CARS

by Jane Louise Boursaw

Should you bring the kids? Yes! They could have shaved off about 20 minutes, but overall, this is a fun movie for kids 3 and up. For more info, see "Bringing the Kids" below.

THE STORY: Pixar hits another one out of the park with this cute story of love, friendship, and all that other important life-stuff. This time, it's told through the eyes of a rag-tag bunch of vehicles in a little town off the fabled Route 66.

Owen Wilson voices Lightning McQueen, the hottest, youngest car on the race circuit, and doesn't he know it! Who needs a pit crew or friends when you're a smart-alecky kid who can handle everything on your own?!

The movie opens at Mach speed with McQueen racing in the industry's biggest competition: The Piston Cup. It's a big deal, because the winner gets a contract with the sport's richest promoter. Lightning's main rivals are "The King," (racing legend Richard Petty), who's going for one last win before he retires, and Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton), an ethics-challenged car who's so rotten that one of his sponsor decals reads htB, for Hostile Takeover Bank.

When the race ends in a three-way tie, McQueen has to travel cross-country to race in a tie-breaker. On the way, he gets waylaid in a little town called Radiator Springs, off the beaten path of the once-famous Route 66. It's a meandering berg in nowheresville where everything slows waaaaaay down.

The townsfolk are an eclectic mix, including the gruff Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), a 1951 Hudson Hornet with a mysterious past; sensible Sally (Bonnie Hunt), a snazzy 2002 Porsche; and golly-gee Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), a loveable tow-truck who teaches McQueen a thing or two about friendship.

Anything by Pixar is pretty much a slam-dunk, and while this is a little sluggish in the middle and doesn't reach the level of "Finding Nemo," it's still a great movie. The animation is awesome, with backgrounds that transport you right into a vintage 1940's postcard. Director John Lasseter is an old hand at making machines come alive -- his credits include Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, and that hidden gem, The Brave Little Toaster. With Cars, he turns hood ornaments into mustaches, grilles into mouths, and windshield's into eyes. Every detail comes into play, from the subtle shifts of body weight to the low growl of an engine. Snappy tunes, too! 

We're also treated to a ton of in-house jokes, starting with the "Lightyear" blimp that soars over the racing stadium to the genius casting of Tom and Ray Magliozzi of NPR's "Car Talk" as McQueen's sponsors. And somebody was really thinking when they tagged Jeremy Piven – who plays movie agent Ari Gold on HBO's hit show "Entourage" – to voice McQueen's agent.

This movie is also a great commentary on a bygone era when Route 66 really WAS the place to get your kicks. Don't be surprised if you look around the theater and see grown men sobbing during one scene that delves into how the Interstate Highway system decimated the little towns along this once-great roadway. Sure, those speedy roads are nice if you're just trying to get from Point A to Point B, but we're missing a lot when we whiz by these forgotten little towns. Most of us now find ourselves looking for ways to drive less (and with skyrocketing gas prices, who can blame us?), but this movie glorifies a time when Americans hopped in their cars and drove just for the sake of driving.

Stay through the credits. Instead of the usual bloopers at the end of most Pixar films, we get almost five minutes of added scenes, including a funny tribute to John Ratzenberger's roles in each of the Pixar films, with the films re-animated using cars as actors.

PARENTS NEED TO KNOW: Sexual content is limited to a few tame innuendos – a car flashing its headlights at another, cars cuddling and kissing, and a vehicle exposing its "undercarriage." Violence centers mostly around the win-at-all-costs racing attitudes; there's also some bullying, destruction of property, reckless driving, and a car trying to outrun a train. Language includes one "hell," some name-calling and misconstrued jokes. Drug references include "freak juice" (organic fuel) being sold by the hippie van.

BRINGING THE KIDS:

PRESCHOOLERS (ages 2-5): What a way to start the summer! Rated G, this movie is fabulous for all ages and contains lots of cute characters for tots and lots of pop culture references for grown-ups. If you have a drive-in theater near you, this is the perfect movie to load up the kids and step back in time. While other Pixar films took us into worlds hidden beneath our own (Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monster's, Inc.), this one takes place in a world where humans never existed and never will. Preschoolers love that.

GRADE-SCHOOLERS (ages 6 - 10): After a string of CG-animated movies that were pretty much all the same, this one kicks it up a notch. It has a great mix of humor and tenderness – working in everything from the counter-culture of the 1960's to the world of NASCAR racing. Grade-schoolers will love the fact that even though it's a cartoon, this movie makes you believe there's a place where cars talk and cruise down the road at break-neck speeds, all without the benefit of a driver.

TWEEN / TEEN (ages 11+): This is a great movie for tweens and teens who think they've got the world all figured out. McQueen's brief stay in Radiator Springs shows that our elders can teach us something about life, that winning doesn't necessarily mean coming in first, and that we should take time to stop and savor the scenery. The message? It really IS all about the journey.

SCORE: 3 out of 4 Reels

Jane's Reel Rating System:
One Reel: Pathetic. Even The Force can’t save it.
Two Reels: Tolerable. Coulda been a contender.
Three Reels: Thought-provoking. Something to talk about.
Four Reels: Wow! The stuff dreams are made of.

E-chat with me at jane@reellifewithjane.com - I LOVE to talk about movies!

Read my other reviews here.