Directed by John Lasseter, who had previously directed other Pixar movies such as Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and A Bug's Life, the film is set in a world populated entirely by anthropomorphic cars and other vehicles. It features the voices of Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Paul Newman, Cheech Marin, Tony Shalhoub, John Ratzenberger, George Carlin, and Larry the Cable Guy. Many of the voices of the racecars are real race car drivers. They include Richard Petty, Mario Andretti, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Michael Schumacher.
Notable cameos also included sports broadcaster Bob Costas as "Bob Cutlass," NASCAR broadcaster and former Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip as "Darrell Cartrip," Jay Leno as "Jay Limo", and Tom and Ray Magliozzi (hosts of NPR's weekly Car Talk) as Rusty and Dusty Rust-Eze. The film was rated G by the MPAA[3]. The film premiered on May 26, 2006 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. <span id="test15438075">. . .</span><br/><div id="post15438075" style="display:none; margin-right:75px;">
[url=http://disneychannel.com]disney channel[/url]
[b]PLOT[/b]
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9d/Cars_image_2.JPG/250px-Cars_image_2.JPG[/img]
The film opens in the final race of the 2005 Piston Cup stock car racing season and championship in the Motor Speedway of the South, where a skilled but arrogant rookie racecar, Lightning McQueen, has overtaken his opponents, gotten past a huge wreck, and built up a huge lead over the cup's defending (but soon retiring) seven-time champion, Strip "The King" Weathers, and perennial runner-up and cheater Chick Hicks. However, because of his refusal to make regular pit stops and get new tires, his worn rear tires burst into flames on the final lap, causing him to skid and ultimately crawl to the finish line, barely managing to tie The King and Chick Hicks in a photo finish. Race officials announce that, because the three racers are also tied in overall season points, they will compete in one final tiebreaker race to be held at the Los Angeles International Speedway in one week to determine the champion.
While traveling down Interstate 40 to California, McQueen becomes separated from Mack, his transport truck, and while trying to catch up becomes lost on U.S. Route 66, catching the attention of the local sheriff in the process. A chase ensues, during which McQueen crashes and gets tangled in wires, damaging part of the main street of the town called Radiator Springs. McQueen is taken to traffic court, where the town's attorney Sally Carerra pleads against McQueen. He is sentenced to repave the road using "Bessie", a non-anthropomorphic asphalt-laying machine. McQueen attempts to escape, only to find that his petroleum tanks are drained to a minimum.
McQueen rushes through his first day of paving; as a result, the new road surface is so bumpy, uneven, and unusable that he is told he must scrape it off and start again. When justice/surgeon Doc Hudson offers McQueen the chance to leave, provided that he outrace Doc in a race around a butte, McQueen eagerly accepts. He leaves Doc in the dust at the starting line, but loses control on a loose dirt turn and crashes into a cactus patch. While the town's tow truck, Mater, hauls McQueen out of the cactus patch in which he landed, Doc effortlessly cruises to the finish line, remarking that McQueen races as badly as he fixes roads. McQueen is compelled to scrape off the botched pavement and start paving again.
As the ensuing days pass, McQueen is disturbed by nightmares of Chick Hicks winning the Piston Cup and landing the Dinoco sponsorship currently held by The King. However, he starts to befriend the town's residents, from whom he learns that Radiator Springs was once a thriving town until completion of the nearby interstate bypassed it, depriving it of its business traffic and visitors and, ironically, depriving those passing visitors of the natural beauty found in the scenery along the old highway. He also learns how Sally left behind her rich but unhappy life as an urban lawyer; what tractor tipping is; and that Doc Hudson was once a famous racecar (the "Hudson Hornet") and a 3-time Piston Cup champion. When the Doc catches him looking around his garage, McQueen asks why he left in the first place. Doc, suddenly offended by this, shows McQueen a newspaper article and states that a crash in 1954 ended his racing career. Doc bitterly refuses to reveal much about his past, dismissing his old trophies as "a bunch of empty cups". McQueen comes to realize that the same racing world that brought Doc fame eventually destroyed him.
By the time McQueen finishes repaving Radiator Springs's main road, he has formed a friendly bond with the town and its residents. Rather than immediately leaving for California (as he had initially been eager to do), he spends the day touring the town's businesses, receiving a fresh coat of paint and new tires in the process and overall helps every store in town. When the town throws a cruise party that night, he is suddenly found by a multitude of journalists, then whisked away in his truck, Mack, without even a chance to bid farewell to Radiator Springs. The town's residents are sad to see him leave, whereas Sally is angry to learn that it was Doc who ultimately informed the media of McQueen's whereabouts.
The final race between McQueen, The King, and Chick Hicks is described by commentators as the "biggest race in history." McQueen is distracted by his memories of Radiator Springs, losing time to The King and Chick Hicks, and begins to fear he will simply lose. To his surprise, Doc Hudson has arrived at the race, with Mater and a few others from Radiator Springs who will serve as his pit crew. Doc, once again wearing his original "Hudson Hornet" racing stripes, takes over as McQueen's crew chief. With Doc's coaching, a record-breakingly fast and efficient pit stop for new tires, and a few tricks learned from the small town's inhabitants, McQueen is not only able to overtake his opponents, but builds a considerable lead by the final lap.
As McQueen approaches the finish line, Chick sideswipes The King in a desperate attempt to avoid finishing behind him, sending The King into a terrible rollover crash. McQueen, fearing that The King's racing career will end in the same way as did the Hudson Hornet's, comes to a full stop before the finish line. As Chick gleefully crosses the finish line, McQueen then backtracks to push the veteran racer across the finish line ahead of him, saying that "I think The King should finish his last race". Chick's official victory is hollow, as he is jeered and despised for taking out The King, while McQueen is cheered as a hero for his good sportsmanship. Dinoco offers to sponsor McQueen, but he respectfully declines, saying that his current sponsor Rust-Eze gave him his big break and he therefore wants to continue with them.
