of the main road and is impounded. He is forced to show up in court the next day and the town’s judge and doctor, Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), orders him to leave immediately. However, local lawyer Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt) convinces Hudson to have Lightning repair the road as community service. Once it is done, he can leave Radiator Springs. Lightning is angry over this decision and rushes to repave the road in a day but when Hudson sees the shoddy repair work, he orders him to restart all over again. A Southern redneck named Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) takes an immediate liking to Lightning and the two eventually become fast friends. As he spends more time in Radiator Springs, Lightning’s worldviews begin to change and he comes to realize that life is more than just about winning a race. 

“Cars” explores the fleeting nature of celebrity and life but the story pales in comparison to previous Pixar films and is unable to sustain its lengthy one hour and fifty-seven minute running time. While these are worthwhile themes, the main issue is that they’ve already been explored to death already with the film bearing a striking similarity to Michael J. Fox’s 1991 romantic comedy, “Doc Hollywood.” Lightning McQueen is initially presented as hotheaded and rash with a big ego, refusing to listen to the advice of his pit crew and reveling in his celebrity status. He’s basically full of himself and keeps everyone at arm’s length. Behaving like a petulant brat, he reacts with anger when he is sentenced to community service, failing to grasp the consequences of his actions. Slowly but surely, he comes to realize that because of his intense focus on winning races, he has lost sight of the little moments in life. “Cars” is also overly nostalgic of small-town life, arguing that technological progress has caused people to become less tight-knit and blind to what life has to offer. This is true to a certain extent but the solution to go back to a ‘simpler time’ feels like a regression. Yes, it is important to appreciate and not to forget the past as it serves as a valuable lesson for the future but you cannot remain stuck and unable to move forward. 

The film tends to drag during the midsection, with a number of filler scenes that have no real impact on the story. Late one night, Mater invites Lightning to a nearby farm to spook the sleeping tractors and while it offers a chuckle or two, I didn’t find it particularly funny and the whole scene comes off as pointless. Many of the jokes are aimed more at children than adults but there are some small touches that I appreciated, such as giant anime eyes on a female Japanese car and welcome voice cameos from both Jay Leno and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The numerous travel montages, while visually impressive, are drawn out and feel like Pixar is showing off its animation prowess. In fact, a good fifteen to twenty minutes could’ve been excised to tighten up the pacing because the film soon begins to wear out its welcome as it meanders toward a predictable climax. What really saves “Cars” is the CG animation and while it’s not a significant leap in technology, the overall look is vibrant and stunning. Lightning and Sally’s Sunday drive through the town’s desert canyons and nearby mountains is breathtakingly gorgeous. The design of the cars themselves also deserves praise as any doubts to the concept are gone within a matter of minutes once you see how human-like their behavior is. Rather than putting the eyes on the headlights, having them on the windshield allows for more expressive emotion with the wheels used as hands and feet. 

As befitting for a Pixar release, the voice acting is top-notch. Owen Wilson easily captures Lightning’s brash recklessness and arrogance but also manages to imbue him with enough charm, allowing him to win over the audience once he redeems himself. Serving as the comic relief is Larry the Cable Guy as Mater and while he is funny with his loud, dim-witted hillbilly antics, he works best in small doses as too much ends up gratingly annoying. Bonnie Hunt is a Porsche named Sally and exhibits a sunny, girl-next-door personality. Paul Newman (in his final non-documentary role) is a gruff, no-nonsense judge with a hidden past while an unrecognizable Michael Keaton is Chick Hicks, who does such a good job in making him unlikable with his thinly veiled bitterness at coming in second. Also contributing is Pixar veteran John Ratzenberger, Tony Shalhoub, and Cheech Marin (of comedy duo Cheech & Chong) with cameos from a number of NASCAR veterans including Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mario Andretti, and Darrell Waltrip with renowned NBC sportscaster Bob Costas as an announcer. 

“Cars” was released on Blu-Ray in 2007 and re-released in April, 2011 as a Blu-Ray/DVD combo set. The picture and audio quality are beyond reference material. All the characters have a shiny, reflective sheen to them and the environments have such impeccable detail with the cars unleashing dust clouds and specks of dirt as they race along various roads. As this is a purely digital-to-digital transfer, there are absolutely no flaws with its video presentation. Audio is dynamic and aggressive with immersive sound effects such as the revving of an engine or the crunch of metal as a car crashes along the side of a race track. Dialogue is crisp as well. There are a number of special features on the disc including two interactive audio commentaries (one with director John Lasseter and the other from various members of the production team) which allows you to interrupt the film to view deleted scenes and short behind-the-scenes footage. Ported from the DVD are a number of deleted scenes and two shorts, “Mater and the Ghostlight” and “One Man Band.” For the kids, there’s also a game dubbed “Car Finder,” where you have to find a certain car in a particular scene in the least amount of time for points. The rest are trailers for various Disney and Pixar films. 

Released on June 9, 2006, “Cars” received positive reviews with 74% on Rotten Tomatoes but critics noted that ‘while the story may not reach the high standards of [Pixar’s previous work], viewers of all ages will marvel at the technical brilliance of the animation and come away satisfied.’ Until the release of its sequel in 2011, “Cars” was the lowest-rated Pixar film. At the box office, the film earned a respectable $462 million worldwide against an estimated $120 million production budget but it was the massive merchandising potential that made it such a resounding success for Disney. Countless products bearing the “Cars” license have earned a gargantuan $10 billion in worldwide retail sales and were the primary driving (no pun intended) force for green-lighting the sequel. The CG animation is a visual tour de force but “Cars” is definitely one of Pixar’s lesser efforts due to an overlong, meandering plot that never quite inspires or pulls at the heartstrings when compared to the studio’s previous offerings but even so, the film is still a cut above competing animated films.

Final Rating: 3.5 out of 5

“Well, the road didn't cut through land like that Interstate. It moved with the land, you know? It rose, it fell, it curved. Cars didn't drive on it to make a great time. They drove on it to have a great time.”

Note: Make sure to watch the hilarious clips during the end credits!