Cars (film)

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This article is about the original 2006 Pixar film. For the franchise, see Cars (franchise).

Cars

Theatrical release poster

Directed by John Lasseter

Produced by Darla K. Anderson

Dan Fogelman
John Lasseter
Joe Ranft
Screenplay by
Kiel Murray
Phil Lorin
Jorgen Klubien

John Lasseter
Story by Joe Ranft
Jorgen Klubien
 Owen Wilson
Paul Newman
Starring
Bonnie Hunt
Larry the Cable Guy

Music by Randy Newman

Jeremy Lasky
Cinematography
Jean Claude Kalache

Edited by Ken Schretzmann

Production Walt Disney Pictures

company Pixar Animation Studios

Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

May 26, 2006 (Lowe's Motor

Release date Speedway)
June 9, 2006 (United States)
Running time 117 minutes[1]

Country United States

Language English

Budget $120 million[1]

Box office $462 million[1]

Cars is a 2006 American computer-animated road-comedy film produced by Pixar

Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by
John Lasseter from a screenplay by Dan Fogelman, Lasseter, Joe Ranft, Kiel Murray,
Phil Lorin, and Jorgen Klubien and a story by Lasseter, Ranft, and Klubien, and was
the final film independently produced by Pixar before its purchase by Disney in
January 2006. Set in a world populated entirely by anthropomorphic talking cars and
other vehicles, the film stars the voices of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman (in his final
acting role), Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin,
Michael Wallis, George Carlin, Paul Dooley, Jenifer Lewis, Guido Quaroni, Michael
Keaton, Katherine Helmond, John Ratzenberger and Richard Petty, while race car
drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. (as "Junior"), Mario Andretti, Michael Schumacher and car
enthusiast Jay Leno (as "Jay Limo") voice themselves.
Cars premiered on May 26, 2006 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North
Carolina and was theatrically released in the United States on June 9, 2006 to
generally positive reviews and also received commercial success, grossing $462
million worldwide against a budget of $120 million. It was nominated for two
Academy Awards including Best Animated Feature, but lost to Happy Feet (but won
both the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature and the Golden Globe Award for
Best Animated Feature Film). The film was released on DVD on November 7, 2006
and on Blu-ray in 2007. The film was accompanied by the short One Man Band for its
theatrical and home media releases. Merchandise based on the film (including scale
models of several of the cars) broke records for retail sales of merchandise based on a
Disney/Pixar film,[2] bringing an estimated $10 billion for 5 years after the film's
release.[3] The film was dedicated to Joe Ranft, the film's co-director and co-writer,
who died in a car crash during the film's production.

A sequel titled Cars 2 was released on June 24, 2011[4] and a spin-off film titled
Planes, produced by Disneytoon Studios, was released on August 9, 2013,[5] which
was followed by its own sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue, which was released on July
18, 2014. A series of short animated films titled Cars Toons debuted in 2008 on
Disney Channel and Disney XD.[6] A second sequel, titled Cars 3, was released on
June 16, 2017.[7]

Contents
 1Plot
 2Voice cast
 3Production
o 3.1Development
o 3.2Animation
 4Soundtrack
 5Release
o 5.1Home media
 6Reception
o 6.1Box office
o 6.2Critical response
o 6.3Accolades
 7Video game
 8Similar films
 9Literature
 10Sequels
 11See also
 12References
 13External links

Plot[edit]
In a world populated by anthropomorphic talking vehicles, the final race of the Piston
Cup season ends in a three-way tie between retiring veteran Strip "The King"
Weathers, frequent runner-up Chick Hicks, and brash rookie sensation Lightning
McQueen; the tiebreaker race is scheduled for one week later at the Los Angeles
International Speedway. McQueen is desperate to win the race, not only to be the first
rookie to win the Piston Cup, but also because it would allow him to leave the
unglamorous sponsorship of Rust-Eze, a bumper ointment company, and take The
King's place on the prestigious and lucrative Dinoco team. Eager to get to California
as soon as possible, he pushes his big rig, Mack, to travel all night long. While
McQueen is sleeping, Mack nods off and is startled awake, causing McQueen to fall
out the back of the trailer and onto the road. McQueen wakes up in the middle of
traffic and speeds off the highway in search of Mack, but instead ends up in the
rundown desert town of Radiator Springs, where he inadvertently damages the
pavement of the main road.

