Cars (2006)

A computer-animated story set on an Earth inhabited entirely by sentient vehicles.

The Plot: (Spoilers)

Lightning McQueen

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is a popular rookie race car on the Piston Cup circuit, whose fans include twin Miatas Mia (Lindsey Collins) and Tia (Elissa Knight). He is tied for first place in the series with revered veteran Strip “The King” Weathers (Richard Petty), who plans to retire after the season, and his long-time rival Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton).

Strip "The King" Weathers, Chick Hicks & Lightning McQueen

At the final race in the season, the Dinoco 400 at the Motor Speedway of the South, Lightning takes the lead and maintains it with quick stop in the pit for fuel only without changing tires. On the last lap, both of his rear tires blow out, giving The King and Chick time to catch up, resulting in an unprecedented 3-way tie.

A close finish

Lightning’s pit crew quits after he tells them to stay out of the way of the cameras and declares himself a “one-man show.” The King advises him that he has a lot of talent but to be successful he needs a geed team behind him; Lightning doesn’t really listen though, as he is daydreaming about the fame that he would have if he took the place of the retiring King with his sponsor, Dinoco. The racing officials decide that to resolve the three-way tie, a tiebreaker race will be held in California in one week. Chick mentions to Lightning that whichever one of them gets to California first will have the first chance to talk to Dinoco about becoming their new racer. After a quick appearance at the tent of his current sponsors, Rusty & Dusty Rust-eze (Tom & Ray Magliozzi), makers of Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment, (a duty Lightning despises, as the tent is filled with old, rusty cars) Lightning leaves for California in the trailer of his truck, Mack (John Ratzenberger).

Lightning McQueen with the Rust-eze Brothers

Lightning convinces Mack to drive through the night so they will be the first ones to California. In the middle of the night, Mack falls asleep and some punk cars have fun with him, which causes the sleeping Lightning to fall out of the trailer.

Mack being harassed

Lightning wakes up on the interstate and realizes what’s happened, he tries to catch up to Mack, who he can’t see, and when he sees a truck leave the interstate, he thinks its Mack and goes after it, but it isn’t. Lightning gets lost trying to race back to the interstate, and ends up getting chased by an old Sheriff car (Michael Wallis), whose backfiring leads Lightning to think he’s being shot at, into the town of Radiator Springs, where a panicking Lighting crashes through a barbed-wire fence, which hooks onto a statue of the town’s founder. Lighting drags the statue through the town, tearing up the street in the process, until the tangled-up fence finally stops him. The police car tells him he’s in a lot of trouble.

Lightning in a panic

Mack arrives in Los Angeles the next morning to discover that Lightning is missing, and it becomes a huge news story, with Dale Earnhardt Junior (his car with his voice) making a concerned statement, Jay Limo (Jay Leno) making jokes on his show, and the governor of California (a Hummer H1 voiced by Arnold Schwarzenegger) announces that Lightning must be found.

Mack discovers Lightning is missing

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Jay Limo

The Governor of California

Lightning wakes up in an impound yard, being watched by a rusty old tow truck named Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and with a parking boot on one of his front tires. He almost talks Mater into letting him out to “explore the town” when the sheriff arrives to escort him to traffic court.

Lightning in the impound yard meeting Mater

Since Lightning doesn’t have a lawyer present, Mater volunteers to be his lawyer. The court is presided over by Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), who is upset about the condition of his town and threatened to lock up whoever is responsible, but when he sees Lightning he just wants his thrown out of town. A Porsche (Bonnie Hunt) suddenly arrives, and Lightning assumes she’s been sent to help him and he flirts with her. The she reveals that everyone in town knows her; her name is Sally and she’s the city attorney. She convinces Doc and the rest of the town, which includes Ramone (Cheech Marin), a low rider who runs a paint shop, Flo (Jenifer Lewis), who runs the gas station, Sarge (Paul Dooley), a WWII Jeep who runs a surplus store, Fillmore (George Carlin), a hippie Volkswagen Microbus who sells organic fuel, Luigi (Tony Shalhoub), a Fiat and Guido (Guido Quarroni), a forklift, who run a tire shop, Lizzie (Katherine Helmond), a Model T Ford who runs a souvenir shop and Red (Joe Ranft), the town’s fire truck, to make Lightning fix the road as his punishment.

