Cars (www.the-usher.com)

"Luigi only follows the Ferraris"

Lightning McQueen (Wilson) is the hottest rookie on the American race circuit but when the Piston Cup is a three-way tie, it is decided that a race off will take place in California in just five short days. As Lightning heads to the West Coast he gets a little lost and ends up tearing up Radiator Springs, literally. Just when he thinks things can't get any worse, local judge Doc Hudson (Newman) charges him with the punishment of relaying the main road, hoping Lightening with realise the consequences of his actions but the racecar discovers so much more.

Celebrating their 20th anniversary Pixar drive into their seventh feature length movie but is 'Cars' just as fun a ride?

The creative genius behind 'A Bug's Life' and the 'Toy Story' movies John Lasseter returns to the helm after overseeing all of Pixar's biggest hits to bring us a labour of love about his real passion in life, cars. Filled with iconic Americana from the 50s and 60s, encompassing both the cars and building styles of the neon filled era, Lasseter and his creative team try recreate a time of innocence, friendship and a lust for life that they feel has long been forgotten but while the movie might have its heart in the right place it forgets the one thing that has made Pixar stand head and shoulders about the rest, story.

The plot, characters and overall premise of 'Cars are not as accomplished or as complete as their previous hits like 'Finding Nemo', 'The Incredibles', 'Monsters, Inc' or the 'Toy Story' movies. There are far too many moments of quiet and awe as Lightning slowly gets used to the quieter life of Radiator Springs. The drive of modern living, wanting everything extremely fast and not caring about anyone else but themselves as they strive for their goals, is an excellent reflection of how we live today and even though the main characters are cars, this message is still very strong but the movie takes far too long to get this point across. With a running time of over two hours for a family film, the younger people of the family will struggle to hold their attention for its full duration.

The reason for this is the meandering pace of the film and the lack of action or extended comedy scenes to break up the getting to know yourself and your place in the world plotline. There is no question that John Lasseter loves cars and their US heyday when it wasn't all about freeways, fuel economy and getting to your destination as quickly as possible, but the film takes far too much time getting its point across that you wish that it would just move up the gears slightly and get its motor running.

While this maybe a bad point to the film there are plenty of plus points to make the movie an enjoyable ride. As always the characters in this latest Pixar journey are very good. Lightning McQueen, voiced Owen Wilson, represents modern America. Career driven and powerful, he drives through life pushing for this goals and forgetting about everything else life has to offer. It is his realisation that there is more to life than fame and fortune that is the main emphasis of the movie and the red sports soon becomes a character you end up liking, even though you might not at first. It is the population of Radiator Springs that are the real highlight however. Larry The Cable Guy is the hillbilly tow truck, who wears his heart on his sleeve and just loves tractor tipping. Ramone, voiced by Cheech Marin, constantly changes his look as the low-riding body spray specialist. Bonnie Hunt voices Sally Carrera, the Porsche love interest for Lightning. Tony Shalhoub steals the show as tire shop over Luigi, who loves racecars but only the Ferraris. Paul Newman brings some class to the film as Doc Hudson, the town leader who's past is about to catch up with him.

'Cars' is a superb piece of animation but suffers from Pixar's extremely high standards. This film isn't in the same lane as their previous efforts but it still far superior any other pretender to their crown of animation kings. They have succeeded in rising the bar again with it comes to computer-generated animation but unfortunately the storytelling hasn't kept to the same standard. Pixar and John Lasseter might not be in top gear but this is still an enjoyable ride, right to the end of the credits (so keep watching).

High Definition Version

PICTURE & SOUND

The Blu-Ray disc presents the movie in High Definition wide screen 2:39:1 up to 1080p, with Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound. As they used to be on DVD, computer animated movies set the standard for High Definition transfers and Pixar have done an extraordinary job with this Blu-Ray.

BONUS FEATURES

Cine-Explore
A new feature for Pixar Blu-Rays that combines commentary, behind the scenes featurettes, deleted scenes and storyboards all while the movie is playing. Director John Lasseter provides a commentary and the technical directors and lead animators provide another track, with storyboards and other production material appearing in windows on the screen when they talk about it and deleted scenes appear when they are mentioned. Featurettes are also played when key scenes are covered. This is fantastic home entertainment innovation and one that really shows how good interactive Blu-Ray discs can be.

