Natsuki Arts! 🎨

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The Visuals & Music

To start, the visuals of this movie still hold up very well to this day. It’s more updated and polished compared to the 90s, but it’s also not so hyper-realistic like their films today. The cars are shiny in places but it’s not all super distracting, so they hit a perfect balance of cartoony and believable for this world to work.

And oh my is this soundtrack one of the best in Pixar’s musical library. The lyrical songs range from the rocking, catchy ear-worm of ‘Real Gone’ - which describes Lightning’s personality in the beginning perfectly - to the more calmer, slow acoustic tune of ‘Find Yourself’ to wrap up his story which I’ll get into. Then there’s my personal favorite ‘Our Town’ which some described as the ‘When She Loved Me of Cars’ and for understandable reasons, but what can I say, it’s a lovely melancholic song which gets me in the feels almost every time.

But it’s not only those but Randy Newman’s score deserves some praise too. The very intense and triumphing music which plays during both races in the movie really gets you in the mood and hooked to the screen for if Lightning will win or not, but I think the best ones are the country pieces for Radiator Springs. I still remember the music plays during McQueen and Sally’s drive through the forest and listening to it solo sounds even better.

I do wish that Randy would get recognise for this soundtrack on the same level as Toy Story; both are equally unforgettable to me.

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The Characters

If there’s one thing I really like about Pixar movies is how diverse the main cast of characters can be; Cars is a strong contender to that. Starting off with the mostly lovable tow truck Mater; I said mostly because he does tend to get dunked on but I adore this guy. He’s pretty much the opposite of Lightning, very cheerful and laidback, and always thinking about helping others due to his type of vehicle - all of this is thanks to Larry the Cable Guy bringing him to life.

Speaking of which, all the actors did spectacular with the cast; from Bonnie Hunt’s sassy yet sweet Sally, to Tony Shalhoub’s flamboyant Luigi, and to the hilarious back and forward between Paul Dooley’s Sarge and George Carlin’s Fillmore. Having a bunch of likeable characters like this for Radiator Springs really works for the main theme of the story which I’ll be getting into soon enough.

(Oh! But Micheal Keaton as Chick Hicks is super high up for making the antagonist likeable yet hatable at the same time)

But of course the main focus are Doc (Paul Newman) and Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson). I wanna save them for the next section as it’s a bit part of the story, but I will say they’re both great examples of protagonists with some bad traits but are still likeable in the end. With that, let’s move to the main course.

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The Story

Here’s some trivia some of you might not know: Lasseter went on a summer road trip with his family after working really hard at Pixar studios, and had realised a lot of what he was missing which is enjoying the slower life with people you love - that’s basically what inspired the plot of this film.

We have Lightning McQueen, a rookie race car reaching for the top to be the first rookie to win a piston cup and to also earn a place in Dinoco. Off the bat we see how cocky and show off-y he is by jumping over a car wreckage and refusing to change tires, leading him to nearly blowing the race, but by pure chance it was a tie in the end. One fantasy sequence later, he sets up to go to the final race and not being appreciative of his rusty car sponsor.

An incident happened and then Lightning found himself lost in a town called Radiator Springs (inspired by the small towns on Route 66) and he’s forced to stay and repair the damage he caused to the road. That’s where he met Doc Hudson, AKA the legendary Hudson Hornet who disappeared for 50 years, showing clear bitterness towards him and racing which McQueen doesn’t understand yet.

After tractor tipping with Mater, Lightning takes a drive with Sally and enjoys the scenery of the route along the way. He learns the history on how Route 66 got bypass just to save a few minutes of driving; this relates to how he’s been living life in the fast lane and only focussing on his own goals for himself. He soon realises what a jerk he’s been and decides to finish the road and help out the rest of the cars of the town and make them happy like in the heyday.

Doc on the other hand (or tire) still hasn’t change his perspective on racers due to his past within the racing world, the ones who turned their backs on him after a dreadful crash, and so called his crew to pick him up and take him away. Until he noticed how upset his residents are and how much they really needed Lightning is when he realised he was being as selfish to stay far from that works entirely; Doc makes up for it by becoming McQueen’s crew chief and he alongside the others aid him with winning the race.

However, in the end, McQueen gives up his first ever victory in order to help out The King after the latter crashed no thanks to Chick Hicks. Allowing to put another car before himself really demonstrates what Radiator Springs taught him, there’s more to life than just winning. It’s also thanks to him that the town gets back on the map, now he gets to have a new home, his friends and really enjoy the simpleness of life with those around him. It really is a inserting message - and is kinda the predecessor to Pixar’s Soul years later - and really one to look back on especially with how the world is today.

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It may not be on the same high note as the other Pixar films at the time, but Cars 1 really is a solid contender nonetheless - no matter that they kid-ify it now.

So yeah. Happy anniversary to an underrated movie!