'Cars' gets stuck in neutral
Austin American-Statesman
We'd never really thought of James Taylor as the voice of doom, but darned if he's not.
Right in the middle of the Disney-Pixar film "Cars," race car Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) receives a life lesson from love interest Sally (Bonnie Hunt). Sally, besides being a totally sweet Porsche, is the biggest cheerleader for urban renewal in Radiator Springs, the sleepy desert town on Route 66 where Lightning has been waylaid while on the way out to California for a big race. You can tell Lightning likes her because he listens politely while she talks about how the interstate killed her town instead of restlessly gunning his engine.
Buena Vista Pictures
2 out of 5 stars The verdict: An uneven ride. Directors: John Lasseter, Joe Ranft
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Then, just to make sure the moment sets some sort of new standard for preachiness, here comes Sweet Baby James on the soundtrack with a dirge about how "Main Street isn't Main Street anymore."
Sigh.
And things had started out so promisingly. "Cars" roars to life with a huge race scene that's an onslaught of noise and color. It will rock your world even if you've never held the slightest interest in NASCAR. And it's even cooler when you realize that cars aren't just racing on the track: They're watching the race in the stands and commenting about it on TV. They're doing the wave with headlights. Cars rule the world! Cool!
The plot is established efficiently: Lightning is an overconfident hotshot who thinks he doesn't need anyone's help. Ah. Fine, we think. He'll end up in this small town, make friends, realize the value of teamwork and there'll be another big race at the end. Gotcha.
And that's where things do end up, but there are too many wrong turns along the way. The residents of Radiator Springs just don't have the charm of a certain group of toys we know, and the voice acting is nothing special. Larry the Cable Guy, as a tow truck, actually does the best work — perhaps because he's a bit of a cartoon himself.
The real problem, though, is sloppy plotting. For a huge stretch of the film, there's not what you would call a story going on. There are just cars hanging out.
It's striking to note that "Cars" clocks in at a flabby 1 hour, 56 minutes, and not a whole lot happens. The Disney-Pixar classic "Toy Story" was 1 hour, 21 minutes, and packed in just about everything that makes a movie great.
It's not a total wash. There are plenty of cute cameos, with everyone from Richard Petty to the "Car Talk" guys showing up. A bit with tractors acting like cows is funny. The whole movie is as gorgeous to look at as you'd expect. And things do pick up in the last act. The story moves back to the racetrack for more visceral excitement, and the ending is uncommonly sweet. Stay around for the closing credits, which feature a very funny self-referential joke and are more lively than much of the movie itself.
The important thing, though, is kid opinion. The 13-year-old in our party declared "Cars" less funny but more heartwarming than past Pixar movies, and said he enjoyed it even though he saw some plot problems. The little kids sitting around us at a preview screening radiated restlessness, but a friend reports that her boys were entranced. While we found "Cars" only slightly more entertaining than a traffic jam, younger critics will probably be content to sit back and enjoy the ride.
