Cars (2006)

A hot-shot race-car named Lightning McQueen gets waylaid in Radiator Springs, where he finds the true meaning of friendship and family.

Directors:

John Lasseter, Joe Ranft

Writers:

John Lasseter (original story), Joe Ranft (original story),

Stars:

Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 20 wins & 19 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Owen Wilson	...	Lightning McQueen (voice)
Paul Newman	...	Doc Hudson (voice)
Bonnie Hunt	...	Sally Carrera (voice)
Larry the Cable Guy	...	Mater (voice)
Cheech Marin	...	Ramone (voice)
Tony Shalhoub	...	Luigi (voice)
Guido Quaroni	...	Guido (voice)
Jenifer Lewis	...	Flo (voice)
Paul Dooley	...	Sarge (voice)
Michael Wallis	...	Sheriff (voice)
George Carlin	...	Fillmore (voice)
Katherine Helmond	...	Lizzie (voice)
John Ratzenberger	...	Mack / Hamm Truck / Abominable Snow Plow / P.T. Flea Car (voice)
Joe Ranft	...	Red / Jerry Recycled Batteries / Peterbilt (voice)
Michael Keaton	...	Chick Hicks (voice)

Storyline

While traveling to California for the dispute of the final race of the Piston Cup against The King and Chick Hicks, the famous Lightning McQueen accidentally damages the road of the small town Radiator Springs and is sentenced to repair it. Lightning McQueen has to work hard and finds friendship and love in the simple locals, changing its values during his stay in the small town and becoming a true winner.

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Plot Keywords:

car | race car | friendship | california | route 66 | 

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Taglines:

It's drive time!

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Sport

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Buena Vista International [de] Disney [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian Japanese Yiddish

Release Date:

9 June 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cars: Race to 3D

Box Office

Budget:

$120,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,668,968 (UK) (28 July 2006)

Gross:

$244,052,771 (USA) (13 October 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Doc Hudson character is based on real-life NASCAR pioneer Herb Thomas, who drove Hudson Hornets to Grand National championships in 1951 and 1953. He was beaten out for the title in 1954 by Lee Petty, father of Richard Petty ("The King"). Crashes in 1955 and 1956 effectively ended Thomas's career.

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Goofs

Many shots of the Interstate, such as when McQueen first loses Mack and when Sally tells him of the bypass, traffic is shown to be quite dense. However, an Interstate going through the "middle of nowhere" as shown would never see such traffic. In fact, the Interstate is shown to be a three-lane freeway when in reality a third lane does not exist in such areas nor is it necessary.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Lightning McQueen: Okay, here we go. Focus. Speed. I am speed. One winner, forty-two losers. I eat losers for breakfast. Breakfast? Maybe I should have had breakfast? Brekkie could be good for me. No, no, no, focus. Speed. Faster than fast, quicker than quick. I am Lightning.

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Crazy Credits

At the end, the couple that were looking for directions to the Interstate, end up all dusty and still looking for the Interstate. While credits roll, a series of short postscript scenes show the resurrection of the town, like cars are now passing the town, Flo's V8 café is full of customers, customers trying out Ramone's body art, Guido's tire shop is full, a museum of Doc Hudson's racing days opens, Sarge opens a boot camp for off-road vehicles (who have never been off-road), the reopening of the Wheel Well Motel, etc. One of them is the reopening of the Radiator Springs Drive-in Theater, where they show movies of previous Pixar productions but in a car context, like Toy Story (in the marquee it's Toy Car Story), with the actual voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, Monster Trucks, Inc., with the voices of John Goodman and Billy Crystal (Goodman is worried about the Boo mobile), and A Bug's Life, with the voice of Dave Foley. As an additional in-joke, Mack the truck praises the performances of Hamm in Toy Story, the Abominable Snowplow in Monster Trucks, Inc., P.T. Flea in A Bug's Life, which are all voiced, of course, by John Ratzenberger. Mack's final comment is they're voiced by the same actor and "what kind of cut-rate production is this" to reuse the same actor.

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Connections

Referenced in Toy Story 3 (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Our Town"
Written by Randy Newman
Performed by James Taylor
Produced by Randy Newman
Recorded by Frank Wolf and Frank Filipetti
Mixed by Frank Wolf

User Reviews

well done

Caught the world premiere at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte-- we're not race fans ourselves by any means, but you really don't have to be to get on the road with this one. We were privvy to a couple inside jokes, living amongst the racing atmosphere that IS Charlotte, but even if we hadn't gotten that extra little chuckle, there's definitely plenty to find. Not just for kids. Kids will like the cute characters, and bright colors, adults will like it simply because it's just plain entertaining without having to dumb down to appeal to kids. You'll find yourself wanting to find the next twisty backroad to get to your next destination. Watch for all kids of cameo's, and it's too bad IMDb doesn't include a picture of the animated character as well-- it's not always easy to remember what the names are once you get home. Owen's good, Newman is classic, if a little flat (I applaud him for just plain staying active and leaving his house!), but it's really Larry the Cable Guy's movie-- newfound appreciation for that one-- and "tow-mater" is a multi-layered pun. Not only on the fact that he's a tow truck, but also his "they call me tater salad" bit-- Overall, highly entertaining, just try not to speed too much on the way home....