The next day, McQueen is ordered by the town judge, Doc Hudson, to leave town
immediately, but the local lawyer, Sally, requests that McQueen should instead be
assigned community service to repave the road, to which Doc reluctantly agrees. Still
in a rush to leave town, McQueen repaves the road shoddily, and is ordered to repave
it again. During this time, he begins to warm to the town, and befriends several of its
residents. He learns that Radiator Springs was once a popular stop along U.S. Route
66 until it was bypassed with the construction of the Interstate System and mostly
forgotten, and that Doc was the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, a three-time Piston Cup
champion whose career ended prematurely from a serious crash. He bonds with Sally,
who found happiness when she gave up a fast life in Los Angeles to live in Radiator
Springs, and now dreams of putting the town back on the map. McQueen finishes
repaving the road, reinvigorating the town's residents, and decides to spend an extra
day in Radiator Springs with his new friends, but his time there is cut short when
Mack and the media descend on the town. McQueen reluctantly leaves to reach
California in time for the race while Sally chastises Doc upon discovering that he was
responsible for tipping off the media to McQueen's whereabouts.

At the race, McQueen races distractedly and soon falls into last place. He is then
surprised to discover that Doc, having a change of heart, has taken over as his crew
chief and several of his other friends from Radiator Springs are helping in the pit.
Inspired and recalling tricks he learned from Doc and his friends, McQueen vaults
into the lead, but on the final lap Chick, refusing to lose to The King again,
sideswipes and sends The King into a dangerous crash. Recalling Doc's fate,
McQueen stops just short of the finish line, handing Chick the victory, and drives
back to push The King over the finish line. As a result, the angered crowd and media
condemn Chick's victory but praise McQueen's sportsmanship. McQueen is offered
the Dinoco sponsorship, but declines and insists on staying with Rust-Eze out of
loyalty for their past support. Back at Radiator Springs, McQueen reunites with Sally
and announces that he will be setting up his racing headquarters there, putting
Radiator Springs back on the map.

Voice cast[edit]
See also: List of Cars characters
  Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen, described by John Lasseter in the Los Angeles
Times as "A hybrid between a stock car and a more curvaceous Le Mans endurance
race car".[8]
 Paul Newman as Doc Hudson, a 1951 Hudson Hornet who is later revealed to be the
Fabulous Hudson Hornet and is Newman's last non-documentary role before
retirement in 2007 and death in 2008.
 Bonnie Hunt as Sally Carrera, a 2002 996-series Porsche 911 Carrera.
 Larry the Cable Guy as Mater, a 1951 International Harvester L-170 "boom" truck[9][10]
with elements of a mid-1950s Chevrolet[11] One-Ton Wrecker Tow Truck.
 Tony Shalhoub as Luigi, a 1959 Fiat 500.
 Cheech Marin as Ramone, a 1959 Chevrolet Impala Lowrider.
 Michael Wallis as Sheriff, a 1949 Mercury Club Coupe (police package).
 George Carlin as Fillmore, a 1960 VW Bus.
 Paul Dooley as Sarge, a 1941 Willys model jeep, in the style used by the US Military.
 Jenifer Lewis as Flo, a 1957 General Motors Motorama show car.
 Guido Quaroni as Guido, a custom forklift, resembling an Isetta at the front who
speaks only in Italian.
 Richard Petty as Strip "The King" Weathers, a 1970 Plymouth Superbird.
 Michael Keaton as Chick Hicks, described by Pixar as a generic 1980s stock car [11]
resembling a 1978–88 General Motors G-Body such as a Buick Regal or a Chevrolet
Monte Carlo.
 Katherine Helmond as Lizzie, a 1923 Ford Model T.
 John Ratzenberger as Mack, a 1985 Mack Super-Liner.
 Joe Ranft as Red, a 1960s style fire engine (most closely resembles a mid-1960s) and
Jerry Recycled Batteries, the mean Peterbilt truck whom Lightning McQueen
mistakes for Mack while lost. These were Ranft's last two voice roles before his
death in August 2005.
 Jeremy Piven (US) / Jeremy Clarkson (UK) as Harv, Lightning McQueen's agent, never
seen on-screen.
 Bob Costas as Bob Cutlass, a 1999 Oldsmobile Aurora, announcer for the Piston Cup
races and friend of Darrell Cartrip.
 Darrell Waltrip as Darrell Cartrip, a 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Piston Cup
announcer and friend of Bob Cutlass.
 Humpy Wheeler as Tex Dinoco, a 1975 Cadillac Coupe de Ville and owner of Dinoco.
 Lynda Petty as Lynda Weathers, Strip Weathers' wife.
 Dale Earnhardt Jr. as "Junior" #8.
 Michael Schumacher as Michael Schumacher Ferrari.
 Tom and Ray Magliozzi as Rusty and Dusty Rust-eze, a 1963 Dodge Dart and a 1967
Dodge A100 who are the respective owners of Rust-eze.
 Richard Kind and Edie McClurg as Van and Minny, a 2003 Ford Windstar and a 1996
Dodge Caravan.
 Lindsey Collins and Elissa Knight as Mia and Tia, the identical twin 1992 Mazda MX-5
("Miata") sisters.
 Mario Andretti as Mario Andretti #11.
 Sarah Clark as Kori Turbowitz.
 Jay Leno as Jay Limo.
 Jess Harnell as Sven the Governator, a Humvee caricature of Arnold
Schwarzenegger.

Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Billy Crystal, John Goodman and Dave Foley reprise their
vocal roles from previous Pixar films during an end-credits sequence featuring
automobile spoofs of Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and A Bug's Life.[12] Cars was the final
Pixar film worked on by Joe Ranft who died in a crash a year before the film's release,
aged 45.[13] The film was the second to be dedicated to his memory, after Corpse
Bride. The memorial showed the roles he had done in the other films directed by John
Lasseter during the credits.[14] This is also the last (non-documentary) movie for Paul
Newman before his retirement in 2007 and his death in 2008.[15] It turned out to be the
highest-grossing film of his career.[15]

Production[edit]
Development[edit]

The genesis of the film came in 1998 as Pixar began wrapping up production on A
Bug's Life. At that time, Jorgen Klubien began writing a new script called The Yellow
Car, which was about an electric car living in a gas-guzzling world inspired by The
Ugly Duckling, an idea triggered by the poor reception his fellow countrymen gave
the Mini-El car.[16] Some of the original drawings and characters were developed in
1998 and the producers agreed that Cars could be the next Pixar film after A Bug's
Life and be released in early 1999, particularly around June 4.[16] However, the idea
was scrapped in favor of Toy Story 2.[16] Later, production resumed with major script
changes, like giving Mater, Doc and a few other characters bigger parts.[16]

John Lasseter said that inspiration for the film's story came after he took a cross-
country road trip with his wife and five sons in 2000.[17] When he returned to the
studio after vacation, he contacted Michael Wallis, a Route 66 historian. Wallis then
led eleven Pixar animators in rented white Cadillacs on two different road trips across
the route to research the film.[18][19][20] In 2001, the film's working title was Route 66
(after U.S. Route 66), but the title was changed to Cars in order to avoid confusion
with the 1960s television series of the same name.[21] In addition, Lightning
McQueen's racing number was originally going to be 57 (a reference to 1957,
Lasseter's birth year), but was changed to 95 (a reference to 1995, the year Pixar's first
film Toy Story was released).[21]

In 2006, Lasseter spoke about the inspiration for the film, saying: "I have always
loved cars. In one vein, I have Disney blood, and in the other, there's motor oil. The
notion of combining these two great passions in my life—cars and animation—was
irresistible. When Joe (Ranft) and I first started talking about this film in 1998, we
knew we wanted to do something with cars as characters. Around that same time, we
watched a documentary called 'Divided Highways,' which dealt with the interstate
highway and how it affected the small towns along the way. We were so moved by it
and began thinking about what it must have been like in these small towns that got
bypassed. That's when we started really researching Route 66, but we still hadn't quite
figured out what the story for the film was going to be. I used to travel that highway
with my family as a child when we visited our family in St. Louis."[17]

Years later in 2013, Klubien said the film was both his best and most bitter experience
because he was fired before it premiered and because he feels Lasseter wrote him out
of the story of how the film got made.[22]
Animation[edit]

A rendered frame from the development of the film.

