(SPOILER CONTENT AHEAD, of course...)

I must admit that I approached this film with some trepidation. The Incredibles was (and still is) to me, the pinnacle of all animated work. Add to that the fact that Cars was the first PIXAR teaser ever to not impress me in the slightest, and I was highly concerned that the law of averages had caught up to good ol’ PIXAR, and they were in for their first flop.
My biggest concern was Mater, the hillbilly tow-truck, who was pretty obviously in the trailers the ‘animator favorite’ iconic character that almost every movie has- the one that the creators love, and constantly showcase- but often the audience doesn’t. (See Binks, Jar-Jar.) It also seemed a little too over-the-top; just one big “Hey, look! We have a clichéd hillbilly character that’s dumb in this movie! Isn’t that funny? Listen, he says ‘dadgum!’ Isn’t that hilarious?” Also, it held no interest, content-wise… I remember thinking ‘Egads! They’ve actually managed to make high-speed, Indy-500 style racing look BORING!’

In retrospect, as Darth Vader might say, I find my lack of faith disturbing. This is PIXAR, after all.

On a brief side note, we saw trailers for both PIXAR’s new Disney-less offering (at least I’m presuming it was created during the terrible limbo period when Cars was going to be the last Disney/PIXAR offering) Ratlooie (or something like that- we actually thought it was the traditional opening cartoon at first!) and Disney’s new PIXAR-less offering, Meet The Robinsons. As well as a host of other trailers for offering such as The House, How To Eat Fried Worms, and Babe III- I mean, the live-action Charolette’s Web. These productions, combined with the track record of Valiant (Anyone even remember that? Most people don’t even know I existed…) and Chicken little, have taught me two things:
1. Disney and PIXAR are the textbook example of symbiosis- to quote ‘If I Didn’t Have You,’ the Oscar-nominated Monsters, Inc. song, “One without the other don’t mean nothin’ to me!” These firms NEED each other- let’s hope they can do as well merged as they could as separate, co-dependant entities.
2. It is, in general, a dark day for children’s entertainment until the next Disney/PIXAR production shows up.

Before the film, we got the traditional PIXAR short, this time entitled “One Man Band.” While it didn’t reach the comedic genius of “Geri’s Game” (or The Birds, of which I was, apparently, the only person on Earth not to find it funny,) it was certainly entertaining (more so than, for example, Boundin’, which may have a total of 10 people, worldwide, as fans, based on my surveys.)
Several of the character designs were somewhat familiar to me- the first musician is heavily reminiscent of an even younger version of the Glory Days Mr. Incredible, while the little peasant girl looked like Monsters, Inc.’s Boo- if she were from Star Trek’s evil Mirror Universe, that is. I mean, that kid was just… nasty.

Anyhow. The movie. I must admit, it took me some time to get into the film. I really didn’t care for the film until after the road paving started, at least. Nonetheless, the opening was interesting, if confusing, as lightning starts with his ‘getting into the zone.’ The racing was ho-hum; though I did enjoy the automotive version of ‘The Wave.’
The opening was fairly predictable, really, for anyone that’s seen an ‘egotistical celebrity that learns to be humble’ movie. It was good to once again hear John Ratzenberger voicing his traditional PIXAR character- and his end-credits riff on his own string of performances, as well as past PIXAR productions, may be one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in a PIXAR film. Ever. Definitely worth staying for.

Mr. King and his wife seemed like refreshingly simple, honest folks- a nice change of pace from the clichéd characters that animated fare, even PIXAR, can tend to throw our way- despite a number of stereotype characters in Cars, some of them felt like they had a real depth for once- like the Incredibles and Toy Story, this really helped the production greatly.

During the road trip, I noticed most of the film’s past PIXAR references- the Birds from the aforementioned short on a telephone pole, the Lightyear tires (which are present throughout the film,) and the Inc. truck at the rest stop Mac wants to pull over at, which sported the stylized I of Mr. Incredible. Those were the only ones I caught, aside from the aforementioned end credits riff.

The area of Radiator Springs was also visually interesting- I like the car-shaped buttes and bluffs- as if a bunch of ‘57 Chevys were buried throughout the desert. It was a nice touch.

The town and it’s inhabitants were interesting, to say the least (I really could have sworn that old widow was a guy for the first 15 minutes)- and despite my worries, Mater has a number of funny gags- especially his realization just after Lightning makes a break for it.

Visually, the film is gorgeous- from sun shining off of the polished (Sometimes a little over polished, perhaps?) paint jobs to the waterfall and the incredibly ubiquitous concrete chunks that are apparently scattered like confetti over most major race courses. PIXAR’s vision of reality is starting to get more real than our own.

I won’t get to far into plot specifics here- I'm sure that will come with the thread's evolution, and I don't want to provide too many spoilers. I really liked the themes of slowing down, and having respect for one’s elders & things past; this was, to me, one of the better PIXAR ‘message’ films.

I was rather surprised at the ‘He did what in his cup?’ line, and several other innuendos that seemed out of place in a G-rated kids film.