Traffic Court

Lightning is assigned to pull a road-paving machine called Bessie to fix the road he damaged, which Doc says should take five days if he does it right. He initially tries to make a run for it when Mater removes the boot, but the Sheriff had siphoned his gas when he was asleep in the impound so he doesn’t get far. After failing to get a lost couple (Richard Kind & Edie McClurg) to get help, and frustrated with the slow progress, Lightning tries to rush through the work in an hour and does a terrible job, and Doc orders him to scrape off the paving and do it right. When Lightning complains, Doc challenges him to a race. If Lightning wins, he’s free to go; if not, he has to fix the road Doc’s way. The race is a single lap around a dirt track, and the overconfident Lightning crashes on the first turn and has to be rescued by Mater.

Lightning works through the night and does a great job on the section of road he finishes, impressing everyone, including Doc. Doc finds Lightning at the track under the supervision of the Sheriff. He had run out of asphalt and asked if he could try to figure out how to make the turn. Doc takes over for the Sheriff and tries to tell Lightning what he’s doing wrong, but Lightning won’t listen. Meanwhile, the new road has inspired the rest of the town to fix up their own businesses. Sally offers Lightning a room in her Cozy Cone Motel in place of the impound lot.

Lightning doing his Community Service

That night, Mater is assigned to watch Lightning and he takes him “tractor tipping” and demonstrated his ability to drive backwards. When Lightning talks about how important the race is, Mater says he always wanted to ride in a helicopter, and Lightning casually promises it to him. Mater says Lightning is his best friend. At the motel, Sally asks Lightning is he really meant his promise to Mater, and he doesn’t know. He thanks her for letting him stay in the motel.

Mater tractor tipping

The next morning, while waiting to get his daily fuel ration from the Sheriff, Lightning stumbles into Doc’s garage and discovers that Doc is the Fabulous Hudson Hornet who won three Piston Cups in the 1950s. Impressed, Lightning tries to talk to him about racing, but Doc won’t talk to him. No one else in the town believes that Doc could have been a race car. Sally takes Lightning on a scenic drive.

Lightning and Sally out for a drive

Sally and Lightning end up at the abandoned Wheel Well Motel, Sally’s favorite place. Sally explains how she used to be an attorney in Los Angeles but never felt happy, and after breaking down in Radiator Springs she fell in love with the town and decided to stay.

The Wheel Well Motel

From the motel, there is a view of the Radiator Springs area from above. Sally tells the story of Radiator Springs and Route 66 before the interstate was built and how when it was it took away all the traffic from the town.

Sally and Lightning look out over Radiator Springs

When they get back to the town, Mater has set off a tractor stampede. Lightning follows a stray and finds Doc sitting on the track wearing old dirt racing tires. Lightning watches him take a quick lap around the track, drifting around the turn Lightning couldn’t make.

Doc practices his old racing skills

Lighting tries to show how impressed he is, but Doc runs off to his garage. Lightning follows him, trying to talk to him and asking why he quit racing. Doc reveals he didn’t quit; he had a wreck in the season after his third Piston Cup win, and by the time he was fixed everyone had moved on to a new rookie. He tells Lightning to finish the road and leave town.

Lightning tries to connect to Doc

The next morning everyone in town discovers that Lightning finished the road overnight. They initially think he’s already left, but it turns out he hasn’t yet. He shops from everyone in town, including whitewall tires from Luigi & Guido and a classic metallic paint job from Ramone, and inspires everyone to fix all the town’s neon signs.

Lightning shows Sally his new look

That night, as the town celebrates, the media show up and swarm the town, having found Lightning.

The media finds Lightning

Lightning’s manager Harv (Jeremy Piven) tells him his disappearance has given him a lot of publicity and orders Mack to take him to California immediately, and Lightning doesn’t have a chance to say goodbye to his friends.