For the cars themselves, Lasseter also visited the design studios of the Big Three
Detroit automakers, particularly J Mays of Ford Motor Company.[17] Lasseter learned
how real cars were designed.[17]

In 2006, Lasseter spoke about how they worked hard to make the animation
believable, saying: "It took many months of trial and error, and practicing test
animation, to figure out how each car moves and how their world works. Our
supervising animators, Doug Sweetland and Scott Clark, and the directing animators,
Bobby Podesta and James Ford Murphy, did an amazing job working with the
animation team to determine the unique movements for each character based on its
age and the type of car it was. Some cars are like sports cars and they're much tighter
in their suspension. Others are older '50s cars that are a lot looser and have more
bounce to them. We wanted to get that authenticity in there but also to make sure each
car had a unique personality. We also wanted each animator to be able to put some of
themself in the character and give it their own spin. Every day in dailies, it was so
much fun because we would see things that we had never seen in our lives. The world
of cars came alive in a believable and unexpected way."[17]

Unlike most anthropomorphic cars, the eyes of the cars in this film were placed on the
windshield (which resembles the Tonka Talking Trucks, the characters from Tex
Avery's One Cab's Family short and Disney's own Susie the Little Blue Coupe), rather
than within the headlights.[17] According to production designer Bob Pauley, "From the
very beginning of this project, John Lasseter had it in his mind to have the eyes be in
the windshield. For one thing, it separates our characters from the more common
approach where you have little cartoon eyes in the headlights. For another, he thought
that having the eyes down near the mouth at the front end of the car feels more like a
snake. With the eyes set in the windshield, the point of view is more human-like, and
made it feel like the whole car could be involved in the animation of the character.[17]
This decision was heavily criticized by automotive blog Jalopnik.[23]

In 2006, supervising animator on the film Scott Clark, spoke about the challenges of
animating car characters, saying: "Getting a full range of performance and emotion
from these characters and making them still seem like cars was a tough assignment,
but that's what animation does best. You use your imagination, and you make the
movements and gestures fit with the design. Our car characters may not have arms
and legs, but we can lean the tires in or out to suggest hands opening up or closing in.
We can use steering to point a certain direction. We also designed a special eyelid and
an eyebrow for the windshield that lets us communicate an expressiveness that cars
don't have."[17] Doug Sweetland, who also served as supervising animator, also spoke
about the challenges, saying: "It took a different kind of animator to really be able to
interpret the Cars models, than it did to interpret something like The Incredibles
models. With The Incredibles, the animator could get reference for the characters by
shooting himself and watching the footage. But with Cars, it departs completely from
any reference. Yes they're cars, but no car can do what our characters do. It's pure
fantasy. It took a lot of trial and error to get them to look right."[17]

John Lasseter co-wrote and directed the film.

Lasseter also explained that the film started with pencil and paper designs, saying:
"Truth to materials. Starting with pencil-and-paper designs from production designer
Bob Pauley, and continuing through the modeling, articulation, and shading of the
characters, and finally into animation, the production team worked hard to have the
car characters remain true to their origins."[17] Character department manager Jay Ward
also explained how they wanted the cars to look as realistic as possible, saying: "John
didn't want the cars to seem clay-like or mushy. He insisted on truth to materials. This
was a huge thing for him. He told us that steel needs to feel like steel. Glass should
feel like glass. These cars need to feel heavy. They weigh three or four thousand
pounds. When they move around, they need to have that feel. They shouldn't appear
light or overly bouncy to the point where the audience might see them as rubber
toys."[17] According to directing animator James Ford Murphy, "Originally, the car
models were built so they could basically do anything. John kept reminding us that
these characters are made of metal and they weigh several thousand pounds. They
can't stretch. He showed us examples of very loose animation to illustrate what not to
do."[17]