The ending, to me, was a unique mix of cliché and the unexpected- thoroughly predictable in most aspects, but with one or two unexpected moments to keep it interesting. (Two of my major predictions failed as well: The 20 tickets mentioned during the opening were going to become a major plot point as Lightning invited the whole town along, and Lightning would end the film sporting real headlights and rear-view mirrors.)

All in all, I still rank The Incredibles as the best PIXAR film (as well as the best CGI film, and the best animated film of all time,) with Toy Story 2 ranking just behind it. But Cars has definitely earned a place in the high part of the PIXAR pantheon- and perhaps the inability to decide a ranking between the rest of PIXAR’s myriad offerings is a blessing, not a trial… now that Disney and PIXAR have rejoined, for good this time, the future looks bright once again.

(And, once again, I cannot stress the importance of staying through the entire credits- which may be the best part of the whole film!)

NITS:

Only one the first time through, really… either the SUV Husband was simply bragging about his GPS while not knowing a thing about it, or the satellite reception in the vicintity of Radiator Springs is REALLY bad!

Zarm Rkeeg: I remember thinking ‘Egads! They’ve actually managed to make high-speed, Indy-500 style racing look BORING!’

Technically that was NASCAR racing, which has nothing to do with the Indy 500. NASCAR vehicles look like ordinary cars with a bunch of corporate logos stuck on, while Indy 500 vehicles look like the offspring of a car and a jet.

Zarm Rkeeg: On a brief side note, we saw trailers for both PIXAR’s new Disney-less offering (at least I’m presuming it was created during the terrible limbo period when Cars was going to be the last Disney/PIXAR offering) Ratlooie (or something like that- we actually thought it was the traditional opening cartoon at first!) and Disney’s new PIXAR-less offering, Meet The Robinsons.

Ratatouille (pronounced Rat-a-too-ee) is a French dish primarily involving eggplant.

Zarm Rkeeg: It was good to once again hear John Ratzenberger voicing his traditional PIXAR character- and his end-credits riff on his own string of performances, as well as past PIXAR productions, may be one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in a PIXAR film. Ever. Definitely worth staying for.

Loved the Carsified versions of the Pixar films. Especially the Abomniable Snowplow.

Zarm Rkeeg: During the road trip, I noticed most of the film’s past PIXAR references- the Birds from the aforementioned short on a telephone pole, the Lightyear tires (which are present throughout the film,) and the Inc. truck at the rest stop Mac wants to pull over at, which sported the stylized I of Mr. Incredible. Those were the only ones I caught, aside from the aforementioned end credits riff.

I'm guessing that Lightning had 95 as his number because that's the year Toy Story came out.

Zarm Rkeeg: I was rather surprised at the ‘He did what in his cup?’ line, and several other innuendos that seemed out of place in a G-rated kids film.

That caught me off guard too. If it had been Dreamworks, I wouldn't have been too surprised.

Zarm Rkeeg: (And, once again, I cannot stress the importance of staying through the entire credits- which may be the best part of the whole film!)

I pity the folks who skip out when the credits start rolling because they're in too big a hurry to find out who the second assistant assistant director is. :P They missed some good stuff.

I loved the cameo done by Tom and Ray Magliozzi (of Car Talk fame) as Lightning's sponsers. Can anyone confirm if the one voiced by Tom was a Dodge Dart?

It was indeed.

Great sight gag: When Lightning and Sally drive up to the abandoned hotel, there are little bugs flying around, and one of them gets on the "camera lens" and crawls around, leaving tread marks on it.

A very nice film, but the Route 66 message was delivered with a sledgehammer.

I'm curious as to why the bugs were little cars. Since there are other types of vehicles in this world, like blimps and helicopters, shouldn't flying insects be one of those, to make the analogy closer?

VW *Bug*.

The Volkswagon "bug" The ubiquitous Beetle. The analogy sounds just fine to me.

Luigi, did you notice Tony Shalhoub's character (Luigi, incidentally) pronounced "Grazie" correctly? PROOF, I tell you, that Pixar listens to its fans! :-)

When Lightning is put in the impound lot, a boot is put on his left front tire. Then when the Sheriff tells Mater to tow him to the courthouse, Mater attaches his chain to Lightning's back bumper. We don't see Mater hauling him off after this, but it must have been a bumpy ride, with Lightning's back wheels lifted, and a booted wheel still on the ground.

There are probably any number of nits that could be pointed out that directly result from the premise of the movie, a world populated by cars, and no humans. For instance, what do they need tractors and threshers for? What about corn fields? Cars wouldn't need to consume agricultural products (yeah, yeah, the VW hippie had "organic" fuel, I know...) I could name others, but that might sap the joy out of the movie for me in this case, as problems like these kept distracting me all throughout watching "Cars". Yeah, not my favorite Pixar. It's no "Pocahontas" though, thankfully.

That was Tony Shaloub? Cool. I seem to recall him using the word, but I couldn't recall if it was correct or not. But it's nice to know that they're learning.

I loved this movie, even after fighting with two damaged Netflix discs. Very crisp and colorful.

I know there was a lot of background stuff I missed so it will be a lot of fun to see it again and concentrate more on that.