Two days after the race, McQueen returns to Radiator Springs, announcing that he will establish his racing headquarters there. This helps to revitalize the town and draw back visitors and tourists, with the once-abandoned Route 66 being reclassified as "Historic Route 66." The film ends with Sally and Lightning Mcqueen about to kiss until they are interrupted by Mater in the helicopter. They then speed off together.
[b]PRODUCTION[/b]
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Carsanimation.png[/img]
Unlike most anthropomorphic cars, the eyes of the cars in this film were placed on the windshield (which resembles the Tonka Talking Trucks, as well as the characters from Tex Avery's One Cab's Family short and Disney's own Susie the Little Blue Coupe), rather than within the headlights. According to production designer Bob Pauley, "From the very beginning of this project, John Lasseter had it in his mind to have the eyes be in the windshield. For one thing, it separates our characters from the more common approach where you have little cartoon eyes in the headlights. For another, he thought that having the eyes down near the mouth at the front end of the car made the character feel more like a snake. With the eyes set in the windshield, the point of view is more human-like, and made it feel like the whole car could be involved in the animation of the character."[4] The characters also use their tires as hands, the exceptions being the various tow truck characters who sometimes uses their tow hooks, and the various forklift characters, who use their forks.
The original script (called The Yellow Car, about an electric car living in a gas-guzzling world) and some of the original drawings and characters were produced in 1998 and the producers agreed that Cars would be the next movie after A Bug's Life, and would be released in early 1999, particularly around June 4. However, that movie was eventually scrapped in favor of Toy Story 2. Later, production resumed with major script changes.
The race sequence in the teaser trailer was likely made before the other sequences, as the Piston Cup cars sport different body styles and paint jobs. The style of the race (a.k.a. Piston Cup) and some of the drivers and characters seem to be dated.
In 2001, the movie's working title was Route 66 (after U.S. Route 66), but in 2002, the title was changed to prevent people from thinking it was related to the 1960 television show with the same name. Also, Lightning McQueen's number was originally going to be 57 (Lasseter's birth year), but was changed to 95 (the year Toy Story was released), the number seen in the movie today.
Cars was originally going to be released on Friday, November 4, 2005, but on December 7, 2004 the movie's release date was changed to Friday, June 9, 2006.[5] Analysts looked at the release date change as a sign from Pixar that they were preparing for the pending end of the Disney distribution contract by either preparing non-Disney materials to present to other studios, or they were buying time to see what happened with Michael Eisner's situation at Disney.[6] When Jobs made the release date announcement, he stated that the reasoning was due to wanting to put all Pixar films on a summer release schedule, with DVD sales occurring during the holiday shopping season.[5]
Cars is the last film worked on by Joe Ranft, who died in a car crash in 2005. The film was the second to be dedicated to his memory, after Corpse Bride. This is also Paul Newman's last movie before he retired in 2007.
The international versions of the film have some English text replaced by text in the local language. For the DVD it becomes the language that you choose upon inserting the disc. The replaced text includes for instance the "Cars" movie logo, Doc's newspaper clippings, the "Closed" signs in Los Angeles and the "Lead lap" text during the last race.
[b]Reception[/b]
Cars opened on June 9, 2006 to mostly positive reviews. William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised the film as "one of Pixar's most imaginative and thoroughly appealing movies ever." [9] Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly called the film "a work of American art as classic as it is modern." [10] Most critics agreed that the film wasn't quite as good as some other Pixar Films, especially after the nearly unanimous praise for The Incredibles. "The movie is great to look at and a lot of fun," wrote critic Roger Ebert, "but somehow lacks the extra push of the other Pixar films." [11] Laura Clifford of website Reeling Reviews wrote that the film's "only real drawback is its failure to inspire awe with its visuals and to thoroughly transport with its storytelling." [12]
Rotten Tomatoes gave Cars a fresh 76% (with an average of 6.9) and it earned a 73/100 on Metacritic. In its opening weekend, Cars grossed $60.1 million, lower than previous Pixar films such as The Incredibles and Finding Nemo. In the United States, the film held onto the #1 spot for two weeks before being surpassed by Click and then by Superman Returns the following weekend. It went on to gross US$461,981,522 worldwide (ranking #6 in 2006 films) and $244,082,982 in the U.S. (the third highest-grossing film of 2006 in the country, behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Night at the Museum). It was the highest-grossing animated film of 2006 in the U.S., but lost to Ice Age: The Meltdown in worldwide totals.[13]
[edit] Awards
Cars had a highly successful run during the 2006 awards season. Many Film Critic Associations such as the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review named it the best Animated Feature Film of 2006. Cars also received the title of Best Reviewed Animated Feature of 2006 from Rotten Tomatoes. Randy Newman and James Taylor received a Grammy Award for the song "Our Town," which later went on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song (an award it lost to "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth). Cars was also selected as the Best Family Movie at the 2006 People's Choice Awards. Perhaps the most prestigious award that Cars received was the inaugural Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Cars also won the highest award for animation in 2006, the Best Animated Feature Annie Award.
The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature,and Academy Award for Best Original Song. However, it won none.
[b] Home video release[/b]
Cars was released on DVD in Australia and New Zealand on October 25 2006, in the United States and Canada on November 7 and in the United Kingdom on November 27, and is available in both Widescreen and Fullscreen editions. It contains the short film Mater and the Ghostlight, One Man Band (another Pixar short which showed before the film in theaters), and Inspiration for Cars, a 16 minute long documentary about the film featuring John Lasseter.