Character shading supervisor on the film Thomas Jordan explained that chrome and
car paint were the main challenges on the film, saying: "Chrome and car paint were
our two main challenges on this film. We started out by learning as much as we could.
At the local body shop, we watched them paint a car, and we saw the way they mixed
the paint and applied the various coats. We tried to dissect what goes into the real
paint and recreated it in the computer. We figured out that we needed a base paint,
which is where the color comes from, and the clearcoat, which provides the reflection.
We were then able to add in things like metallic flake to give it a glittery sparkle, a
pearlescent quality that might change color depending on the angle, and even a layer
of pin-striping for characters like Ramone."[17] Supervising technical director on the
film Eben Ostby explained that the biggest challenge for the technical team was
creating the metallic and painted surfaces of the car characters, and the reflections that
those surfaces generate, saying: "Given that the stars of our film are made of metal,
John had a real desire to see realistic reflections, and more beautiful lighting than
we’ve seen in any of our previous films. In the past, we’ve mostly used environment
maps and other matte-based technology to cheat reflections, but for Cars we added a
ray-tracing capability to our existing Renderman program to raise the bar for Pixar."[17]

Rendering lead Jessica McMackin spoke about the use of ray tracing on the film,
saying: "In addition to creating accurate reflections, we used ray tracing to achieve
other effects. We were able to use this approach to create accurate shadows, like when
there are multiple light sources and you want to get a feathering of shadows at the
edges. Or occlusion, which is the absence of ambient light between two surfaces, like
a crease in a shirt. A fourth use is irradiance. An example of this would be if you had
a piece of red paper and held it up to a white wall, the light would be colored by the
paper and cast a red glow on the wall."[17] Character supervisor Tim Milliron explained
that the film uses a ground–locking system that kept the cars firmly planted on the
road, saying: "The ground-locking system is one of the things I’m most proud of on
this film. In the past, characters have never known about their environment in any
way. A simulation pass was required if you wanted to make something like that
happen. On Cars, this system is built into the models themselves, and as you move the
car around, the vehicle sticks to the ground. It was one of those things that we do at
Pixar where we knew going in that it had to be done, but we had no idea how to do
it."[17]

Technical director Lisa Forsell explained that to enhance the richness and beauty of
the desert landscapes surrounding Radiator Springs, the filmmakers created a
department responsible for matte paintings and sky flats, saying: "Digital matte
paintings are a way to get a lot of visual complexity without necessarily having to
build complex geometry, and write complex shaders. We spent a lot time working on
the clouds and their different formations. They tend to be on several layers and they
move relative to each other. The clouds do in fact have some character and
personality. The notion was that just as people see themselves in the clouds, cars see
various car-shaped clouds. It’s subtle, but there are definitely some that are shaped
like a sedan. And if you look closely, you’ll see some that look like tire treads. The
fact that so much attention is put on the skies speaks to the visual level of the film. Is
there a story point? Not really. There is no pixel on the screen that does not have an
extraordinary level of scrutiny and care applied to it. There is nothing that is just
throw-away."[17]

Computers used in the development of the film were four times faster than those used
in The Incredibles and 1,000 times faster than those used in Toy Story. To build the
cars, the animators used computer platforms similar to those used in the design of
real-world automobiles.[24]

Soundtrack[edit]
Main article: Cars (soundtrack)
The Cars soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on June 6, 2006.[25] Nine
tracks on the soundtrack are by popular artists, while the remaining eleven are score
cues by Randy Newman.[25] It has two versions of the classic Bobby Troup jazz
standard "Route 66" (popularized by Nat King Cole), one by Chuck Berry and a new
version recorded specifically for the film's credits performed by John Mayer.[25] Brad
Paisley contributed two of the nine tracks to the album, one being "Find Yourself"
used for the end credits.[25]

Release[edit]
Cars was originally going to be released on November 4, 2005, but on December 7,
2004, its release date was moved to June 9, 2006.[26] Analysts looked at the release
date change as a sign from Pixar that they were preparing for the pending end of the
Disney distribution contract by either preparing non-Disney materials to present to
other studios or they were buying time to see what happened with Michael Eisner's
situation at Disney.[27] When Pixar's chief executive Steve Jobs made the release date
announcement, he stated that the reasoning was due to wanting to put all Pixar films
on a summer release schedule with DVD sales occurring during the holiday shopping
season.[26]

Home media[edit]