Movie Showcase (High Definition)
Instant access to the filmmaker's most cinematic moments that showcase the ultimate in high definition and sound Documentary shorts (Standard Definition) Entitled 'Radiator Springs', 'Character Design', 'Animation and acting', 'Real World Racing: Getting Geeky with details', 'Hudson Hornet', 'Graphics' and 'Darrell Waltrip Museum Tour', these shorts are part of the Cine-Explore feature and can been seen separately here.

Inspiration for Cars (7.05 mins/Standard Definition)
Writer/director John Lasseter, co-director Joe Ranft, Route 66 author Michael Wallis and Paul Lasseter, John's Father talk about bringing this labour of love to the sliver screen. Here we discover about the history of Route 66, what happened when the Interstate was constructed and how it affected the small towns on the famous road. John Lasseter also talks about his personal his film is to him and his family. This is an informative featurette but one that is far too short.

Deleted Scenes (14.00 mins/Standard Definition)
Entitled 'Top Down Truck', 'Lost', 'Community Service', Traffic School' and 'Motorama girls', these deleted scenes are presented as animated storyboards with introduction by John Lasseter.

Mater and the Ghost Light (6.51 mins/High Definition)
A special animated short that sees Mater become extremely scared to drive home when the town's cars of Radiator Springs tell him about the urban legend of the Ghost Light and how it haunts the road to his garage. This is a fun extention of the film and has appearances from all of your favourite characters from 'Cars'.

One Man Band (4.21 mins/High Definition)
Another inventive Pixar animated short. Here we have two rival One Man Band musicians fighting for the attention of a little girl and her one gold coin. The animation is superb and it is great fun to watch.

Epilogue (4.07 mins/High Definition)
Watch the footage that was shown along with the end credits in full screen glory. This is still extremely funny (just watch the car versions of previous Pixar hits) and shows the creativity of the team.

Boundin' Cars (High Definition)
Watch the Cars version of the Oscar winning Pixar short film 'Boundin'.

Trailers
Previews of 'Sleep Beauty', 'WALL-E', 'Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 1' and 'Tinkerbell'

OVERALL

The Blu-Ray treatment for 'Cars' is exceptionally good with Pixar setting the standard for all future discs to follow. This shows what the format can really do and highlights not only the picture and sound quality differences between Blu-Ray and DVD but the interactivity and creativity of what filmmakers can achieve now.

BLU-RAY

Standard Definition Release

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1, the movie is presented well.

BONUS FEATURES

Mater and the Ghost Light (6.51 mins)
A special animated short that sees Mater become extremely scared to drive home when the town's cars of Radiator Springs tell him about the urban legend of the Ghost Light and how it haunts the road to his garage. This is a fun extention of the film and has appearances from all of your favourite characters from 'Cars'.

One Man Band (4.21 mins)
Another inventive Pixar animated short. Here we have two rival One Man Band musicians fighting for the attention of a little girl and her one gold coin. The animation is superb and it is great fun to watch.

Epilogue (4.07 mins)
Watch the footage that was shown along with the end credits in full screen glory. This is still extremely funny (just watch the car versions of previous Pixar hits) and shows the creativity of the team.

Inspiration for Cars (7.05 mins)
Writer/director John Lasseter, co-director Joe Ranft, Route 66 author Michael Wallis and Paul Lasseter, John's Father talk about bringing this labour of love to the sliver screen. Here we discover about the history of Route 66, what happened when the Interstate was constructed and how it affected the small towns on the famous road. John Lasseter also talks about his personal his film is to him and his family. This is an informative featurette but one that is far too short.

Deleted Scenes (10.08 mins)
Entitled 'Top Down Truck', 'Lost', 'Community Service' and 'Motorama girls', these deleted scenes are presented as animated storyboards.

Trailers
Previews of 'Ratatouille', 'Meet the Robinson's', 'Cars: The Video Game' and 'Peter Pan'

OVERALL

Usually Pixar DVD releases are packed with extras over two discs but strangely 'Cars' doesn't have that. With some deleted scenes and a short featurette, the released is saved from been a complete letdown by the inclusion of the two animated shorts. Fans will still be very disappointed with this release however.

DVD

A Bug's Life

Toy Story

Toy Story 2

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2006