Cars

It's no lie. "Cars" is an instant classic from the Disney/Pixar masterminds. Beautifully displayed, with moving songs and a solid cast of characters, "Cars" provides a storyline with a great moral-of-the-story ending. At the same time, running nearly two hours long with only a handful of laughs, the attention of the audience, young and old, is definitely tested.

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), a hotshot rookie NASCAR race car, embarks on a trip down Route 66, headed to California and the big Piston Cup Championship race. Along the way, he meets Sally, a snazzy Porsche (Bonnie Hunt), Doc Hudson, a 1951 Hudson Hornet (Paul Newman), and Mater, a rusty tow truck (Larry the Cable Guy). After destroying the only road into town, Lightning is forced to make repairs before he is allowed to leave. Without a road, nobody will visit this already forgotten town that has been bypassed by the interstate. Lightning struggles to realize the importance of helping others as his focus has always been on himself. With the help of the unique auto personalities, Lightning comes to realize there's more to life than first place.

There are no humans in this movie. Each character is a well-crafted, Pixar-generated vehicle. Those genius' clearly did their research into car design, NASCAR, and Route 66 itself. The scenery is flawless, the cars are crafted to perfection, and there seems to be nothing odd about talking cars. Lacking, however, are the comedy elements. Mater steals the show as the rusty tow truck, and provides nearly all the laughs.

The true testament, I felt, was how the young audience reacted. There were very few times when little kids seemed to be in awe of what they were seeing. Adults also seemed to be getting restless in their seats. Ironically, the funniest moments for me came in the credits. Do not leave the theater until the final credit has rolled. The Pixar-making-fun-of-Pixar scenes as well as the John Katzenberger montage are worth the price of admission alone. Definitely worth seeing, I just wish there were more laughs. I give it an A.

"Cars" is rated G with a running time of 114 minutes.