Cars was released on DVD, in wide- and full-screen editions, on November 7, 2006
in the United States and Canada. This DVD was also released on October 25, 2006 in
Australia and New Zealand and on November 27, 2006 in the United Kingdom.[28] The
release includes the DVD-exclusive short film Mater and the Ghostlight and the film's
theatrical short One Man Band as well as a 16-minute-long documentary about the
film entitled Inspiration for Cars, which features director John Lasseter.[28] A limited
run on VHS was distributed to members of Disney's home video clubs.[29]

According to the Walt Disney Company, five million copies of the DVD were sold
the first two days it was available.[30] The first week, it sold 6,250,856 units and
15,370,791 in total ($246,198,859).[31] Unlike previous Pixar DVD releases, there is no
two-disc special edition, and no plans to release one in the future. According to Sara
Maher, DVD Production Manager at Pixar, John Lasseter and Pixar were preoccupied
with productions like Ratatouille.[32]

In the US and Canada, there were bonus discs available with the purchase of the film
at Wal-Mart and at Target.[33] The former featured a Geared-Up Bonus DVD Disc that
focused on the music of the film, including the music video to "Life Is A Highway",
The Making of "Life Is A Highway", Cars: The Making of the Music, and Under The
Hood, a special that originally aired on the ABC Family cable channel.[34] The latter's
bonus was a Rev'd Up DVD Disc that featured material mostly already released as part
of the official Cars podcast and focused on the inspiration and production of the
movie.[35]

Cars was also released on Blu-ray Disc on November 6, 2007, one year after the
DVD release. It was the first Pixar film to be released on Blu-ray (alongside
Ratatouille and Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1),[36] and was re-released as a
Blu-ray Disc and DVD combo pack and DVD only edition in April 2011. The film
was released for the first time in 3D on October 29, 2013, as part of Cars: Ultimate
Collector's Edition, which included the releases on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and DVD.[37]

Cars was released on 4K Blu-ray on September 10, 2019.[38]

Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]

In its opening weekend, Cars earned $60,119,509 in 3,985 theaters in the United
States, ranking number one at the box office.[39] In the United States, the film held onto
the number one spot for two weeks before being surpassed by Click and then by
Superman Returns the following weekend.[40][41][42] It went on to gross $462,216,280
worldwide (ranking number six in 2006 films) and $244,082,982 in the United States
(the third highest-grossing film of 2006 in the country, behind Pirates of the
Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Night at the Museum).[43] It was the second highest-
grossing film released by Walt Disney Pictures, behind Dead Man's Chest and was
the second highest-grossing computer-animated film of 2006 in the United States after
Ice Age: The Meltdown.[43][44]

Critical response[edit]

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 75% based on 202 reviews
and an average rating of 6.91/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Cars offers
visual treats that more than compensate for its somewhat thinly written story, adding
up to a satisfying diversion for younger viewers."[45] On Metacritic, the film has a
score of 73 out of 100 based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[46]
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to
F scale.[47][better  source  needed]

William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised it as "one of Pixar's most

imaginative and thoroughly appealing movies ever"[48] and Lisa Schwarzbaum of
Entertainment Weekly called it "a work of American art as classic as it is modern."[49]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, saying
that it "tells a bright and cheery story, and then has a little something profound lurking
around the edges. In this case, it's a sense of loss."[50] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone
gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "Fueled with plenty of humor,
action, heartfelt drama, and amazing new technical feats, Cars is a high octane delight
for moviegoers of all ages."[51] Richard Corliss of Time gave the film a positive review,
saying "Existing both in turbo-charged today and the gentler '50s, straddling the
realms of Pixar styling and old Disney heart, this new-model Cars is an instant
classic."[52] Brian Lowry of Variety gave the film a negative review, saying "Despite
representing another impressive technical achievement, it's the least visually
interesting of the computer-animation boutique's movies, and -- in an ironic twist for a
story about auto racing -- drifts slowly through its semi-arid midsection."[53] Robert
Wilonsky of The Village Voice gave the film a positive review, saying "What
ultimately redeems Cars from turning out a total lemon is its soul. Lasseter loves
these animated inanimate objects as though they were kin, and it shows in every
beautifully rendered frame."[54] Ella Taylor of L.A. Weekly gave the film a positive
review, saying "Cars cheerfully hitches cutting-edge animation to a folksy narrative
plugging friendship, community and a Luddite mistrust of high tech."[55]

