Cars - the Movie - Revisited

We all know now that Pixar is incredible, and Cars is one of those great movies that bears rewatching.

Last night, my colleagues hosted a movie night at work, and the small contingent of us who were motivated stayed after for a couple hours to watch Lightning McQueen, Mater and the rest of the cars go through their heartwarming transformations.

The beauty of Cars is that it's a great story. The fact that it's cars in all the roles is almost incidental. The breathtaking look of the production--from the incredible scenery in the desert to the racetracks filled with cars--in the seats!--to the surprisingly expressive faces on the vehicles themselves makes it highly rewarding.

As I chewed on pepperoni pizza I saw Lightning transformed from a selfish egomaniac into a caring "person" while bringing life back to the sleepy forgotten town of Radiator Springs, a sad victim of the change from U.S. two-lane highways to the Interstate freeway system (a real story).

The countless automotive references are a riot--mountains that look like Cadillac Ranch and a heavily chinned Jay Leno car for example--but also in the use of Emeryville (home of Pixar) and John Ratzinger's hysterical comments on the "autoized" Pixar movies that show in the resuscitated drive-in theater (and all use his voice). That's Richard Petty talking for the light blue number 43 racecar. Paul Newman, quite a racer himself, is touching as Doc Hudson. Even he is revived by Speed's presence.

Actually, the movie is packed with great voices, from Cheech Marin to Tony Shaloub to the Magliozzi brothers. 

I love this movie!