Review of Cars (2006) by Markb. — 12 Jun 2006

Slick, shiny and snazzy though it might be, the newest product to slide off the Pixar assembly line just doesn't have as much under the hood as previous models--and certainly not as much as the manufacturer thinks it does.

[***SPOILERS***] In fact, my use of the terms "product", "assembly line" and "manufacturer" to describe a Pixar movie serves as a diagnosis of what the problem is: what was once the pinnacle of true originality and perfection every time out has started ever so slightly to become formulaic.

Technically, visually and vocally the all-car Cars is absolutely beyond question (and is STILL one of the two or three truly worthwhile mainstream summer movies currently out there), but the script, dealing with the Life Lessons learned by arrogant would-be champion race car Lightning McQueen as he's forced to stay in a small, one-horsepower town en route to The Big Race (and with seven writers credited!) is beginning to show signs of wear, beginning with the Big Theme, which compared to previous Pixar epics is pretty second-hand and shopworn.

The studio's last effort, The Incredibles, dealt so perceptively with the challenge of exceptionally gifted individuals being forced to water down their special talents in order to blend in with the masses that it was frequently used as an example on op-ed pages, while Finding Nemo spoke powerfully to every parent in the audience about the difficulty of balancing allowing children a necessary amount of independence and self-reliance with the parents' natural fears of the possible worst-case results of doing so.

In contrast, Theme #1 of Cars (success and fame don't mean much if you don't come by them ethically and/or have someone you love to share them with)--while definitely a worthy message for audiences of all ages--has been just as well or better communicated in literally thousands of previous movies ranging from A Star Is Born to The Bad News Bears to The Apartment.

And Theme #2 (we all need families or a network of friends we can call a family) is identical to that of Cars' current competition, the animals-versus-suburbia comedy Over the Hedge. The script is admittedly clever and very fast-moving, perhaps too much so: I get the very distinct impression that the gagmen and co-director John Lasseter couldn't bring themselves to edit out a single joke.

And that may very well point up what my major problem with Cars is: too much of it, from the standard-issue wistful Randy Newman ballad that pops up mid-picture to all the end-credits in-jokes about a certain vocal regular, comes off as a bit self-referential, self-satisfied, maybe even a trifle smug.

..not that far removed from Lightning McQueen himself. Again, Cars looks and sounds spectacular (and if they release an IMAX version of it, I'll be in line); my reservations about it are relatively minor compared to how much I really did enjoy it, and second-tier Pixar is still very much worth your time.

It's just that when your favorite five-star restaurant serves you a four-star meal, your inevitable response will be disappointment, however mild. As always, the voice casting is spectacularly on the mark, with Owen Wilson believably cocky and self-centered but not so obnoxious as to ever seem unredeemable as Lightning, Paul Newman wonderfully craggy as Doc Hudson, a long-time Radiator Springs pillar with a few secrets of his own, and Bonnie Hunt lending her signature down-to-earth warmth as McQueen's potential spiritual teacher and love interest.

And I never thought it would be possible to find myself uttering about any movie or in any context that Larry The Cable Guy is the most charming and totally lovable thing about it. But then, never count out the seemingly impossible: up until this weekend I also never thought I'd hear myself conceding first-time victory to DreamWorks over Pixar in the yearly Battle of the CGI Titans--but the funnier and less self-absorbed Over the Hedge wins.

..by a whisker.