Cars (film)

Cars
Theatrical poster
Directed by	John Lasseter Joe Ranft
Produced by	Darla K. Anderson
Screenplay by	Dan Fogelman John Lasseter Joe Ranft Jorgen Klubien Kiel Murray Phil Lorin Robert L. Baird Daniel Gerson Bonnie Hunt Don Lake Steve Purcell Dan Scanlon
Story by	John Lasseter Joe Ranft Jorgen Klubien Brenda Chapman
Starring	Owen Wilson Paul Newman Bonnie Hunt Larry the Cable Guy Tony Shalhoub John Ratzenberger George Carlin Jenifer Lewis Cheech Marin Richard Petty Michael Keaton
Music by	Randy Newman
Cinematography	Jeremy Lasky Jean Claude Kalache
Editing by	Ken Schretzmann
Studio	Pixar Animation Studios
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures Buena Vista Distribution
Release date(s)	June 9, 2006 (2006-06-09)
Running time	116 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$120 million[1]
Gross revenue	$461,983,149
Followed by	Cars 2

Cars is a 2006 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar and directed by both John Lasseter and Joe Ranft. It is the seventh Disney·Pixar feature film, and the final film by Pixar before it was bought by Disney. Set in a world populated entirely by anthropomorphic cars and other vehicles, it features voices by Owen Wilson, Paul Newman (in his final non-documentary feature), Bonnie Hunt, Cheech Marin, Jenifer Lewis, Tony Shalhoub, John Ratzenberger, George Carlin, Larry the Cable Guy and Michael Keaton as well as voice cameos by several celebrities including Jeremy Piven, Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bob Costas, Darrell Waltrip, Jay Leno, Michael Schumacher, Tom & Ray Magliozzi from NPR's Car Talk and Mario Andretti. The film is also the second Pixar film to have an entirely non-human cast after A Bug's Life.

Cars premiered on May 26, 2006 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, and was released on June 9, 2006, to generally favorable reviews. It was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Animated Feature, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. It was released on DVD in late 2006 and on Blu-ray Disc in late 2007. Related merchandise, including scale models of several of the cars, broke records for retail sales of merchandise based on a Disney·Pixar film, with an estimated $5 billion in sales.^[2]

A sequel, Cars 2, is in production and set for release on June 24, 2011.^[3]

Plot

Cars takes place in a world populated by anthropomorphic motor vehicles. The film begins with the last race of the Piston Cup championship, which ends in a three-way tie between retiring veteran Strip "The King" Weathers, perennial runner-up Chick Hicks, and rookie Lightning McQueen. The tiebreaker race is scheduled for one week later at the Los Angeles International Speedway. Lightning is desperate to win the race, as it would allow him to leave the unglamorous sponsorship of Rust-Eze, a rust treatment for old cars, and allow him to take The King's place as the sponsored car of the lucrative Dinoco team. Eager to start practice in California as soon as possible, Lightning pushes his big rig, Mack, to travel all night long.

When Mack starts nodding off, he becomes the victim of a gang of reckless street racers, who play Kenny G's "Songbird" to make him sleep, causing the sleeping McQueen to roll out of the back of the trailer unnoticed. McQueen wakes up in traffic, becomes lost, and in a panic ends up in the run-down town of Radiator Springs. A mishap with the local sheriff causes McQueen to inadvertently tear up the town's main road. McQueen is arrested, then tried the next day by the town's judge and doctor, Doc Hudson, who at first wants him to leave Radiator Springs immediately; but at the insistence of local lawyer Sally Carrera, Doc instead sentences him to repave the road as community service.

McQueen initially tries to rush through the job, but makes a sloppy, bumpy mess of the road and is forced to start over again. As the days pass, he becomes friends with many of the townsfolk and learns of their past. Radiator Springs was once a popular stopover along U.S. Route 66, but with the construction of nearby Interstate 40 that allowed people to bypass the town, Radiator Springs was effectively erased from the map, causing many of the businesses and residents to leave. McQueen also discovers that Doc is actually the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, a three-time Piston Cup champion who was forced out of competition after a serious accident ended his career over 50 years ago, but remains adept at racing.

Encouraged by his new friends and a countryside cruise with Sally, McQueen successfully completes the road and spends an extra day in town, visiting the local shops to outfit him with new tires and equipment. That night, Mack and the media converge on the town, having been tipped off by Doc as to Lightning's whereabouts, and Lightning reluctantly sets off for California, much to his dismay. Sally is upset with Doc for thinking only of himself ("Best for everyone or best for you?"), and the other townsfolk are saddened to see McQueen go as well as McQueen is saddened to leave them. As they retire to their homes, the town's neon (fixed by McQueen) is turned off, and as the town returns to its previous quietness, Doc realizes just how much McQueen meant to them.