Unlike previous Pixar DVD releases, there is only a one-disc version, with no plans laid out for a future two-disc release as of November 2006. According to Sara Maher, DVD Production Manager at Pixar, this is because of John Lasseter and Pixar being busy with upcoming productions like Ratatouille,[14] although additional extras not seen on the disc have been released on the official DVD website.[15]
In the US and Canada, there were bonus discs available with the purchase of Cars at either Wal-Mart or Target. Wal-Mart featured a Geared-Up Bonus DVD Disc that focused on the music of the film, including the "Life Is A Highway" video, The Making of "Life Is A Highway", Cars: The Making of the Music and Under The Hood, a special that originally aired on the ABC Family cable channel. Target's bonus was a Rev'd Up DVD Disc that featured material that was mostly already released as part of the official Cars podcast and focused on the inspirations for and production of the movie. A two-disc edition was available from Australian retailer EzyDVD, but the second disc did not contain any animation information.
According to the Walt Disney Company, 5 million copies of the DVD were sold in the first two days it was available.[16]
On the Disney Blu-ray website, Cars was supposed to ship on a 2-disc dual-layer format on June 5, 2007, but it was delayed to November 6, 2007.
[b]Merchandising[/b]
The Mattel-produced 1/55 scale die-cast cars were some of the most popular toys of the 2006 Summer Season. Dozens of characters are represented, with some having multiple versions available. Several stores had trouble keeping the toys in stock, and some models are still difficult to find because of being shipped in lower numbers than other characters. Some online Disney enthusiasts are comparing it to the same shortage that Mattel faced with its Toy Story line in 1995. Some of the die-cast cars are only readily available on eBay. On August 14, 2007, the die-cast Sarge car, made between May and July 2007, was recalled due to "impermissible levels of lead" used in the paint. Some 436,000 of the toy cars have been recalled globally.[17]
On June 22, 2006 Disney Consumer Products announced that Cars merchandise broke records for retail sales based on a Disney-Pixar product, recording 10-to-1 more volume than Finding Nemo.[18] DCP reports that product expansion will take place in the fall alongside the DVD release of the film.
Estimates from the New York Daily News indicate that sales of Cars merchandise two weeks out from the release of the film amassed to $600 million USD. Estimates put out in November by the Walt Disney Company peg total sales for the brand at around $1 billion.[19]
Kelley Blue Book, the de facto resource for appraising values of vehicles, has humorously "appraised" four of the cars, Lightning McQueen, Mater, Sally Carrera, and Doc Hudson according to their make/model and personalities. [1]
The United States Department of Transportation has used scenes from the movie in a commercial regarding the Click It or Ticket campaign.
In conjunction with the film's release, a chocolate ice cream on a stick resembling a car tire was released in Australia. These ice creams were called 'Burnouts'. The naming of the particular product sparked controversy as the name 'Burnouts' was believed to have encouraged street racing and committing burnouts. These acts are illegal and heavy fines and convictions are issued to those committing these acts in Australia. It is unknown as to whether the products have been discontinued or not.
In Norway, the candy company Nidar produced candy with the characters on the outer packaging and pictures of the characters on the packaging of the assorted candy on the inside. These bags also came with Cars themed tattoos.
In the U.S., an animated Wal-Mart truck can be seen on a Wal-Mart ad and Wal-Mart TV commercial for Cars. In the Wal-Mart TV commercial the Wal-Mart truck was talking to Mater.
In South Africa, Italy, and several other countries where Opel is present (or with Opel models under Chevrolet and Vauxhall brand), GM has a campaign featuring an General Motors Astra, a Opel Meriva, and a General Motors Zafira as characters in the world of Cars, including TV ads made by Pixar, with the Opel models interacting with Lightning McQueen, Mater and Ramone.[20] The first ad involved the Opels coming to Radiator Springs as tourists. The second involved their failed attempts at auditoning for Mater. In the end the Opels lost the part to the real Mater.
In July 2006, greeting card giant Hallmark unveiled its line of 2006 Keepsake Christmas ornaments. Among the collection was an ornament featuring Lightning McQueen and Mater.
There is also a Cars clothing line, which produces various t-shirts and shorts; however, these are generally only found in children's sizes.
In May 2007, the Cars video game was announced to be a "Platinum Hit" on the Xbox, "Greatest Hit" on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, and "Player's Choice" on the Nintendo GameCube. A sequel is on its way to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii consoles.[21]
A Cars-based attraction is scheduled to open at Walt Disney Studios Paris in 2008 and Disney's California Adventure in 2010.
[b]Cultural diversity[/b]
As with other Pixar films, the characters represent diverse backgrounds and nationalities.
The character Mater at different points in the movie says "Git R Done" and "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there," both catchphrases of Larry the Cable Guy, who voices the character in the stereotypical drawl of an American hillbilly. Mater is named after Douglas Keever, whom John Lasseter met at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Although Flo is listed as a Motorama show car, she appears to be inspired by three early- to mid-fifties show cars: the 1951 Buick LeSabre (front-end lines, the basic hood shape, lights mounted near the corners, and front-quarter trim), the 1951 Buick XP-300 (side trim), and the 1956/57 Chrysler Dart (cockpit, deck lid, and tailfins).[23] Flo is played by Jenifer Lewis who is often cast as an African-American mother figure.
Fillmore is a 1960 Volkswagen Type 2, voiced by comedian George Carlin. Carlin was one of the first comics to be embraced by the flower children of the 1960s, and the VW van is usually associated with the hippie culture. In the 1990s, Carlin narrated several episodes of the children's TV show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. This show also featured anthropomorphic vehicles, although most of them were trains. Throughout the film, Fillmore is shown with half-closed, unfocused eyes, and he speaks in slow, sleepy speech peppered with the word "man." This is also reminiscent of Tommy Chong, one half of the famous "pothead" duo Cheech and Chong. Fillmore is actually inspired on Bob Waldmire, a traveling Route 66 artist, who travels in his VW van. Waldmire is a vegan who refused to be associated with something that's given to kids together with a hamburger and hence refused to let Pixar use his name for the character.
