Film review of Cars (2006)- by Alan Caylow

Full text transcript of the film review of Cars:

Hello there, how are you guys doing? This is Alan and I’m back with another movie review for you. And today I’m going to be reviewing the Pixar animated feature Cars released in 2006. The plot of cars is as follows. Reading it from the back of the DVD Hotshot Rookie Race Car. Lightning McQueen is living life in the fast lane until he hits a detour on his way to the most important race of his life. Stranded in Radiator Springs, a forgotten town on the old Route 66, he meets Sally Mayder, Doc Hudson and a variety of quirky characters who helped him discover that there’s more to life than trophies and fame. And that’s your basic plot right there of cars already, then cars.

I like cars. You know, the cars movies have not been the most popular Pixar films with critics. And I will be the first to admit that cars were just talking about the first film right here. I don’t think that Cars is the greatest Pixar movie ever made, but I certainly don’t think it’s the worst either. I like cars very much. It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not perfect. But I do think it’s very good. I think the first Cars movie here has a lot of charm to it. And even though it’s not for everybody, there’s just something about it that appeals to me. So for the record, I like cars. Cars came about and of course, the sequels, Cars two and three came about basically because the head of Pixar, John Lasseter, he’s a huge, huge fan of automobiles.

He loves, loves, loves, automobiles. And I guess it was always his dream to do a Pixar film about automobiles. The twist being that these automobiles talk, they talk, they have personality, they’ve got eyes in their windshields. They have mouths that can move and they talk and they have personality. And it’s a whole fantastical world, entirely made up of cars. There are no human beings whatsoever. It’s entirely automobiles. And some people found this whole world of automobiles to be hard to accept because because obviously it’s fantasy. But I mean, some people said, well, you know, I mean, there’s male cars and there’s female cars. So, you know, how to somebody in the press said, well, how do these male cars and female cars, you know, how do they make little cars? You know, I mean, I guess they build them. That’s what they do. They don’t they don’t do it the way humans do. They build them. But anyway, they just found the whole fantastical world of cars to be just a bit hard to accept. Some people think that the car characters look really weird, look really funny. I mean, right there, there’s Lightning McQueen right on the cover. And again, as you can see, his eyes are in his windshield. He has a mouth with teeth, even has a tongue. And these these cars talk and have personality and all of that. And it’s simply an entire fantastical world of cars and nothing but cars.

You know, all you have to do to dive into this world of automobiles is just to accept that, you know, this is a fantastical world that John Lasseter created. And in this world that he created, there’s nothing but cars in it. And I happen to like these cars. I happen to like their funny look. I mean, a lot of people thought that you would put the eyeballs for a car in the headlights. But the fact that he decided to put the eyes in the windshield, that kind of threw some people off a bit. But some people just think that the cars themselves look really, really weird and maybe they do look weird, but I think they look appealingly weird. So I happen to like how all the cars in the movie look. And yeah, I like these characters. I love the animation. I think the story is very good, very entertaining. And I like the the message about it that there is more to life than just fame. And I think it’s a very charming, very appealing movie. So I like cars. It’s not a perfect movie. This is by far the longest Pixar film that has ever been made. Cars is just four minutes shy of two hours, which makes it the longest Pixar film ever. And there are times when the movie feels really long, when Lightning McQueen gets off the racetrack and he winds up stranded in Radiator Springs.

There are times when the story slows down a bit. The pacing gets really, really slow, a little bit sluggish. But what keeps me interested throughout is these wonderful characters, the beautiful animation. I mean, cars is beautifully animated. And regardless of what you think of the film itself, like all Pixar movies, it’s beautifully animated. The racing in this movie. I mean, there’s there’s basically two main races, the race at the beginning of the film and the race at the end of the film. And both races are really, really thrilling to watch. I mean, just awesome animation with with the racing at the. Beginning and ending of the film and everything in the middle is beautifully rendered. I mean, when Lightning McQueen is driving around Radiator Springs with these other characters like Sally or Doc Hudson or any of these characters, and we see like stuff like like the Grand Canyon or, you know, Utah or whatever, the roads, the trees, the highways. Also the reflections, the reflections against the bodies of the cars. I mean, you can see reflections and all of that. It’s just beautifully done. Just crystal clear, beautifully done. All the cars and their designs, the nighttime stuff. There’s this beautiful scene when we’re at Radiator Springs at night and Lightning McQueen and the other characters, they flick on all the neon lights in the Radiator Springs town and they’re bopping along to some 1950s song.

