A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Cars

Date Viewed: 6/18/06

Details:

Voice talent: Owen Wilson (Lightning McQueen)

Paul Newman (Doc Hudson)

Bonnie Hunt (Sally Carrera)

Larry The Cable Guy (Mater)

Cheech Marin (Ramone)

Tony Shalhoub (Luigi)

George Carlin (Fillmore)

Michael Keaton

Richard Petty

Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Director: John Lasseter and Joe Ranft

Score: +

The Review: Pixar's latest entry is an entertaining mix of NASCAR fever and paean to old US Route 66, the archetypal open road.

On a cross-country trek between big races, young self-centered race-car Lightning McQueen (Wilson) gets sidetracked, lost and legally compromised in the small southwestern hick town of Radiator Springs -- one of the many towns that time forgot when the interstate highway system was designed. While he grumpily tries to pay off his debt to society, he starts to appreciate the sleepy off-the-main-road feel of the place, and discovers several of its charms. It doesn't hurt that the judge (Newman) who sentenced him has a secret of his own, and a few tricks to teach the young whippersnapper.

Overall, Cars was longer than necessary; it could have been much more tightly edited and not lost any of its narrative drive (such that there is), and would have saved a lot of CPU cycles. On the other hand, the geography and scenery around Radiator Springs is exceptionally well-done and thematically consistent. Just imagine anything car-related, and you'll see it somewhere. And there was a quick cut homage to the Pixar short animated film Birds on a Wire during one of the more manic scenes early in the film.

Voice recognition presents its own blind (but fun) challenges as you try to decipher the various bit-part and supporting voice talents involved. There's a mix of big names from the NASCAR racing circuit, oddballs in comedy ("hey man, every third blink is longer" -- "the sixties weren't kind to you, were they?") and local Cambridge talent (Tom & Ray Magliozzi: Click and Clack the car guys, from NPR's Car Talk).

Some of the most interesting scenes are the edge cuts that entertain during the closing credits. We especially appreciated the Pixar parodies of Pixar animated features re-crafted as drive-in fantasy in the Cars world -- yet another reason to stick around for the credits.

(25-Jun-06)

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