by Celia Bullwinkel

Being a non-driving New Yorker, I did not plan on Cars captivating my interest. It had plenty of time to try, with the running time of 116 minutes. Admittedly, I had an emotional attachment to the cars I had once driven (some ten years ago), but I was doubtful that Pixar could make me feel for a machine. After the giddy joyride of the Incredibles, would Cars be a hit or a lemon?

After viewing the film at New York’s Ziegfeld, I can honestly conclude: Cars is no lemon. I enjoyed the film better than I imagined. It deserves no comparison to any other Pixar film, it’s THAT good. Fans will notice the absence of Randy Newman’s singing, another Joe Ranft cameo, and a collection of pop songs (thankfully, it’s done well). While the film is centered on car racing, Cars has a slower pace to its previous films, partly due to Lasseter’s storytelling sensibility. His style comes on strong delivering smart humor, and heart. But that doesn’t mean the film crawls by. On the contrary, the film opens in an unexpected way, by jumping into a fast-paced, loud, vividly colored race arena, teaming with thousands of cars, and not one human in site. The Cars universe pulls itself together during main character’s big race, and then the story takes off!

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is the focus of the film. A rookie Trans Am, McQueen is aiming to win the Piston cup, the ultimate racing trophy. He also has many shortcomings: he is arrogant, selfish, and uncooperative. McQueen’s only interest lies in winning, fame, and the brand sponsorship that goes with it. McQueen is hardly appealing at the film’s start, and I began to doubt whether to like the story at all. Luckily, these feelings change after McQueen gets lost in transit, and finds himself stranded in the shantytown of Radiator Springs. Midway through the film, Cars throws in another level to the story based on the rise and decline of Route 66, and how it has affected the little village of Radiator springs. This part of the story is told in visually stunning, iconic imagery of the 40’s and 50’s.

The local townspeople (er, cars) of Radiator Springs are what really make the film engaging. They are a cinematic touch that is also purely Lasseter. He can’t help adding the “buddy picture” element into Cars, but this doesn’t hinder the film. The ways the characters bond and grow are endearing and unlikely. To Lasseter’s credit, these characters had me laughing throughout the film. Much amusement is seeing the varieties of cars cast to types of people: an R&B Cadillac, a Spanish low-rider, a sexy Porsche, a hippie VW bus, and others.

The visuals in Cars are heavier on landscape that ever before. Michael Wallis, author of the book “Route 66: the Mother Road” gave not only his voice (the Sheriff of Radiator Springs) but also his knowledge of classic Americana to the film. The backgrounds are bright and saturated, mimicking Kodaochrome film. The old Route 66 is beautifully rendered, with phenomenal textures and landscapes. The hills and dusty roads feel real enough to walk through. Cars is defiantly a world I wouldn’t mind living in.

For me, the greatest surprise in the Cars was finding myself completely engaged in the cars world, despite my personal disinterest in driving. It will defiantly be the best film you will see this summer, perhaps all year.

-By the way: there’s a special short during the credits, but I won’t spoil it for you!