As the tie-breaker race begins, McQueen's thoughts keep drifting back to Radiator Springs and he is distracted from performing well. However, he is surprised to discover that his new friends have come along to serve as his pit crew along with Mack, as well as Doc - once again outfitted in his old racing colors - serving as McQueen's new crew chief. Heartened by their presence and recalling the tricks they taught him (notably Mater's backwards driving and the power-slide Doc kept trying to teach him), McQueen is able to counteract Chick Hicks' dirty driving tactics and take the lead of the race. On the final lap, Chick, fed up with being in second place, purposely rams The King so violently that he is sent flying off the track and into a devastating and horrifying roll-over wreck, much to the crowd's shock.

McQueen, seeing the King crash, stops just short of the finish line, letting Chick win the Piston Cup. Remembering Doc's bleary departure from racing, McQueen reverses to help push The King the rest of the way across the finish line, allowing him to complete his last race and retire with dignity, much to the crowd's pleasure. As for Chick, his victory is rejected and he is booed off the awards ceremony stage for purposely ramming The King off, much to his anger, rendering his Piston Cup victory hollow and meaningless. The King and his wife, Dinoco, the press, and the crowd praise McQueen for his sportsmanship. McQueen is offered the Dinoco sponsorship but turns it down, saying that he would rather stay with the Rust-Eze team that brought him this far. McQueen returns to Radiator Springs and decides to move his team's headquarters there, helping to revitalize the town and its businesses, much to the pleasure of his new friends. There, he and Sally reopen the Wheel Well Inn (a dream of Sally's) and start a relationship, a racing museum is opened with a whole wing dedicated to Doc Hudson who trains Lightning in all the racing tricks he knows and races with him, and Luigi and Guido finally get their dream of serving Ferraris when Michael Schumacher himself and two friends show up for tires on McQueen's recommendation. Sarge opens an SUV boot camp and Sheriff catches the street racers that put McQueen in his predicament and they are sentenced to doing more work on the road with Bessie. Also, Mater ends up finally finding his hood, but a sneeze causes him to lose it again. During the credits, everyone is at the drive-in watching various movies that are spoofs of other Pixar films Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and A Bug's Life where the characters are changed into cars and the name is changed (Toy Story - Toy Car Story, Monsters Inc. - Monster Trucks Inc., but A Bug's life remains the same) and Mack comments on the voice actor for various characters (all voiced by John Ratzenberger, like him) and then complaining about it once he realizes it is the same actor.

Cast

• Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen, described by John Lasseter in the LA Times as "A hybrid between a stock car and a more curvaceous Le Mans endurance racer."^[4]
• Larry the Cable Guy as Mater, a 1951 International Harvester L-170 "boom" truck^[5][6] with elements of a mid-1950s Chevrolet.^[7] One-Ton Wrecker Tow Truck.
• Paul Newman as Doc Hudson, a 1951 Hudson Hornet, later revealed to be the Fabulous Hudson Hornet.
• Bonnie Hunt as Sally Carrera, a 2002 996-series Porsche 911 Carrera.
• Tony Shalhoub as Luigi, a 1959 Fiat 500.
• Cheech Marin as Ramone, a 1959 Chevy Impala Lowrider.
• Michael Wallis as Sheriff, a 1949 Mercury Club Coupe (police package).
• George Carlin as Fillmore, a 1960 VW Bus.
• Paul Dooley as Sarge, a 1941 Willys model jeep, in the style used by the US Military.
• Jenifer Lewis as Flo, a 1957 Motorama show car.
• Guido Quaroni as Guido, a custom forklift, resembling an Isetta at the front.
• Richard Petty as Strip "The King" Weathers. The car's design was based on Richard Petty's 1970 Plymouth Superbird
• Michael Keaton as Chick Hicks, described by Pixar as "A generic 1980s stock car."^[7] Strongly resembles a 1978-88 General Motors G-Body such as Buick Regal or Grand National.
• Katherine Helmond as Lizzie, a 1923 Ford Model T.
• John Ratzenberger as Mack, a 1985 Mack Super-Liner.
• Joe Ranft as Red, a 1960s style fire truck (most closely resembles a mid-1960s Pirsch pumper but also resembles American LaFrance models).

Production

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 the last (non-documentary) movie for Paul Newman before his retirement in 2007 and his death in 2008. It turned out to be the highest-grossing film of his career.

Development

The original script (called The Yellow Car, about an electric car living in a gas-guzzling world), some of the original drawings and characters were produced in 1998 and the producers agreed that Cars could be the next movie after A Bug's Life and would be released in early 1999, particularly around June 4. However, the movie was eventually scrapped in favor of Toy Story 2. Later, production resumed with major script changes.

