CARS

By Abbie Bernstein     June 09, 2006

You've almost certainly seen this movie before: fast-moving hotshot winds up stranded in a small town off the beaten path, where he learns to act like a person again. The twist in CARS is that the hotshot in question is a motor vehicle, as in fact are all the other characters in this appealing riff on a standard comedy theme.

Race car Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) dreams of winning the Piston Cup and becoming a superstar he's already itching to bolt to a bigger, glitzier sponsor. However, when there's an unprecedented three-way tie for the Cup, it's declared that the runoff will be held in California. Lightning is happy to go, but through his own arrogance and bullying, he's accidentally left out in the middle of nowhere. After trying strenuously to make his way back to the Interstate, Lightning finds himself in Radiator Springs, a peaceful place that got more or less marooned when folks stopped using Route 66 in favor of the speedier, less scenic freeways. The appeal of the place initially eludes Lightning, but when he's sentenced to community service repaving the roads, he at first grudgingly, then more enthusiastically starts to realize there's more to life than winning races.

CARS has been designed with a number of in-jokes for automotive fans as an article in the Los Angeles Times pointed out, the neon sign for Flo's V8 Café lights up in the order that V8 pistons fire and many race drivers lend their voices to various roles, including Richard Petty as reigning track champ the King. However, even viewers who don't know a T-Bird from a tire iron should get a kick out of the unexpected riffs the filmmakers throw in almost continually. The anthropomorphized cars work astonishingly well, with adaptations to the world as we know it making amusing sense there's a whole gonzo sequence involving tractors that works as well as it does because Lightning is as new to this as we are and a lot of technical expertise has been invested in giving each individual vehicle a distinct personality while retaining his or her essential automotive nature.

Wilson is a brilliant casting choice as Lightning, as the actor is able to go between amiable, unself-conscious arrogance and convincing sensitivity without noticeably shifting gears. Paul Newman, a famous race car driver when he's not acting, gives authority and prickliness to the town's blue-eyed judge, a Hudson Hornet with secrets of his own. Michael Keaton is enjoyable as the villainous, resentful race car Chick Hicks and the rest of the voice cast is suited well to their roles.

Director John Lasseter and his co-director, the late Joe Ranft, along with the writers, have come up with something that feels like we've been here before but it's done with such playful ingenuity that it also feels funny and new. Be sure to stay for the end credits.