Cars (20th Anniversary) 3D Movie Review
Cars (20th Anniversary)
3D Movie Review
Written By: Jacob Scarberry
3D
“3D... I... am 3D!”
The post-summer season is always a slowdown at the box office, with the last of the blockbusters gradually slowing down before hitting home video, and horror films about to gear up to start their reign for the season. Studios need some counter-programming to get families back in the theaters to eke out a few extra bucks. Better yet, it helps that the film is a classic with an anniversary, and even better, a 3D version to make even more money. Presto! You have the twentieth anniversary of this everlasting classic for families.
Pixar is rather notorious for their 3D presentations, being rather mild and inoffensive, and that trend continues here with Cars in 3D. Created for a 3D Blu-ray re-release in 2013, this is the same version from 13 years ago, and it focuses more on depth than on the “Ka-Chow!” factors like pop-ins and pop-outs. The depth is always impressive throughout, with the vast vistas of the American (Carmerican?) Southwest, the racing scenes, and the many shots of Radiator Springs from car level being beautiful. The few bits of random pop-outs (the fireworks scene is the best demo for pop-outs) are fantastic as well. You almost can't tell this wasn't a native 3D film, but for what it is, this image still holds up rather well.
Final 3D Score: 8/10
Movie
Pixar, from 1995 to 2006, had one of the best runs for any studio ever. Toy Story 1 & 2. Monsters, Inc. Finding Nemo. The Incredibles. Even their “worst” film, A Bug's Life, was a beloved animated classic by the time their next film was about to release. I love them all, and by summer 2006, I was totally ready for their next project, Cars, to be unleashed into the world.
The film was a box-office hit, grossing over $400 million worldwide, with a further $250 million in DVD and Blu-ray sales later that year, and I was excited to finally see the film when I rented it from Blockbuster to eagerly watch their next magnum opus. For 117 minutes, I watched anthropomorphic vehicles recreate Doc Hollywood, and that's when it hit me.
Disappointment... Massive disappointment.
Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is the hot, young rookie racer on the circuit, eagerly awaiting to be the first rookie ever to win the coveted Piston Cup. While thinking he has the race in the bag, sure enough, he blows his tires on the final corner and manages to make a three-way tie with the beloved racing elder “The King” (NASCAR legend Richard Petty) and cocksure pro Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton). While the trio have to race again in Los Angeles the following week, Lightning is ready to make history, until his truck driver Mack (Pixar good-luck charm John Ratzenberger) is forced by McQueen to drive all night to make it to LA. A group of street racers distract a snoozing Mack, allowing Mr. Ka-Chow himself to escape from the trailer. McQueen desperately tries to find his way back to the interstate, but inevitably causes chaos and damage in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs and is arrested and ordered by the town judge/doctor/old sage, Doc Hudson (the legendary Paul Newman in his final performance), to repair the road he damaged. From there, we go through the Doc Hollywood retread of a fast-moving guy learning to slow down and enjoy life that doesn't involve a pile of money, and becoming a better car along the way.
So what made me disappointed with Cars? I enjoy the 1991 film Doc Hollywood, with its breezy charm led by Michael J. Fox making it a regular watch on TBS, so what's different with Cars?
If you've never seen Doc Hollywood, here's my criticism of Cars on its own merits: the story is incredibly familiar. A hotshot young guy gets stranded in a small town, is forced to slow down, meets some colorful locals, falls in love, learns that life is about more than money and success, and eventually becomes a better person (or car, in this case). There's nothing inherently wrong with that story, but Cars doesn't do quite enough with it to make it feel particularly fresh or meaningful. There are moments of genuine emotion, especially with Doc Hudson and the history of Route 66, but most of the story stays pretty surface-level. The animation is gorgeous, the characters are likable, and the movie is perfectly enjoyable, but when the credits rolled, I couldn't help but feel like there should have been a little more there.
I think it's because the film is very slight for the most part. It doesn't really tackle emotional or adult themes like their other films, or offer the clever storytelling of their other offerings, giving us a rather easy watch. I mean, that's fine, but I was expecting more, especially after the brilliance of The Incredibles delivered in 2004. Cars does have some scenes of emotional weight, with Lightning discovering Doc's racing past, the loneliness of Lightning McQueen, and the effects of interstates on the legendary Route 66. But other than that, it's rather surface-level.
The film screams more of a toyetic film than what Pixar had released before, and yes, there was merchandise from the previous films, but Cars merchandise was and still is clogging up toy store walls. But can you blame Disney? Cars is Pixar's most profitable franchise, with billions of dollars earned from the merchandise, and profit reigns supreme. However, that doesn't excuse the fact that the film just isn't amazing.
2006 was a rather notorious year in animated film, with not a lot to offer (Ice Age 2, Happy Feet, Open Season, The Ant Bully, Barnyard, Doogal, Curious George, Everyone's Hero, Happily N'ever After, Over the Hedge, Flushed Away, and The Wild being the big ones that year, with my favorite being Monster House), so Cars was bound to be one that people flocked to.
What does Cars offer, then?
Starting off with the usual fantastic animation from the artists over at Pixar, lovingly detailing the world with the right amount of cartoon and photorealism that delights and amazes, even two decades later. The lighting and effects work are still amazing, especially later in the film when the neons are a-glow, and it just makes me yearn for cruising culture to make a comeback.
The voice cast does well, with not only the aforementioned cast, but we also get great work from George Carlin, Bonnie Hunt, and Larry the Cable Guy in his best role, Mater the Tow Truck, which isn't much of a stretch from Dan Whitney's comic persona, but he's just so darn likable as the rusted tow truck.
So the film is more kid-centric than other films in Pixar's oeuvre, and there are some moments of greatness throughout that make it a bit more interesting, but it just lacked the je ne sais quoi to make it better in my eyes. Yes, the technical aspects are fantastic, the cast are having a great time here, and there are some fun bits of adult humor thrown in from time to time, but I guess I was just ten years too old in 2006 to really enjoy it then, and thirty years too old now in 2026 to really enjoy it now.
Final Movie Score: 7/10
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