John Lasseter has said that the idea for Cars was born after he took a cross-country road trip with his wife and five sons in 2000. When he returned to the studio after vacation, he contacted Michael Wallis, a Route 66 historian. Wallis then led 11 Pixar animators in rented white Cadillacs on two different road trips across the route to research the film.

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. In addition, 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).

Animation

Work-in-progress screenshot.

For the cars themselves, Lasseter also visited the design studios of the Big Three Detroit automakers, particularly J Mays of Ford Motor Company. Lasseter learned how real cars were designed.

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 feels 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.^[8] The characters also use their tires as hands and feet, the exceptions being the various tow truck characters that sometimes use their tow hooks, and the various forklift characters, which use their forks.

Computers used in the development of the film were four times faster than those used in The Incredibles and 1,000 times faster than those used in Toy Story. To build the cars, the animators used computer platforms very similar to those used in the design of real-world automobiles.^[9]

Settings

The track on which the opening race (Motor Speedway of the South) takes place is based on an enlarged version of 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 Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. The Scoring Pylon (showing numbers 43, 86, and 95) is taken from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The sign "City of Emeryville - Closed for the race" is a nod to Pixar's headquarters in Emeryville, California in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Radiator Springs and vicinity

The setting for the fictional town of Radiator Springs is situated between Gallup, New Mexico and the Sonoran Desert in California. However, the physical location of Radiator Springs in relation to I-40 is similar to that of Peach Springs, Arizona.

Lasseter told film critic Joe Williams of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that much of the story is based on the recollections of barber Angel Delgadillo in the Route 66 town of Seligman, Arizona, where business withered soon after the opening of I-40.

Willy's Butte resembles the landmark of Mexican Hat, Utah.

Near "Ornament Valley" (a reference to Monument Valley) is derived from the rugged Black Mountains in Arizona, and the famous Cadillac Ranch sculpture in Amarillo, Texas.

Lizzie's Curio Shop in Radiator Springs resembles the crazy Route 66 jumble of memorabilia and knick-knacks at Hackberry General Store in Hackberry, Arizona and the Sand Hills Curiosity Shop, aka the City Meat Market building in Erick, Oklahoma.

The bridge that McQueen sees Sally driving on resembles several bridges on Route 66, including the Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge in Tulsa, the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena, California, and the now-closed bridge over Diablo Canyon at Two Guns, Arizona.

Flo's V8 cafe is designed to look like a V8 engine head on, with a circular air filter, tappet covers, spark plugs, pistons and connecting rods as the supports for the shelter. The blinking neon lights on the spark plugs blink in the firing order of a Ford flathead V8.^[4]

The railroad grade crossing at which Lightning McQueen outruns a passenger train on his way to Radiator Springs is protected by a pair of antique "upper-quadrant" wigwag crossing signals which accurately depict those once made by the Magnetic Signal Company in both appearance and start-up. Few are left in actual operation in the United States, and many have been replaced with modern crossing gates, red lights and bells.

Route 66

Many characters and places in the movie are directly inspired by 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.^[10]

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, with individual cabins shaped like teepees. Three Wigwam Motels remain; the third (and oldest) is in Cave City, Kentucky, far from Route 66. The recently restored Tee Pee Motel in Wharton, Texas, south of Houston, is of similar design but unrelated. 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, having since become a vegan, preferred not to see his name put on a character that would become a McDonald's Happy Meal toy.^[11]
• 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.
• The yellow billboard for Lizzie's Curio Shop reading "HERE IT IS" with an image of a Model T is based on the Jack Rabbit Trading Post signage in Joseph City, Arizona.
• Sheriff is voiced by Michael Wallis, an American historian and author of Route 66: The Mother Road.

Cameo

The group of small birds from the 2001 Pixar short film For the Birds made a cameo appearance in Cars. As Mack is en route to California at 17:44 in the film, the group of small birds can briefly be seen (and heard) sitting on their familiar telephone wire. These birds are not only the only characters to appear from a different Pixar film, but are also the only non-motorized forms of life seen in the film.

While not officially a "character", the Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story, does make a cameo outside of the race track, at the final Race in the movie. ^[12]

Soundtrack

The Cars soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on June 6, 2006. Nine tracks on the soundtrack are by popular artists, while the remaining eleven are score cues by Randy Newman. It has two versions of the classic Bobby Troup jazz standard "Route 66" (popularized by Nat King Cole), one by Chuck Berry and a new version recorded specifically for the film's credits performed by John Mayer. Brad Paisley contibuted two of the nine tracks to the album, one being "Find Yourself" used for the end credits.

