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Part Of Rodent's 5 Review Pixar Marathon

Review #117 (2nd of 5): Cars



Lightning McQueen, a rookie racecar, desperate to practice for his first championship race, ends up in an accident and ruins the roadway in a middle-of-nowhere town called Radiator Springs, in the desert.
McQueen is given community service (charged with fixing the road) by the law of the town for his mischief and he rushes the job so he can practice for his next race... but because of his lack of enthusiasm for the job, he is ordered to do it again.
In the process, he learns the value of friendship as he becomes known around the town and even finds love.
When his time comes to leave the town and go for his all-important race... he quickly and carelessly throws his new friendships aside... but life lessons that he'll never forget are waiting just around the corner.


Not one of Pixar's best.
A very bland story of morality, caked in flashy animation give the audience a pretty linear and predictable turn of events.
The screenplay is at quite a loss too. It's not conventional, which should make it stand out from the crowd, but sadly, it's just as lost as the well-used plotlines.
Think of it as a cross between Doc Hollywood and The Colour Of Money and you're getting there.

The movie is definitely more for the kids, especially with the flashy CGI... there's very, very little for the older generation to get enthusiastic about.
Even Pixar's famous situational-tongue-in-cheek humour misses its mark more than once.
It just feels as if the writers had better things on their minds.

The voice acting is probably the best part of the whole film really, but it's still extremely forgettable.
Owen Wilson as our main car Lightning McQueen is ok. He delivers an apt performance for the poor script he's been given.
Hollywood Stars Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin and Michael Keaton do very little to lift the poor dialogue, though they do their best.

Paul Newman shines through though as Doc Hudson, a new found mentor to Owen's Lghtning McQueen.

As for the CGI, even with the technology of the computers being ramped up for the movie, it feels very samey and has had little effect on the finished product. It's hard to see where all the improvements were made to the tech.


All in all, close to being Pixar's biggest fail, the sequel, Cars 2, took that spot but this first movie is very close.
Enjoyable for kids and anyone who prefers flash with no bang... anyone else will be disappointed by the lack of the imagination and originality that made Pixar famous.
My rating 38%