Cars, 2006, Rated G. Features the voices of Owen Wilson, the underappreciated Bonnie Hunt, Paul Newman, Larry the Cable Guy, and being a Pixar movie, John Ratzenberger
The Plot... Lightning McQueen is the fastest rookie in Piston Cup history, and is on the verge of clinching a Piston Cup championship. Cocky, he ends up tying for first with the legendary The King and rival Chick Hicks, so a three car race is set up in California, winner take all, and winner is likely to take the Dinoco sponsorship. Lightning is tired of being held up by Rust-Eze and the redneck kind it brings.
Along the way the championship race, however Lightning gets knocked out of his driver truck, Mack, and through a crazy mishap, ends up destroying the road in a small forgotten town called Radiator Springs, and lands himself in the jail yard, with the sentence of fixing the roads.
Its here that we meet Mater, Sally, Luigi & Guido, Doc Hudson and so on, and its here that this movie truly takes wonder.
Why Its in the Dave100... This movie is still fairly new, so in the 2013 edition of the Dave100, I expect it might move up substantially. Its so brilliant, in its story, in its color, in its sharp dialogue, and for once, the cars don't have headlights for eyes... they have eyes in the windshield. The jokes are hilarious, the "coming around" of Lightning is wonderful, and I love Bonnie Hunt.
Keeping up with the tradition of Pixar, this film does not fail to deliver in the least. Whats so amazing is that by twenty minutes into the movie, you don't even notice you are watching the lives of automobiles because you are so engrossed in the characters, and even a few minutes later, you don't even remember its an animated movie about talking automobiles, because you love the characters so much. Of course, its quick to remind you its about cars and the like, with the tractors taking the place of cows, the VW Beetles as flying bugs, giant traffic cones taking the place of hotel rooms, etc.
My Favorite Line... One part still gets me, cracks me up everytime I see it. Lightning is forced onstage to address his sponsors, Rust-Eze, something he loathes to do because he feels like he's better than that. Out in the audience is one rust bucket after another, and everyone is silent as they await Lightning's words. Breaking the silence, however, is a car in the back yelling "Freebird!". Love it.
Random Trivia... Watch any sky scenes with the jets--their smoke trails look like tire marks. The neon lights on Flo's V8 cafe flash in the proper firing order of a Ford flathead V8.
Don't Forget... Enjoy the credits, with the cars at the drive-in movies. Stay through the end of the credits to find out what happened to the tourists