Coincidentally, Ramone is voiced by Tommy Chong's former partner, Cheech Marin. He is a Chevrolet Impala lowrider, a creation popular among Latinos. He is Pixar's first obviously Latino character.
Luigi is a Fiat 500 with an Italian accent provided by Tony Shalhoub. By coincidence, the Fiat 500 is the same kind of car used by Lupin III, the protagonist of the Lupin III series and movies. Hayao Miyazaki, a good friend of John Lasseter, worked on two of the Lupin TV series and directed the Lupin III movie The Castle of Cagliostro. Lasseter said in an interview he did not intend for the reference to be there, although Cagliostro is still one of his favorite films.[24] While Luigi's voice has a strong Italian accent in the original movie, Guido speaks in Italian, this making his dialogues not understandable for the American public. In the Italian movie release, Luigi is speaking Italian with a strong Emilian accent, while Guido speaks only in Emilian dialect, a language that is not understandable for the average Italian public.
The European model cars in the film include Sally Carrera, Fillmore (both German -- though their country of origin does not influence their characters), plus Luigi, several Maserati Quattroportes (Italian), seven-time Formula1 champion Michael Schumacher (Italian; although he is German, he drove for Ferrari, and the car he voiced is a Ferrari F430). British motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson was the voice of Harv in the film's UK edition. In Clarkson's book, Clarkson on Cars, he described himself as a 1979 Ford Granada Ghia so it could be implied that Harv was (in the UK edition) a British/German car. In Finnish version former Formula1 champion Mika Häkkinen was the voice of the King, while in German version it was the three-time Formula1 champion Niki Lauda. Mika Häkkinen was the name of the #11, Ford Fairlane, in the German version, who originally was voiced by Mario Andretti.
Mario Andretti voices a 1967 Ford Fairlane 500 stock car, painted blue and gold with the number #11. Mario Andretti won the 1967 Daytona 500 with a car of the same appearance prepared by Holman-Moody.
Three of the Tuner Cars (minus Snot Rod) are Japanese imports; Mia and Tia are Mazda Miatas, and their names are a pun on Miata. Frank's predominant color, orange, is the color of Japanese tractor maker Kubota. There is a Japanese woman (a 1990s Mazda AZ-1) on the world news.
[b]Setting[/b]
The landscape in the distance behind Radiator Springs is made up of rock formations intentionally reminiscent of Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. The road map shown in the montage history of the town calls the area "Cadillac Range." Some of the mountain peaks in the Cadillac Range, shown during the movie, resemble the quarter panels of late-50's Cadillacs, with their distinctive tailfins.
The setting for the fictional town of Radiator Springs is situated between Gallup, New Mexico and Kingman, Arizona. A landmark, called Radiator Cap, overlooks the town, and has two white letters ("R" and "S") written upon it. The style and relative positioning of these letters on the landmark closely resemble the "RS" badge used on the first-generation "Rally Sport" Camaros.
The butte around which the dirt track goes, resembles the landmark of Mexican Hat, Utah.
Radiator Springs is loosely based on Amboy, California in the Mojave Desert -- a town that showed a decline in almost all traffic when I-40 opened in 1972. Sally references this in the film.
Nearby "Ornament Valley" (a reference to Monument Valley) is made of rock formations that project from the valley walls or rise from the valley floor and resemble the front ends of late 1930s to early 1940s American automobiles.
The Flo's V8 Cafe logo is similar to that used by the '32 Ford V8, the first V8 for mass marketed cars. This logo also appeared on Ford V8 in the sixties as well as Third-Generation Ford Explorers.
The track on which the opening race (Motor Speedway of the South) takes place is actually based on an enlarged version of the real life Bristol Motor Speedway. The venue for the Piston Cup tiebreaker race (the Los Angeles International Speedway) is a conglomeration of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena where the Rose Bowl is located, as well as the California Speedway.
[b]Route 66[/b]
Many characters and places in the movie are directly inspired on real Route 66 places and people.
To quote the Pixar crew:
"As we traveled on Route 66, we were privileged to visit many places and to meet a number of people who live and work alongside 'The Mother Road.' The following is a list of the places and people we wanted to honor by including their names in our 'Special Thanks' credits at the end of the film." [25]
The Cars soundtrack has two versions of the classic Nat King Cole jazz standard "Route 66", one by Chuck Berry and a new version recorded specifically for the film's credits performed by John Mayer.
Among the many references to Route 66 landmarks and personalities:
* The Cozy Cone Motel's design is based on the two Wigwam Motels along Rt. 66, in Holbrook, Arizona and Rialto, California. These were once two out of seven built motels (3 remaining), with individual cabins shaped like teepees. The name "Cozy Cone" was inspired by the Cozy Dog Drive-In of Springfield, Illinois, which lays claim to being birthplace of the corn dog.
* The character "Fillmore", referring to the famous San Francisco music venue The Fillmore, was at one time to be named "Waldmire" after Bob Waldmire, a self-proclaimed hippie artist known to Rt. 66 fans for his detailed pen-and-ink maps and postcards of the route. Though Waldmire's family owns the Cozy Dog Drive-In, Bob, now a vegan, preferred not to see his name put on a character that would become a McDonald's Happy Meal toy.[26]
* Ramone's House of Body Art is based primarily on the U Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas. It opened in 1936 as Tower Conoco (from its distinctive Art Deco spire) with the U Drop Inn Cafe and a retail building attached. Many other establishments built along Route 66 in its heyday had Art Deco elements that might be reflected in the design of Ramone's.
* In the background of one scene, there is a yellow billboard reading "HERE IT IS" and has an image of a Model T. It is based after the Jackrabbit Trading Post on Route 66.
* Sheriff is voiced by Michael Wallis, an American historian and author of Route 66: The Mother Road.
