Still Charming Half a Decade Later

I don’t know about you but when I think of Pixar’s “classics” rarely is Cars the first to come to mind.  The Toy Story(s) perhaps, Monsters Inc. maybe, even Finding Nemo for those so inclined and yet it took a under-whelming sequel followed by a revisit to the DVD I thought I knew well to realize that the first Cars is the epitome of all that Pixar has come to mean to modern animation.

In the event that you’ve been living in a cave these past six years, Cars tells of a racecar sidetracked by fate on his way to The Big Race in California.  Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), a brash NASCAR rookie who unwittingly gets lost and ends up in Radiator Springs, an almost-ghost town and former hot spot along historic Route 66, now ignored by tourists and travelers alike, thanks to the superhighway that bypasses the town.

In the process of arriving, McQueen inadvertently tears up the asphalt of Main Street.  He gets arrested and is sentenced, against will and ego, to repave the damaged street.

While paying his debt to society, McQueen encounters a 1951 Hudson Hornet, a rusty but lovable tow truck, a hippy 1960 VW bus, a classy but confident Porsche and a herd of tractors prone to tipping over and fluctuating exhaust fumes out of fright.

The racing action certainly gets its due to be sure and kids have proven that a ragtag group of vehicles with eyes behind their windshields works just fine as toys, school folders, and backpacks.  But it is John Lasseter's underlying message that couldn't be clearer here: Pay attention to what matters: family, friends, true love, and it doesn’t hurt to appreciate cars either.

NASCAR-fans had much to celebrate, as did car-racing aficionados of all disciplines for that matter but it’s the nostalgia of society’s collective switch in thinking (from the scenery of iconic Route 66 being traded for the efficiency of the superhighway) that I found most prolific this time around.

Even though 2006 might as well be eons ago in the ever-advancing world of computer animating technology, the visuals in Cars still manage to impress (especially in high-definition); a fact perhaps further enhanced by the abundance of heart within the prose.

In all, and contrary to the trend that Pixar just continues to outdo itself in each subsequent effort, it is almost ironic that having watched the lackluster sequel in the theater led me back to the original and of course to rediscovering the charms that separate the good films from the great ones.