Cars   

Lightning McQueen: Owen Wilson

Doc Hudson: Paul Newman

Sally Carrera: Bonnie Hunt

Mater: Larry the Cable Guy

Luigi: Tony Shalhoub

Fillmore: George Carlin

Chick Hicks: Michael Keaton

The King: Richard Petty

Directed by John Lasseter 

and Joe Ranft

Screenplay by Dan Fogelman, 

Phil Lorin, Kiel Murray

Story by Jorgen Klubien, Don Lake,

John Lasseter, Joe Ranft

It was bound to happen one of these days.  Pixar, the studio that could do no wrong, was eventually going to fall below its extremely high standards.  The funny thing is that even though Cars qualifies as its worst movie yet, it's still serviceable and better than most movies out there.

I can't say that I didn't see the writing on the wall for this one.  Of course, I was very skeptical of Finding Nemo, too.  The previews for that one never really intrigued me.  That only happened to turn into their best movie and a modern classic.  So, even though I had the same reservations about Cars, I remained optimistic.

Cars isn't a bad movie, it's just disappointing.  And at some point, you need to ask yourself when it becomes fair to judge a movie against the studio's more successful releases.  It's a fine line to walk, but the comparisons are inevitable and therefore necessary.

First of all, Cars is absolutely gorgeous.  The animation is second only to Nemo.  All the cars have a great look to them and the background scenery and locations are beautiful.  Pixar remains the standard-bearer for animation as it constantly raises the bar.

The story, usually Pixar's strong suit, falters a little.  It feels a little too familiar and offers few surprises.  Lightning McQueen, voiced by Owen Wilson, is a rookie race car that gets lost on his way to the final race of the season for the Piston Cup.  He finds himself in the small town of Radiator Springs, where the local cast of characters teaches him to curtail his cocky and selfish ways.

The supporting cast is pretty good, highlighted by Bonnie Hunt as McQueen's love interest Sally, and Tony Shalhoub as Italian tire salesman Luigi.

There are a few flaws to the film that prevented it from entering the upper echelon of Pixar movies.  First of all, Owen Wilson's voice work isn't that great.  And for the first time in a Pixar film (even with Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, John Goodman, etc.,), I couldn't shake the fact that it was Owen Wilson.  Every other voice actor has been able to inhabit their roles and become the character.  I didn't get that feeling with Wilson.

Secondly, aside from Luigi, the movie just isn't that funny.  There are a few good lines here and there from Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), but most of the situations and scenes played for laughs just fall flat.  Luigi and his sidekick Guido (Guido Quaroni) steal the movie.  From their obsession with Ferraris to their ability to change tires, they are the best thing about the movie.

Cars is pretty lengthy and without much humor to break everything up, you begin to feel it.

Finally, I think the cars themselves just didn't provide for a great character model.  The animators did as good of a job as they could have, but I think they were constrained by keeping everything car-like.  In other words, being unable to create facial expressions other than playing with the windshield eyes prevented personalities from really coming through and everyone just seemed like a talking car.  Nothing more.

I still think Cars is barely worth seeing, especially for kids.  But there isn't much for adults this time.  I was even disappointed in the cartoon short that played before the movie.  And those are usually incredible, too.

Maybe it's a good thing, though.  An imperfect movie from Pixar will only force them to strive harder next time.  And by the looks of their next film, Ratatouille from director Brad Bird (The Incredibles), their reascension to the top will be sooner than you know it.