And like I said, the nighttime, the the lighting in it and again, seeing the reflections and all the cars, metal bodies, it’s just so terrific to look at. And again, I happen to like these characters. I mean, I like Lightning McQueen himself. I mean, he starts off as a very arrogant car. He’s a hotshot rookie racecar and he thinks he’s all of that. He’s just the greatest race car driver when in fact, he’s an arrogant rookie. But by the end of the film, he’s learned his lesson and he’s learned a lot of humility. And as I said, he learns that there is more to life than than fame and fortune. And he goes through a transformation in this movie. And I really like that transformation that that he makes. And by the way, he’s voiced by Owen Wilson, who does a wonderful job voicing the character of Lightning McQueen. I think he’s a very appealing character. I like him very much. I think all the characters are great. Doc Hudson, who runs Radiator’s Spring, and he’s voiced by the late great actor Paul Newman, acting legend Paul Newman. And by the way, this was the very last acting role that Paul Newman ever did in his film career, was doing the voice of Doc Hudson in Cars. And sadly, Paul Newman passed away a couple of years later. But nonetheless, he gives wonderful what’s the word.

I want gravitas, if you like, as the voice of Doc Hudson, the head of Radiator Springs on Paul Newman. I salute you. Great voice work from Paul Newman. And by the way, Paul Newman was another race car enthusiast. He raced cars. That was another one of his passions when he wasn’t acting and he wasn’t releasing his products, you know, his various food products with his wife, Joanne Woodward. He was racing cars. So it was perfect to cast Paul Newman in the role of Doc Hudson. He loved racing cars so perfectly cast. Paul Newman, besides Owen Wilson and Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt as Sally the Porche that Lightning McQueen takes a shine to Larry, the cable guy as mater, the old tow truck. Some people find the character of Mater really, really annoying. I don’t find Mader annoying at all. I really don’t. I think he’s a delightful character. I think he is very funny, very charming. I mean, he is goofy. He is an idiot, but he’s a likable idiot. Some people say that Mater is like the Pixar version of Jar Jar Binks from the Phantom Menace, which personally I think is really insulting. I mean, if you have to have a movie character that’s an idiot, he or she has to be a likable, appealing idiot. There’s nothing appealing about Jar Jar Binks. Okay. And he’s just plain annoying. But mater the tow truck.

I like Mater, OK? I don’t have any problems with Mater whatsoever. I think he’s a charming, appealing idiot and at least to me he is. And I think Larry, the cable guy who, by the way, when he’s not voicing Mater, he works as a stand up comic. Larry, the cable guy does a wonderful job voicing Mader. You know, that Southern drawl he is. And all of that. Yeah, I like mayder the tow truck. OK, bite me. I also like Tony Shalhoub as Luigi Hoopoe, who’s a Fiat, Cheech Marin of the comedy duo Cheech and Chong. He does the voice of Ramone, a Chevrolet low rider, George Carlin, the late great George Carlin as Fillmore, a very old VW bus, Paul Dooley, Assad’s who’s who’s a Jeep, and even auto racing giant Richard Petty does the voice of strip the King wethers classic race car in this world. I mean, the name of this character strip wethers, but everybody calls Richard Petty’s race car the King, I guess after Richard Petty himself. Of course, it’s nice to hear the voice of Richard Petty. And I also say Michael Keaton, very, very funny as Chick Hicks. He’s he’s like the main race car competition for Lightning McQueen and as well as Richard Petty’s The King character and Michael Keaton’s check. Yeah, he’s just a jerk. He’s just a total hotheaded jerk, very, very full of himself. I think he’s even more full of himself than Lightning McQueen is at the start of the film.

But Michael Keaton, very, very funny in the role of chicken. So, guys, overall, I like cars very much. I think it’s a very charming Pixar film. As I said, it’s not the best Pixar film, but I certainly don’t think it’s the worst. It is a little too long at just under two hours. It’s a bit too long. And when we get to Radiator Springs. The story does slow down to kind of a sluggish pace, I’ll admit, but I still think that the characters are very likable. I think the cars themselves are wonderful, fantastical characters. I don’t have a problem with the design of the cars themselves. I think they look pretty cool and I think they’re really cool characters. And I love this whole fantastical world of cars. I think it’s a very enjoyable, fun story, beautifully animated. And again, the race at the beginning of the film, the race at the end of the film are thrilling. All the beautifully animated vistas that we see all throughout the film, all the highways and all the beautiful nighttime stuff. And it’s just all beautifully rendered. And the voice cast of this film, including Owen Wilson and the late, great Paul Newman, wonderful voice cast for this movie. And I like it very much. Not a Pixar classic, but certainly not a bomb either. Not to me.

I like cars. And that’s my review of Pixar cars. Cars. This is Alan. Thank you so much for watching. Don’t forget to subscribe now below, and I’ll see you next time.