[b]Trailer[/b]
One Pixar tradition is to create trailers for their films that do not contain footage from the released film. The trailer has Mater driving into a bee, and Lightning McQueen says to, "Not act like such a baby!" before hitting a whole swarm of bees himself. It then cuts to race cars racing along a track and speeding over the finish line with reads the the movie title.
click [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cars_%28film%29]cars[/url] to be able to learn more or choose [url=http://adisney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/cars/main.html?sec=1&car=1]speed up[/url] if you wan't to play games...
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COPIED FROM WIKIPEDIA.ORG (thank you!!) :D</div>
[b]PLOT[/b]
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9d/Cars_image_2.JPG/250px-Cars_image_2.JPG[/img]
The film opens in the final race of the 2005 Piston Cup stock car racing season and championship in the Motor Speedway of the South, where a skilled but arrogant rookie racecar, Lightning McQueen, has overtaken his opponents, gotten past a huge wreck, and built up a huge lead over the cup's defending (but soon retiring) seven-time champion, Strip "The King" Weathers, and perennial runner-up and cheater Chick Hicks. However, because of his refusal to make regular pit stops and get new tires, his worn rear tires burst into flames on the final lap, causing him to skid and ultimately crawl to the finish line, barely managing to tie The King and Chick Hicks in a photo finish. Race officials announce that, because the three racers are also tied in overall season points, they will compete in one final tiebreaker race to be held at the Los Angeles International Speedway in one week to determine the champion.
While traveling down Interstate 40 to California, McQueen becomes separated from Mack, his transport truck, and while trying to catch up becomes lost on U.S. Route 66, catching the attention of the local sheriff in the process. A chase ensues, during which McQueen crashes and gets tangled in wires, damaging part of the main street of the town called Radiator Springs. McQueen is taken to traffic court, where the town's attorney Sally Carerra pleads against McQueen. He is sentenced to repave the road using "Bessie", a non-anthropomorphic asphalt-laying machine. McQueen attempts to escape, only to find that his petroleum tanks are drained to a minimum.
McQueen rushes through his first day of paving; as a result, the new road surface is so bumpy, uneven, and unusable that he is told he must scrape it off and start again. When justice/surgeon Doc Hudson offers McQueen the chance to leave, provided that he outrace Doc in a race around a butte, McQueen eagerly accepts. He leaves Doc in the dust at the starting line, but loses control on a loose dirt turn and crashes into a cactus patch. While the town's tow truck, Mater, hauls McQueen out of the cactus patch in which he landed, Doc effortlessly cruises to the finish line, remarking that McQueen races as badly as he fixes roads. McQueen is compelled to scrape off the botched pavement and start paving again.
As the ensuing days pass, McQueen is disturbed by nightmares of Chick Hicks winning the Piston Cup and landing the Dinoco sponsorship currently held by The King. However, he starts to befriend the town's residents, from whom he learns that Radiator Springs was once a thriving town until completion of the nearby interstate bypassed it, depriving it of its business traffic and visitors and, ironically, depriving those passing visitors of the natural beauty found in the scenery along the old highway. He also learns how Sally left behind her rich but unhappy life as an urban lawyer; what tractor tipping is; and that Doc Hudson was once a famous racecar (the "Hudson Hornet") and a 3-time Piston Cup champion. When the Doc catches him looking around his garage, McQueen asks why he left in the first place. Doc, suddenly offended by this, shows McQueen a newspaper article and states that a crash in 1954 ended his racing career. Doc bitterly refuses to reveal much about his past, dismissing his old trophies as "a bunch of empty cups". McQueen comes to realize that the same racing world that brought Doc fame eventually destroyed him.
By the time McQueen finishes repaving Radiator Springs's main road, he has formed a friendly bond with the town and its residents. Rather than immediately leaving for California (as he had initially been eager to do), he spends the day touring the town's businesses, receiving a fresh coat of paint and new tires in the process and overall helps every store in town. When the town throws a cruise party that night, he is suddenly found by a multitude of journalists, then whisked away in his truck, Mack, without even a chance to bid farewell to Radiator Springs. The town's residents are sad to see him leave, whereas Sally is angry to learn that it was Doc who ultimately informed the media of McQueen's whereabouts.
The final race between McQueen, The King, and Chick Hicks is described by commentators as the "biggest race in history." McQueen is distracted by his memories of Radiator Springs, losing time to The King and Chick Hicks, and begins to fear he will simply lose. To his surprise, Doc Hudson has arrived at the race, with Mater and a few others from Radiator Springs who will serve as his pit crew. Doc, once again wearing his original "Hudson Hornet" racing stripes, takes over as McQueen's crew chief. With Doc's coaching, a record-breakingly fast and efficient pit stop for new tires, and a few tricks learned from the small town's inhabitants, McQueen is not only able to overtake his opponents, but builds a considerable lead by the final lap.
As McQueen approaches the finish line, Chick sideswipes The King in a desperate attempt to avoid finishing behind him, sending The King into a terrible rollover crash. McQueen, fearing that The King's racing career will end in the same way as did the Hudson Hornet's, comes to a full stop before the finish line. As Chick gleefully crosses the finish line, McQueen then backtracks to push the veteran racer across the finish line ahead of him, saying that "I think The King should finish his last race". Chick's official victory is hollow, as he is jeered and despised for taking out The King, while McQueen is cheered as a hero for his good sportsmanship. Dinoco offers to sponsor McQueen, but he respectfully declines, saying that his current sponsor Rust-Eze gave him his big break and he therefore wants to continue with them.
Two days after the race, McQueen returns to Radiator Springs, announcing that he will establish his racing headquarters there. This helps to revitalize the town and draw back visitors and tourists, with the once-abandoned Route 66 being reclassified as "Historic Route 66." The film ends with Sally and Lightning Mcqueen about to kiss until they are interrupted by Mater in the helicopter. They then speed off together.
