INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Cars

Lower your expectations a bit. Cars, the latest from the wizards at Pixar Studios, is good, but not as good as their last few features. Certainly, the film is entertaining, the computer animation is better than ever and the voice work is impeccable. However, the production drags in spots and the story is less than inspired (or more to the point, it seems to be overly inspired by the 1991 Michael J. Fox comedy Doc Hollywood). Cars towers over the CGI ’toons put out by other studios, but compared to the most recent Pixar offerings — Finding Nemo and The Incredibles — the movie comes up short.

If it seems unfair to hold Cars to such a high standard, remember, Pixar Studios reset the standards for computer-animated feature films with Toy Story in 1995 and they have been upping the ante ever since.

Cars marks the first time Pixar head honcho John Lasseter has directed a film since Toy Story 2 in 1999. This time around, Lasseter offers a story set in a world of anthropomorphized cars. Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is a supremely self-assured rookie race car who has impressed the racing community with his skills while putting them off with his attitude. A mishap during a cross-country trip to The Big Race in California lands him afoul of the law in Radiator Springs, a forgotten little burg on Route 66.

Forced by judge Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) to stay in town until he has repaired a stretch of road he damaged, Lightning gradually gets to know the locals, including Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt), a smart, savvy Porsche, and sweet, dumb, good-ole-truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy).

Before we continue, let’s take a moment to marvel at the fact that Larry the Cable Guy is in the same cast as Paul Newman.

How very weird.

Anyway, what happens to Lightning McQueen in Radiator Springs is pretty much the same thing that happens to Michael J. Fox in Doc Hollywood. Actually, most everything that happens in Cars is what happens in Doc Hollywood. For that matter, I can remember an episode of The Andy Griffith Show where the same thing happened to some sputtering businessman when his car broke down in Mayberry. Now, I understand that there are only so many basic stories out there, but I think it’s reasonable to expect more from Pixar than a retread of a well-worn concept.

The way the film plays out is like this: After a noisy-but-entertaining opening on the race circuit, the movie gets sluggish when Lightning leaves for his cross-country trip. The small town stuff is tiresome at first, but as Lightning’s attitude begins to change, the comedy and sweet spirit start paying off. The transition from small town idyll to the grand finale at The Big Race is belabored, but still entertaining.

On a technical level, the animation is better than ever. In fact, many of the landscapes are so photorealistic that they feel less like dazzling animated vistas and more like real life footage. The Pixar animators need to remember that we want to see creations, not recreations.

That said, there is a lot of imagination at play in the character designs, and the voice casting is right on the money. In addition to Wilson, Hunt, Newman and, um … Larry, listen for George Carlin in hippie mode as a VW van, John Ratzenberger (Cliff from Cheers) as a transport truck and Jeremy Piven from Entourage as, but of course, an agent. Race fans should appreciate appearances from Mario Andretti, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and other notables. Randy Newman provides the serviceable score, augmented with road tunes by Sheryl Crow, Brad Paisley and others.

Bottom line: Cars is less successful than other recent Pixar films, but still infinitely better than the cuddly-animals-running-wild conveyor-belt fare being cranked out by other studios. For Pixar, their own track record continues to be their biggest challenge. How impressive. And daunting.