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Not long ago, I read reviews of another animated film that complained about the fact that Hollywood actors' voices were used "as is" as the voices of the animated characters. The writer said that there are many good voice actors out there who aren't getting work because Hollywood has decided that it's somehow better to have "real actors" voicing animated characters than to have voice actors like Billy West doing it. At the time, I didn't think much of it. Now I understand. I've seen "Cars", the latest from Pixar.
Cars tells a short story about an up-and-coming rookie race car named "Lightning McQueen" (voiced by actor Owen Wilson). McQueen is rather full of himself, ignoring the advice of his crew chief, avoiding pit stops for tires, and generally making everyone around him angry. Given this opening situation, you immediately know the rest of the plot of the movie. McQueen's arrogance will land him in a heap of trouble, through which he'll learn that he needs a "team" and friends, then he'll have a happy ending and probably win the "Piston Cup" race that he's so excited about. Sadly enough, this formulaic approach to a story is indeed what the writers used for Cars. There is one very, very small surprise at the end which I won't spoil here because it's probably the only surprise you'll get. All the actors who were hired to do voices for the movie did fine, but none of their characters were especially memorable, with the possible exception of Larry the Cable Guy as Tom Mater the tow truck. But then, Larry's practically a cartoon character himself, so it's no surprise that his tow truck persona is more memorable than the others'. Even so, the movie banks on one of Larry's signature lines "I don't care who ya are, that's funny right there." As a kids movie, Cars delivers relatively safe and family-friendly entertainment. As a movie parents will likely be watching with their children, it delivers very little of interest for the parents. There are lots of clever little car-related references in the background, like road signs with car/city puns on them, but most of these are on and off screen so quickly you won't catch many of them. On the whole, I have to give the movie a 5 out of 10. It's OK but it doesn't compare to the Toy Story movies. Even with its star-studded cast, it's even less interesting than the first Shrek movie. My advice is to wait for the video release and rent the movie. I don't think you'll want to own it.
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