What Cars lacks in originality, it makes up in wholesome-as-apple pie charm. It’s an old story: a puffed-up city slicker drops unexpectedly into a backwater town and gradually comes to love its quaint and simple values. The delightful execution of this worn narrative represents the winning collaboration of old-school Disney sensibilities and ever-impressive Pixar animation.
Owen Wilson is the voice of Lightning McQueen, a cocky racing car who gets lost on his way to a championship in California and ends up in Radiator Springs. A rusty, buck-toothed hick of a tow truck named Tow Mater shows McQueen a good time when he takes him out to tip tractors — dumb, bovine vehicles that scare easily. Larry the Cable Guy takes credit for Mater’s seesawing hillbilly twang, making him an endearing addition to the town’s cast of characters.
Other cars McQueen meets are Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), the gruff town judge with a surprising past; Filmore (George Carlin), an ageing hippie who pushes organic fuel; Luigi (Tony Shalhoub), a tyre outfitter who idolises Ferraris; Ramone (Cheech Marin), a slick body-paint stylist; and love interest Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt), a Porsche from Los Angeles.
One reason the film works so well is that each car is built around a recognisable character type. Though familiar, the result is not a series of flat portraits. Instead, the diverse characters and their idiosyncratic behaviour flesh out the texture of Radiator Springs, sharpening its contrast with the big cities’ conformist multitudes.
This contrast lies at the core of the film, which holds fast-paced development responsible for Radiator Springs’s demise. The Route 66 town was once bustling with tourists, until a by-pass sped up the cross-country trip and cut off the supply of tourists. In its motel nostalgia, the movie pays homage to an era when people enjoyed travelling for travelling’s sake and were not just hurrying to get somewhere.
Cars may not be as hilarious as the most recent Pixar hit, The Incredibles, but therein lies its unique quality — it relies more on old-fashioned, soft-edged humour for laughs than barbed quips and sharp replies. The result is Disney the way it used to be: a well-rounded and predictable tale filled with excitement at the racetracks, the surprises of a new town, a sense of community and the comfort of having made new friends by the end.