Gene Seymour of Newsday gave the film three out of four stars, saying "And as pop
flies go, Cars is pretty to watch, even as it loops, drifts and, at times, looks as if it's
just hanging in midair."[56] Colin Covert of the Star Tribune gave the film a positive
review, saying "It takes everything that's made Pixar shorthand for animation
excellence -- strong characters, tight pacing, spot-on voice casting, a warm sense of
humor and visuals that are pure, pixilated bliss -- and carries them to the next
stage."[57] Bill Muller of The Arizona Republic gave the film four out of five stars,
saying "The truest measure of the movie is that eventually we forget we're watching a
bunch of vehicles with faces and start to think of them as individual characters. It's
quite an accomplishment, and perhaps one only possible by Pixar."[58] Kenneth Turan
of the Los Angeles Times gave the film four out of five stars, saying "What's
surprising about this supremely engaging film is the source of its curb appeal: It has
heart."[59] Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post gave the film a positive review,
saying "It's the latest concoction from the geniuses at Pixar, probably the most
inventive of the Computer Generated Imagery shop -- and the film's great fun, if well
under the level of the first Toy Story."[60] Jessica Reaves of the Chicago Tribune gave
the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "While it's a technically perfect
movie, its tone is too manic, its characters too jaded and, in the end, its story too
empty to stand up to expectations."[61] James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film
three out of four stars, saying "While Cars may cross the finish line ahead of any of
2006's other animated films, it's several laps behind its Pixar siblings."[62]

Joe Williams of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave the film an A-, saying "It's powered
by a human heart through a roadway of natural wonders and cultural signposts en
route to the checkered flag."[63] Lisa Kennedy of The Denver Post gave the film three
out of four stars, saying "Cars idles at times. And it's not until its final laps that the
movie gains the emotional traction we've come to expect from the Toy Story and
Nemo crews."[64] Tom Long of The Detroit News gave the film a B+, saying "It's
touching, it's funny, it offers cautions about the modern pace of life, and it depends on
a sense of rural Americana for its soul."[58] Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail gave the
film two-and-a-half stars out of four, saying "For parents out there whose future holds
the certain prospect of the DVD version blaring repeatedly from family-room screens,
let this be your advisory. Warning: Cars comes unequipped with two essential options
-- charm and a good muffler."[58] Amy Biancolli of the Houston Chronicle gave the
film three out of four stars, saying "It thunders ahead with breezy abandon, scoring
big grins on its way."[65] Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News gave the
film four out of four stars, saying "It achieves the near impossible, turning cars,
trucks, tractors, and farm harvesters into cute Disney characters whose fates you'll
care about."[58] Lou Lumenick of the New York Post gave the film three and a half stars
out of four, saying "Cars somewhat self-indulgently runs nearly two hours -- but
overall, it's well worth the trip."[58] Lisa Rose of the Newark Star-Ledger gave the film
three and a half stars out of four, saying "It's another innovative piece of
entertainment from the animation studio, taking the audience on a kinetic trip into a
world populated only by automobiles."[58]

Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film a positive review, saying "The animation is
stunningly rendered. But the story is always the critical element in Pixar movies, and
Cars' story is heartfelt with a clear and unabashed moral."[66] David Edelstein of New
York Magazine gave the film a positive review, saying "Like the Toy Story films,
Cars is a state-of-the-computer-art plea on behalf of outmoded, wholesome fifties
technology, with a dash of Zen by way of George Lucas."[67] Roger Moore of the
Orlando Sentinel gave the film three out of five stars, saying "It's beautiful to look at.
The talking cars feel more alive than talking cars should."[58] Peter Howell of the
Toronto Star gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Cars made me want to hop
in my jalopy and to head out to Route 66, bypassing the boring interstate highways
that made the Mother Road redundant."[58] Moira MacDonald of The Seattle Times
gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "Though the central idea of
nostalgia for a quieter, small-town life may well be lost on this movie's young
audience -- Cars finds a pleasant and often sparkling groove."[68] Mick LaSalle of the
San Francisco Chronicle gave the film two out of five stars, saying "Cars might get
us into car world as a gimmick, but it doesn't get us into car world as a state of mind.
Thus, the animation, rather than seeming like an expression of the movie's deeper
truth, becomes an impediment to it."[69] Derek Adams of Time Out gave the film a
positive review, saying "There are many other brilliant scenes, some just as funny but
there are just as many occasions where you feel the film's struggling to fire on all
cylinders. Still, it's a Pixar film, right? And they're always worth a gander no matter
what anyone says."[70]