[b]PRODUCTION[/b]
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Carsanimation.png[/img]
Unlike most anthropomorphic cars, the eyes of the cars in this film were placed on the windshield (which resembles the Tonka Talking Trucks, as well as the characters from Tex Avery's One Cab's Family short and Disney's own Susie the Little Blue Coupe), rather than within the headlights. According to production designer Bob Pauley, "From the very beginning of this project, John Lasseter had it in his mind to have the eyes be in the windshield. For one thing, it separates our characters from the more common approach where you have little cartoon eyes in the headlights. For another, he thought that having the eyes down near the mouth at the front end of the car made the character feel more like a snake. With the eyes set in the windshield, the point of view is more human-like, and made it feel like the whole car could be involved in the animation of the character."[4] The characters also use their tires as hands, the exceptions being the various tow truck characters who sometimes uses their tow hooks, and the various forklift characters, who use their forks.
The original script (called The Yellow Car, about an electric car living in a gas-guzzling world) and some of the original drawings and characters were produced in 1998 and the producers agreed that Cars would be the next movie after A Bug's Life, and would be released in early 1999, particularly around June 4. However, that movie was eventually scrapped in favor of Toy Story 2. Later, production resumed with major script changes.
The race sequence in the teaser trailer was likely made before the other sequences, as the Piston Cup cars sport different body styles and paint jobs. The style of the race (a.k.a. Piston Cup) and some of the drivers and characters seem to be dated.
In 2001, the movie's working title was Route 66 (after U.S. Route 66), but in 2002, the title was changed to prevent people from thinking it was related to the 1960 television show with the same name. Also, Lightning McQueen's number was originally going to be 57 (Lasseter's birth year), but was changed to 95 (the year Toy Story was released), the number seen in the movie today.
Cars was originally going to be released on Friday, November 4, 2005, but on December 7, 2004 the movie's release date was changed to Friday, June 9, 2006.[5] Analysts looked at the release date change as a sign from Pixar that they were preparing for the pending end of the Disney distribution contract by either preparing non-Disney materials to present to other studios, or they were buying time to see what happened with Michael Eisner's situation at Disney.[6] When Jobs made the release date announcement, he stated that the reasoning was due to wanting to put all Pixar films on a summer release schedule, with DVD sales occurring during the holiday shopping season.[5]
Cars is the last film worked on by Joe Ranft, who died in a car crash in 2005. The film was the second to be dedicated to his memory, after Corpse Bride. This is also Paul Newman's last movie before he retired in 2007.
The international versions of the film have some English text replaced by text in the local language. For the DVD it becomes the language that you choose upon inserting the disc. The replaced text includes for instance the "Cars" movie logo, Doc's newspaper clippings, the "Closed" signs in Los Angeles and the "Lead lap" text during the last race.
[b]Reception[/b]
Cars opened on June 9, 2006 to mostly positive reviews. William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised the film as "one of Pixar's most imaginative and thoroughly appealing movies ever." [9] Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly called the film "a work of American art as classic as it is modern." [10] Most critics agreed that the film wasn't quite as good as some other Pixar Films, especially after the nearly unanimous praise for The Incredibles. "The movie is great to look at and a lot of fun," wrote critic Roger Ebert, "but somehow lacks the extra push of the other Pixar films." [11] Laura Clifford of website Reeling Reviews wrote that the film's "only real drawback is its failure to inspire awe with its visuals and to thoroughly transport with its storytelling." [12]
Rotten Tomatoes gave Cars a fresh 76% (with an average of 6.9) and it earned a 73/100 on Metacritic. In its opening weekend, Cars grossed $60.1 million, lower than previous Pixar films such as The Incredibles and Finding Nemo. In the United States, the film held onto the #1 spot for two weeks before being surpassed by Click and then by Superman Returns the following weekend. It went on to gross US$461,981,522 worldwide (ranking #6 in 2006 films) and $244,082,982 in the U.S. (the third highest-grossing film of 2006 in the country, behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Night at the Museum). It was the highest-grossing animated film of 2006 in the U.S., but lost to Ice Age: The Meltdown in worldwide totals.[13]
[edit] Awards
Cars had a highly successful run during the 2006 awards season. Many Film Critic Associations such as the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review named it the best Animated Feature Film of 2006. Cars also received the title of Best Reviewed Animated Feature of 2006 from Rotten Tomatoes. Randy Newman and James Taylor received a Grammy Award for the song "Our Town," which later went on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song (an award it lost to "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth). Cars was also selected as the Best Family Movie at the 2006 People's Choice Awards. Perhaps the most prestigious award that Cars received was the inaugural Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Cars also won the highest award for animation in 2006, the Best Animated Feature Annie Award.
The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature,and Academy Award for Best Original Song. However, it won none.
[b] Home video release[/b]
Cars was released on DVD in Australia and New Zealand on October 25 2006, in the United States and Canada on November 7 and in the United Kingdom on November 27, and is available in both Widescreen and Fullscreen editions. It contains the short film Mater and the Ghostlight, One Man Band (another Pixar short which showed before the film in theaters), and Inspiration for Cars, a 16 minute long documentary about the film featuring John Lasseter.
Unlike previous Pixar DVD releases, there is only a one-disc version, with no plans laid out for a future two-disc release as of November 2006. According to Sara Maher, DVD Production Manager at Pixar, this is because of John Lasseter and Pixar being busy with upcoming productions like Ratatouille,[14] although additional extras not seen on the disc have been released on the official DVD website.[15]
In the US and Canada, there were bonus discs available with the purchase of Cars at either Wal-Mart or Target. Wal-Mart featured a Geared-Up Bonus DVD Disc that focused on the music of the film, including the "Life Is A Highway" video, The Making of "Life Is A Highway", Cars: The Making of the Music and Under The Hood, a special that originally aired on the ABC Family cable channel. Target's bonus was a Rev'd Up DVD Disc that featured material that was mostly already released as part of the official Cars podcast and focused on the inspirations for and production of the movie. A two-disc edition was available from Australian retailer EzyDVD, but the second disc did not contain any animation information.