Mack apologizes to Lightning for losing him

As the media crowd leaves with Lightning, Sally discovers Doc called the media to tell them where Lightning was. He says it is best for everyone, and Sally asks if it’s really best for everyone, or just him. Sad over not being able to say goodbye, everyone goes home and shuts off their lights, leaving Doc alone in the darkened street.

The town is sad to see Lightning go

At the big race at the Los Angeles International Speedway, which is attended by celebrities like Mario Andretti (one of his cars with his voice), Lightning is unable to focus, being distracted by thought of Radiator Springs and his friends. He spends the beginning of the race in a distant third, unable to get by Chick Hicks.

Lightning is in a distant third

Doc comes on his radio, saying he didn’t come all that way to watch him quit. Not only Doc, but everyone from Radiator Springs, except Sally, Lizzie and Red, have come to cheer Lightning on, and Doc is serving as his crew chief, wearing his Fabulous Hudson Hornet paint from his racing days. The media, including announcers Bob Cutlass (Bob Costas) and Darrell Cartrip (Darrell Waltrip), quickly recognize him.

Lighting and his new pit crew

Lightning was a lap behind but he makes it up by the last 10 laps. Chick bumps Lightning, causing one of his tires to blow out. Thanks to Guido, Lightning is able to get four new tires quickly and get back in the race without losing a lap. Chick causes both Lightning and The King to lose control to take the lead, but Lightning uses Doc’s drifting technique to regain control and take the lead.

The effects of one of Chick's dirty tricks

On the last lap, Chick is behind the King and, not wanting to come in third, bumps him hard, forcing him into a serious wreck that takes him out of the race.

The King wrecked

Seeing The King wreck, Lightning is reminded of the wreck that ended Doc’s racing career. Lightning stops short of the finish line, allowing Chick to win the race. Lightning backs up to The King and pushes him back onto the track and across the finish line so he can finish his last race, to the applause of the audience.

Lightning rescues The King

Chick Hicks is awarded the Piston Cup but his behavior leads him to be ignored. The King and his wife (Lynda Petty) thank Lightning for what he did, and Tex (Humpy Wheeler), the head of Dinoco, offers Lightning his sponsorship, but Lightning has learned the importance of friendship and stays with Rust-eze, as they gave him his big break. Tex respects his decision and says if Lightning ever needs anything to just ask. Lightning uses the favor to give Mater a ride in the Dinoco helicopter.

The King and his wife thank Lightning

Lightning moves his racing headquarters to Radiator Springs. Luigi and Guido finally get to meet a Ferrari (Michael Schumacher), who Lightning referred to their shop and Lightning and Sally restore the Wheel Well Motel.

Luigi and Guido meet a Ferrari

Sally and Lightning

My Review:

I don’t think the Pixar team can make a bad movie, and this film lives up to their reputation. Though it doesn’t evoke emotions as strongly as other Pixar films, this is a fun movie. Perhaps because I am a “car guy,” I especially like the realistic depictions of nearly all the vehicles, and the voice casting that includes well-known people from the automotive world, like Richard & Lynda Petty, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Mario Andretti and Michael Schumacher. The other voice actors are excellent as well. The film is visually impressive. In addition to the realistic depictions of the cars, the racing scenes are exciting with views that would be impossible in a real race or in any life action film for that matter. The landscapes around Radiator Springs also have a number of automotive-inspired natural features that are quite clever and creative. One small thing that I noticed is that the train locomotive does not exactly match any specific real locomotive. This is something that most people wouldn’t notice, especially since the train’s appearance is very brief, so it doesn’t really detract from the movie, but as a train fan I noticed. A positive of that scene is the wig-wag crossing signals, which closely match a pair that are preserved deactivated in Port Richmond, California, the former home of Pixar’s studios. The movie’s plot is not overly complicated but it makes sense (as long as you can accept the premise of sentient cars) and there are no noticeable plot holes.

As with all Pixar films, Cars is great for kids and is enjoyable for adults as well, especially those with an interest in cars and/or auto racing.