Film reviews
Title: Cars
Director: John Lasseter
Stars: Voiced by: Bob Costas ; Michael Keaton ; Cheech Marin ; Paul Newman
Reviewer: Matt Eccles
Rating (out of 10): 7
Review:
John Lasseter’s outstanding success as the director and co-writer of the Toy Story films has seen his name, and animation gurus Pixar, becoming synonymous with 3-D animated films of cross-generational appeal, smart scripts and astounding visuals.
While this 2006 offering lacks the giddy verve of Toy Story or A Bug’s Life, it still has much of their winning charm. Its tale of a brash car named Buzz Lightyear, who, on his way to a NASCAR race becomes stranded in Radiator Springs, a nowhere town off Route 66’s beaten track, may be a little sluggish for younger audiences, but there is enough knockabout humour between the set-pieces to keep things trundling along.
Despite Cars being an inevitable showcase for advances in CGI, it is still a remarkable film to look at; the detail in even its most mundane shots is often gob-smacking. So even if the script labours from time to time, there’s ample compensation in the treat for the senses delivered by its technical virtuosity.