In several key ways, Disney/Pixar's CARS is an amalgam of successful elements from previous hits like TOY STORY and A BUG'S LIFE, with dashes of technical brilliance displayed in THE INCREDIBLES, but without staking a definite emotional claim in any one of those stories' camps.  CARS tells a story much more relevant to adults than kids: a small desert and deserted town of forgotten cars, sidelined by expedient progress roaring past them daily, struggling to retain their pride and personal integrity.  Yet at the same time, the film is told through the guise of animated autos in a bolder, simplistic style geared to attract young minds over older eyes.  It is this factory-set duality that involves as wide an audience as possible, but also limits the film from running at its full emotional RPMs, unlike several of its Pixar predecessors.  A satisfying backroads adventure through pop-culture Americana mixed with NASCAR-era's need for speed, CARS advances Pixar's filmmaking tools and style more than it improves their storytelling mileage.

To set the record and this review straight: CARS will do well at the box office, if its opening day sell-out screenings are any judge, and audiences will enjoy it thoroughly.  The trick for this reviewer (and Pixar fan) is that the studio, John Lasseter in particular, have set such a high standard of storytelling in their library of animated insta-classics, that I can't help but be a little disappointed that CARS fails to truly break new ground in fully sounding the well of deep emotions that prior films drank from so deeply.  It may be entirely unfair to expect Pixar to constantly pioneer new dramatic frontiers with every successive (and successful) film, but such expectations only arise as a true form of cinematic flattery, for Pixar may be one of the few remaining studios capable of meeting and exceeding those ambitions.

Animators certainly rose to the challenge of personifying a cyber-showroom of car makes and models to create the film's lead characters like Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), Sally (Bonnie Hunt) and Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), and these auto egos display the emotional range and human subtleties Pixar audiences enjoy so much.  But if there is one this fault in the film, it is that cars — however finely tuned to perform on the big screen by their creators — remain harder to humanize than toys or insects which anthropomorphize more readily and naturally than the best animated chassis can.  Note: the wizards at Pixar animate the broadest and most specific emotions and characterizations better than any on this planet, and I take absolutely nothing away from their efforts here.  But in the end, even the most expressive '50s sedan or shimmering sportster can't quite tug at our heartstrings like more humanly identifiable characters can and have — the difference may indeed be as thin as a coat of wax, but nevertheless it's there and the audience, however minutely, can feel it.

If anything, CARS relies more on its voicing cast than previous films, and the actors behind the paint fulfill their calling like champs.  Owen Wilson's youthful exuberance makes a fun foil for Newman's road-worn, cantankerous voice, with Bonnie Hunt providing the sweet soul needed to soften up the story.  John Ratzenberger, as Mack the eighteen-wheeling cohort to Lightning, returns for his seventh trademark Pixar assignment, and despite his unchanging voicework, provides a custom fit to his big rig persona. Other notables include the Larry the Cable Guy as backwoods, bucktooth tow truck, and Tony Shaloub who has playful fun as an Italian compact who runs the Radiator Springs tire emporium.  These and other actors remain the front line to keep audiences involved in the story, and the solid cast fulfill their talented duties enjoyably for young and not-so-young alike.

If Pixar films have a trademark audiences expect and a legacy to live up to, that franchise calling card is heart... miles and miles of it, and CARS is no exception to the rule.  Yet this brand of heart is perhaps a more subtle, understated thread in this film, compared to the direct emotional appeal evident in TOY STORY 2 which makes absolutely no bones (or apology) about pulling, plucking and twanging on audiences' heartstrings.  Again, I think such direct emotional identification is simply a tougher order to fulfill with Porsches and Jeeps as the stars — how involving the film is ultimately depends on how quickly and deeply you buy into the story's main concept that the world is inhabited by automobiles on every level, from talking racers and sedans to tiny little VW bugs that represent the insect world of this Autopia.   It's a very fun, amusing and well-exploited concept, but the film — if having any shortcoming at all — seems content not to reach very far beyond the basic idea established. 

CARS' central themes, valuing friendship and teamwork while remaining true to who you are, resonate well with audiences young and old, if the story tends to alternate between the themes to keep both demographics involved.   Rookie racer Lightning McQueen knows only the professional speed circuit and dreams of prime sponsorship in attaining the Piston Cup trophy.   When he finds himself abandoned in the middle of nowhere, a classic Pixar plot, McQueen meets the isolated auto community of Radiator Springs, once a popular pitstop along historic Route 66, but since cutoff from the main interstate and left to languish in dusty, derelict obscurity.   Here Doc Hudson, the town's unofficial leader, and inhabitants live in the past, yearning for the glory days without any spark to ignite their grander dreams.  Naturally the arrival — if under duress — my high-revving McQueen stirs the locals out of their doldrums as they show this speedster the value of slowing down to enjoy life and companionship outside the world of competition.

Enjoyable and effective as these themes are, they lack the dramatic, emotional punch of family-centric themes previously explored by Pixar films.  As noted, the nostalgic homage to the forgotten roadside culture of American highways likely holds no emotional resonance for children who will flock to CARS with their parents, while the coming-of-age plot may be a stretch for the full span of youngsters to appreciate or find interesting.  Instead, the four-wheeled characters truly drive the film forward at every turn and detour, coupled with Pixar's ever-astonishing attention to animating cars, trucks, roads and an entire world of car-influenced scenery (even jet contrails in the sky appear like fluffy white tire tracks). 

In a welcome tradition carried on from Pixar's last film, THE INCREDIBLES, co-directors Lassiter and Ranft have advanced their brand of and approach to digital animation to such artistic heights, that it's intoxicatingly easy to forget CARS is an animated film at times.  The sun-baked sandstone vistas surrounding Radiator Springs are stylized yet realistic, even as the hills and buttes resemble stony hoods of vintage DeSotos and Caddys.  As usual, the animators and layout artisans create a whimsical, complete world around their CARS, filled with too many fun details to absorb in one viewing.  Yet the film deliberately avoids the slam-bang pacing of THE INCREDIBLES, instead bypassing the bustling highway to tell a leisurely paced tale that sometimes is a little too casual a joy ride for its own good.  The 116 minute run time could easily have been shaved by 10-15 minutes without sacrificing any important story or character points, but the air between plot developments in CARS was likely intended to be as necessary as the air in their tires.

The film credits include a posthumous film clip tribute to co-director Joe Ranft, a Pixar veteran who also provided voice characterizations in small parts for prior films including the TOY STORY series.  CARS crosses the finish line as a solid entry in the Pixar legacy, if less emotionally deep than some of their ultra-classic tales, and one that certainly satisfies the requirements of fun family entertainment.  CARS may not lead Pixar's pack over the long haul, but it no doubt will set the pace this summer.