Star race car Lightning McQueen and his pal Mater head overseas to compete in the World Grand Prix race. But the road to the championship becomes rocky as Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage.
Directors:
John Lasseter,
Brad Lewis
Stars:
Owen Wilson,
Larry the Cable Guy,
Michael Caine
Spoiled by their upbringing and unaware of what wildlife really is, four animals from the New York Central Zoo escape, unwittingly assisted by four absconding penguins, and find themselves in Madagascar.
The Dragon Warrior has to clash against the savage Tai Lung as China's fate hangs in the balance: However, the Dragon Warrior mantle is supposedly mistaken to be bestowed upon an obese panda who is a tyro in martial arts.
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.Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The California Governor Hummer Humvee is an obvious caricature of then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was also the first private owner of a Hummer Humvee (High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle) in the U.S. See more »
Goofs
It is announced at the beginning of the Dinoco 400 that Chick Hicks has never managed to beat the King, even though he ties in points with him and McQueen in the season. Apparently, the announcers meant that Chick never won the Cup (which is true), and not that he never won an individual race. In fact, the announcers' exact words were: "And as always in the second place spot we find Chick Hicks." This can be interpreted either way. See more »
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. See more »
I thought the story looked very lame from previews, and the concept didn't appeal to me. But when I saw an early screening I was surprised, it was well written and well executed. They didn't overload the movie with automotive jokes, which I think would have hurt the story and character development. Owen Wilson's voice is great for his role. Overall, it's on par with other Pixar films, even if it may not be their best so far. The animation is superb, definitely the best they've done. Giving something like cars distinct personality and characterization seems like it would be pretty tough, and they do a great job with it. See this movie the day it opens.
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I thought the story looked very lame from previews, and the concept didn't appeal to me. But when I saw an early screening I was surprised, it was well written and well executed. They didn't overload the movie with automotive jokes, which I think would have hurt the story and character development. Owen Wilson's voice is great for his role. Overall, it's on par with other Pixar films, even if it may not be their best so far. The animation is superb, definitely the best they've done. Giving something like cars distinct personality and characterization seems like it would be pretty tough, and they do a great job with it. See this movie the day it opens.