According to the Walt Disney Company, 5 million copies of the DVD were sold in the first two days it was available.[16]
On the Disney Blu-ray website, Cars was supposed to ship on a 2-disc dual-layer format on June 5, 2007, but it was delayed to November 6, 2007.
[b]Merchandising[/b]
The Mattel-produced 1/55 scale die-cast cars were some of the most popular toys of the 2006 Summer Season. Dozens of characters are represented, with some having multiple versions available. Several stores had trouble keeping the toys in stock, and some models are still difficult to find because of being shipped in lower numbers than other characters. Some online Disney enthusiasts are comparing it to the same shortage that Mattel faced with its Toy Story line in 1995. Some of the die-cast cars are only readily available on eBay. On August 14, 2007, the die-cast Sarge car, made between May and July 2007, was recalled due to "impermissible levels of lead" used in the paint. Some 436,000 of the toy cars have been recalled globally.[17]
On June 22, 2006 Disney Consumer Products announced that Cars merchandise broke records for retail sales based on a Disney-Pixar product, recording 10-to-1 more volume than Finding Nemo.[18] DCP reports that product expansion will take place in the fall alongside the DVD release of the film.
Estimates from the New York Daily News indicate that sales of Cars merchandise two weeks out from the release of the film amassed to $600 million USD. Estimates put out in November by the Walt Disney Company peg total sales for the brand at around $1 billion.[19]
Kelley Blue Book, the de facto resource for appraising values of vehicles, has humorously "appraised" four of the cars, Lightning McQueen, Mater, Sally Carrera, and Doc Hudson according to their make/model and personalities. [1]
The United States Department of Transportation has used scenes from the movie in a commercial regarding the Click It or Ticket campaign.
In conjunction with the film's release, a chocolate ice cream on a stick resembling a car tire was released in Australia. These ice creams were called 'Burnouts'. The naming of the particular product sparked controversy as the name 'Burnouts' was believed to have encouraged street racing and committing burnouts. These acts are illegal and heavy fines and convictions are issued to those committing these acts in Australia. It is unknown as to whether the products have been discontinued or not.
In Norway, the candy company Nidar produced candy with the characters on the outer packaging and pictures of the characters on the packaging of the assorted candy on the inside. These bags also came with Cars themed tattoos.
In the U.S., an animated Wal-Mart truck can be seen on a Wal-Mart ad and Wal-Mart TV commercial for Cars. In the Wal-Mart TV commercial the Wal-Mart truck was talking to Mater.
In South Africa, Italy, and several other countries where Opel is present (or with Opel models under Chevrolet and Vauxhall brand), GM has a campaign featuring an General Motors Astra, a Opel Meriva, and a General Motors Zafira as characters in the world of Cars, including TV ads made by Pixar, with the Opel models interacting with Lightning McQueen, Mater and Ramone.[20] The first ad involved the Opels coming to Radiator Springs as tourists. The second involved their failed attempts at auditoning for Mater. In the end the Opels lost the part to the real Mater.
In July 2006, greeting card giant Hallmark unveiled its line of 2006 Keepsake Christmas ornaments. Among the collection was an ornament featuring Lightning McQueen and Mater.
There is also a Cars clothing line, which produces various t-shirts and shorts; however, these are generally only found in children's sizes.
In May 2007, the Cars video game was announced to be a "Platinum Hit" on the Xbox, "Greatest Hit" on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, and "Player's Choice" on the Nintendo GameCube. A sequel is on its way to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii consoles.[21]
A Cars-based attraction is scheduled to open at Walt Disney Studios Paris in 2008 and Disney's California Adventure in 2010.
[b]Cultural diversity[/b]
As with other Pixar films, the characters represent diverse backgrounds and nationalities.
The character Mater at different points in the movie says "Git R Done" and "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there," both catchphrases of Larry the Cable Guy, who voices the character in the stereotypical drawl of an American hillbilly. Mater is named after Douglas Keever, whom John Lasseter met at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Although Flo is listed as a Motorama show car, she appears to be inspired by three early- to mid-fifties show cars: the 1951 Buick LeSabre (front-end lines, the basic hood shape, lights mounted near the corners, and front-quarter trim), the 1951 Buick XP-300 (side trim), and the 1956/57 Chrysler Dart (cockpit, deck lid, and tailfins).[23] Flo is played by Jenifer Lewis who is often cast as an African-American mother figure.
Fillmore is a 1960 Volkswagen Type 2, voiced by comedian George Carlin. Carlin was one of the first comics to be embraced by the flower children of the 1960s, and the VW van is usually associated with the hippie culture. In the 1990s, Carlin narrated several episodes of the children's TV show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. This show also featured anthropomorphic vehicles, although most of them were trains. Throughout the film, Fillmore is shown with half-closed, unfocused eyes, and he speaks in slow, sleepy speech peppered with the word "man." This is also reminiscent of Tommy Chong, one half of the famous "pothead" duo Cheech and Chong. Fillmore is actually inspired on Bob Waldmire, a traveling Route 66 artist, who travels in his VW van. Waldmire is a vegan who refused to be associated with something that's given to kids together with a hamburger and hence refused to let Pixar use his name for the character.
Coincidentally, Ramone is voiced by Tommy Chong's former partner, Cheech Marin. He is a Chevrolet Impala lowrider, a creation popular among Latinos. He is Pixar's first obviously Latino character.
