DVD review: Race out and rent ‘Cars’

By Nicholas Rader
Richwood High School

“Cars,” Pixar’s latest film, was released on DVD just in time for the holidays. It stars Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy and many more famous faces, er, voices.

They all bring life and excitement to this movie, even though this is the first Pixar movie where there are no human characters (even minor ones).

When “Cars” was released in theaters, I was very excited to see another Pixar movie, so I went on opening night. There were so many people that my cousins and I almost couldn’t get seats. We all loved the movie - in some parts, the whole theater was laughing so hard you couldn’t hear the movie.

“Cars” is about a famous race car driver, but it’s not Jeff Gordon or Mark Martin. It’s Lighting McQueen, voiced by Owen Wilson. The NASCAR rookie of the year, Lightning lives his life in the fast lane.

But he’s forced to slow down when he crashes in a run-down little town called Radiator Springs on historic Route 66. He has to stay and work to repair the damage he caused. There, he meets some interesting characters, including redneck tow-truck Mater (the hilarious Larry The Cable Guy) and hotel owner Sally the Porsche (Bonnie Hunt).

“Cars” features music from stars like Brad Paisley and Sheryl Crow. John Mayer covers the classic song “Route 66.”

The only drawback to it is that, at just about two hours long, it’s a little lengthy for children. Surprisingly, though, it’s rated G, unlike most other cartoons today.

Special features on the DVD include deleted scenes, two animated shorts, a behind-the-scenes feature on the movie’s inspiration and sneak peeks of other movies.