Release

Cars was originally going to be released on November 4, 2005, but on December 7, 2004 the movie's release date was changed to June 9, 2006.^[13] 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.^[14] 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.^[13]

Critical reception

Cars opened on June 9, 2006 to positive reviews. William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised it as "one of Pixar's most imaginative and thoroughly appealing movies ever"^[15] and Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly called it "a work of American art as classic as it is modern."^[16]

However, some critics expressed that Cars did not hold up to the standard of other Pixar films, especially after the acclaim received by The Incredibles, Pixar's previous film. "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."^[17] 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.^[18]

Rotten Tomatoes gave Cars a fresh 75% (with an average of 6.9) and it earned a 73/100 on Metacritic, both the lowest attributed to a Pixar film.

Box office

In its opening weekend, Cars grossed $60.1 million. 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 $461,981,604 worldwide (ranking number 6 in 2006 films) and $244,082,982 in the United States (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 United States, but lost to Ice Age: The Meltdown in worldwide totals.^[1]

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). The film also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, but it lost to Happy Feet. Cars was also selected as the Favorite Family Movie at the 33rd 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.

Home media release

Cars was released on DVD in both wide-screen and full-screen editions on October 25, 2006 in Australia and New Zealand, on November 7, 2006 in the United States and Canada, and on November 27, 2006 in the United Kingdom. It includes the short films Mater and the Ghostlight and One Man Band, as well as Inspiration for Cars, a 16 minute long documentary about Cars featuring John Lasseter, the director. It also had a version of the Pixar short Boundin' as an Easter Egg. According to the Walt Disney Company, five million copies of the DVD were sold in the first two days it was available.^[19]

Unlike previous Pixar DVD releases, there is no two-disc special edition, and no plans to release one in the future. According to Sara Maher, DVD Production Manager at Pixar, John Lasseter and Pixar were preoccupied with productions like Ratatouille.^[20] Additional extras not seen on the DVD have since been released on the official DVD website.^[21]

In the US and Canada, there were bonus discs available with the purchase of Cars at Wal-Mart and 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 inspiration and production of the movie.

Cars was also released on Blu-ray Disc on November 6, 2007.

Video game

Merchandising

The Mattel-produced 1/55 scale Toy 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. 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.^[22] Another Cars product which followed the Disney-Pixar Cars Die-Cast Line were miniature versions of the characters which were painted in different colors to represent different events. These are called Disney-Pixar Cars Mini Adventures. Also, Lego will make some sets for the sequel.

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.^[23] DCP reports that product expansion will take place in the fall alongside the DVD release of the film. Mattel has announced that Cars toys will continue through 2008 with the release of at least 80 new vehicles. A 36 car pack called "Motor Speedway of the South" will feature most of the race cars seen during the opening race sequence of the film. (This is also the name for the track race in the film)

Estimates from the New York Daily News indicate that sales of Cars merchandise two weeks out from the release of the film amounted to US$600 million. Estimates put out in November by the Walt Disney Company peg total sales for the brand at around $1 billion.^[19]

Kelley Blue Book, a 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.^[24]

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.

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 advertisements 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.^[25] The first ad involved the Opels coming to Radiator Springs as tourists. The second involved their failed attempts at auditioning for Mater. In the end the Opels lost the part to the real Mater.

In July 2006, greeting card giant Hallmark Cards unveiled its line of 2006 Keepsake Christmas ornaments. Among the collection was an ornament featuring Lightning McQueen and Mater.

There is also a Cars children's clothing line, which produces various T-shirts and shorts.

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. Two sequels were released, "Cars Mater-National" being the first one and "Cars Race-O-Rama".

A Cars-based attraction opened at Walt Disney Studios Paris (France) in 2007 and scheduled to open in Disney's California Adventure in 2012.

Lightning McQueen apr MR-S.

In Japan, Disney Japan and Toyota backed racing team Cars Racing replaced its racing car "Toy Story apr MR-S" and introduced the "Lightning McQueen apr MR-S" for the 2008 Super GT season. The car was based on the Toyota MR-S and the externals of the car were modeled on its of McQueen as much as possible.^[26] This include their number change from their original #101 to McQueen's #95. They won in Race 3 that season.

Similar films

Marcus Aurelius Canônico of Folha de S. Paulo described The Little Cars series (Os Carrinhos in Portuguese), a Brazilian computer graphics film series, as a derivative of Cars. Canônico discussed whether lawsuits from Pixar would appear. The Brazilian Ministry of Culture posted Marcus Aurelius Canônico's article on its website.^[27]

It has also been noted that the plot of Cars bears a striking resemblance to that of Doc Hollywood, the 1991 romantic comedy which stars Michael J. Fox as a hotshot young doctor, who, after causing a traffic accident in a small town, is sentenced to work at the town hospital, falls in love with a local law student and eventually acquires an appreciation for small town values.^[28]

References

External links

• Official website from Disney
• Official website from Pixar
• Cars at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Cars at Allmovie
• Cars at the Internet Movie Database
• Cars at Rotten Tomatoes