Luigi is a Fiat 500 with an Italian accent provided by Tony Shalhoub. By coincidence, the Fiat 500 is the same kind of car used by Lupin III, the protagonist of the Lupin III series and movies. Hayao Miyazaki, a good friend of John Lasseter, worked on two of the Lupin TV series and directed the Lupin III movie The Castle of Cagliostro. Lasseter said in an interview he did not intend for the reference to be there, although Cagliostro is still one of his favorite films.[24] While Luigi's voice has a strong Italian accent in the original movie, Guido speaks in Italian, this making his dialogues not understandable for the American public. In the Italian movie release, Luigi is speaking Italian with a strong Emilian accent, while Guido speaks only in Emilian dialect, a language that is not understandable for the average Italian public.
The European model cars in the film include Sally Carrera, Fillmore (both German -- though their country of origin does not influence their characters), plus Luigi, several Maserati Quattroportes (Italian), seven-time Formula1 champion Michael Schumacher (Italian; although he is German, he drove for Ferrari, and the car he voiced is a Ferrari F430). British motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson was the voice of Harv in the film's UK edition. In Clarkson's book, Clarkson on Cars, he described himself as a 1979 Ford Granada Ghia so it could be implied that Harv was (in the UK edition) a British/German car. In Finnish version former Formula1 champion Mika Häkkinen was the voice of the King, while in German version it was the three-time Formula1 champion Niki Lauda. Mika Häkkinen was the name of the #11, Ford Fairlane, in the German version, who originally was voiced by Mario Andretti.
Mario Andretti voices a 1967 Ford Fairlane 500 stock car, painted blue and gold with the number #11. Mario Andretti won the 1967 Daytona 500 with a car of the same appearance prepared by Holman-Moody.
Three of the Tuner Cars (minus Snot Rod) are Japanese imports; Mia and Tia are Mazda Miatas, and their names are a pun on Miata. Frank's predominant color, orange, is the color of Japanese tractor maker Kubota. There is a Japanese woman (a 1990s Mazda AZ-1) on the world news.
[b]Setting[/b]
The landscape in the distance behind Radiator Springs is made up of rock formations intentionally reminiscent of Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. The road map shown in the montage history of the town calls the area "Cadillac Range." Some of the mountain peaks in the Cadillac Range, shown during the movie, resemble the quarter panels of late-50's Cadillacs, with their distinctive tailfins.
The setting for the fictional town of Radiator Springs is situated between Gallup, New Mexico and Kingman, Arizona. A landmark, called Radiator Cap, overlooks the town, and has two white letters ("R" and "S") written upon it. The style and relative positioning of these letters on the landmark closely resemble the "RS" badge used on the first-generation "Rally Sport" Camaros.
The butte around which the dirt track goes, resembles the landmark of Mexican Hat, Utah.
Radiator Springs is loosely based on Amboy, California in the Mojave Desert -- a town that showed a decline in almost all traffic when I-40 opened in 1972. Sally references this in the film.
Nearby "Ornament Valley" (a reference to Monument Valley) is made of rock formations that project from the valley walls or rise from the valley floor and resemble the front ends of late 1930s to early 1940s American automobiles.
The Flo's V8 Cafe logo is similar to that used by the '32 Ford V8, the first V8 for mass marketed cars. This logo also appeared on Ford V8 in the sixties as well as Third-Generation Ford Explorers.
The track on which the opening race (Motor Speedway of the South) takes place is actually based on an enlarged version of the real life Bristol Motor Speedway. The venue for the Piston Cup tiebreaker race (the Los Angeles International Speedway) is a conglomeration of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena where the Rose Bowl is located, as well as the California Speedway.
[b]Route 66[/b]
Many characters and places in the movie are directly inspired on real Route 66 places and people.
To quote the Pixar crew:
"As we traveled on Route 66, we were privileged to visit many places and to meet a number of people who live and work alongside 'The Mother Road.' The following is a list of the places and people we wanted to honor by including their names in our 'Special Thanks' credits at the end of the film." [25]
The Cars soundtrack has two versions of the classic Nat King Cole jazz standard "Route 66", one by Chuck Berry and a new version recorded specifically for the film's credits performed by John Mayer.
Among the many references to Route 66 landmarks and personalities:
* The Cozy Cone Motel's design is based on the two Wigwam Motels along Rt. 66, in Holbrook, Arizona and Rialto, California. These were once two out of seven built motels (3 remaining), with individual cabins shaped like teepees. The name "Cozy Cone" was inspired by the Cozy Dog Drive-In of Springfield, Illinois, which lays claim to being birthplace of the corn dog.
* The character "Fillmore", referring to the famous San Francisco music venue The Fillmore, was at one time to be named "Waldmire" after Bob Waldmire, a self-proclaimed hippie artist known to Rt. 66 fans for his detailed pen-and-ink maps and postcards of the route. Though Waldmire's family owns the Cozy Dog Drive-In, Bob, now a vegan, preferred not to see his name put on a character that would become a McDonald's Happy Meal toy.[26]
* Ramone's House of Body Art is based primarily on the U Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas. It opened in 1936 as Tower Conoco (from its distinctive Art Deco spire) with the U Drop Inn Cafe and a retail building attached. Many other establishments built along Route 66 in its heyday had Art Deco elements that might be reflected in the design of Ramone's.
* In the background of one scene, there is a yellow billboard reading "HERE IT IS" and has an image of a Model T. It is based after the Jackrabbit Trading Post on Route 66.
* Sheriff is voiced by Michael Wallis, an American historian and author of Route 66: The Mother Road.
[b]Trailer[/b]
One Pixar tradition is to create trailers for their films that do not contain footage from the released film. The trailer has Mater driving into a bee, and Lightning McQueen says to, "Not act like such a baby!" before hitting a whole swarm of bees himself. It then cuts to race cars racing along a track and speeding over the finish line with reads the the movie title.
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