Accolades[edit]

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Cars

Cars had a highly successful run during the 2006 awards season. Many film critic
associations such as the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the National Board of
Review named it the best Animated Feature Film of 2006.[71] Cars also received the
title of Best Reviewed Animated Feature of 2006 from Rotten Tomatoes.[71] Randy
Newman and James Taylor received a Grammy Award for the song "Our Town,"
which later went on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song
(an award it lost to "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth).[71] The film
also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature alongside Monster
House, but it lost to Happy Feet.[71] Cars was also selected as the Favorite Family
Movie at the 33rd People's Choice Awards.[71] The most prestigious award that Cars
received was the inaugural Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.[71]
Cars also won the highest award for animation in 2006, the Best Animated Feature
Annie Award.[71] In 2008, the American Film Institute nominated this film for its Top
10 Animation Films list.[72]

Video game[edit]
Main article: Cars (video game)

A video game of the same name was released on June 6, 2006, for Game Boy
Advance, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2,
PlayStation Portable and Xbox.[73] It was also released on October 23, 2006, for Xbox
360 and November 16, 2006, for Wii.[73] Much like the film, the video game got
mainly positive reviews. GameSpot gave 7.0 out of 10 for Xbox 360 and Wii
versions, for PlayStation 2, 7.6 out of 10 for the GameCube and Xbox versions, and
7.4 out of 10 for the PSP version.[74] Metacritic gave 65 out of 100 for the Wii version,
[75]
54 out of 100 for the DS version,[76] 73 out of 100 for the PC version,[77] 71 out of
100 for the PlayStation 2 version,[78] and 70 out of 100 for the PSP version.[79]

Similar films[edit]
Marco Aurélio Canônico of Folha de S.Paulo described The Little Cars series (Os
Carrinhos in Portuguese), a Brazilian computer graphics film series, as a derivative of
Cars. Canônico discussed whether lawsuits from Pixar would appear. The Brazilian
Ministry of Culture posted Marcus Aurelius Canônico's article on its website.[80]

It has also been noted that the plot of Cars mirrors that of Doc Hollywood, a 1991
romantic comedy which stars Michael J. Fox as a hotshot young doctor who
eventually acquires an appreciation for small town values and falls in love with a local
law student as result of being sentenced to work at the town hospital after causing a
traffic collision in a small town.[81] Some have gone so far as to say that the makers of
Cars plagiarized the script of Doc Hollywood.[82]

Literature[edit]
 2006: CARS: The Junior Novelization, RH/Disney, ISBN 978-0736422918

Sequels[edit]
Main articles: Cars 2 and Cars 3

A sequel to the film, titled Cars 2, was released on June 24, 2011.[4] It was directed
again by John Lasseter, who was inspired for the film while traveling around the
world promoting the first film.[83] In the sequel, Lightning McQueen and Mater head to
Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix, but Mater becomes
sidetracked with international espionage.[4] The film failed to meet or exceed the
critical success of its predecessor, but was still a box office success.[84]

A second sequel, titled Cars 3, was released on June 16, 2017.[85] Lasseter didn't return
to direct so Brian Fee took over the director's chair (though Lasseter was still involved
as executive producer). The film again concerns Lightning McQueen, now a veteran
racer, who received instruction from a young race car, Cruz Ramirez, to help him to
cope with an increasingly high-tech world.[86] The film also received positive reviews
from critics, who praised it as an improvement on its predecessor.
See also[edit]
 Mandeville-Anthony v. Walt Disney Co. , a federal court case in which Mandeville
claimed Disney infringed on his copyrighted ideas by creating Cars

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