Tammy and I saw Pixar’s newest offering, “Cars”, on opening night. We really enjoy going to the Movie Tavern. They have pretty good food, served in the theater (Brilliant!) and it’s almost never crowded. Notice I said, “almost?”

We arrived thirty minutes early, which is about thirty minutes earlier than we usually show up for a show at the Movie Tavern. Much to our surprise, the was a line … a looong line … that reached all the way from the friendly ticket taker at the back of the lobby to just outside the front door. Fortunately we managed to get our usual seats (the two seats by themselves at the back of the theater). Whew. Still, I was concerned that the two thousand* movie goers under the age of 10 who shared the theater with us might disrupt my viewing pleasure. Turns out, it wasn’t too bad.

The previews were all for computer animated movies. ALL of them! How could this be? It seemed like just a few years ago, it was a remarkable feat to produce a full length CGI feature. It’s a brave new world … and I sound like a crotchety old man**. Hmmm.

One more, bit of boring background before we start the review. A few years ago, my uncle told me a remarkable story. Uncle Barney is a very successful auto mechanic back in Amarillo. His shop is located on what used to be “Old Route 66”. He had some unusual visitors one day. A bunch of Pixar producers pulled into the lot and invited him to lunch. (At this point in the story, my jaw unhinged.) They were doing “field research” on a new car movie and wanted to talk to him. When I saw the first previews for Cars and saw the rusty tow truck with the silly southern drawl, I thought, “Holy lug nuts! It’s Uncle Barney! They put him in the movie!” Not quite. Barney doesn’t have that much of an accent, nor is he as dumb as Larry the Cableguy acts, but still. It was really amazing.

Okay. Sorry. Let’s get the show on the road. (Pa-dum Tshhh!) I am a huge fan of Pixar, so I am hard pressed to do an unbiased review. Still, Cars was awesome! Every time Pixar releases a new movie, I am totally blown away (again, jaw unhinged) by the beauty and complexity of their CGI. I remember gaping at the wide shot of the airport in ToyStory2, the thousands of ants in BugsLife, and the depth and realism of the water in Nemo. In Cars, my mouth was gaped more than it was closed. It seemed like 90% of the movie contained graphic elements never dreamed of ten years ago. Forests, waterfalls, huge sunset vistas. It was all stunning. (Be sure to look for the dim reflections of the cars on the freshly laid asphalt.) Tammy reached over and closed my mouth at least once (and I’m not making that up).

As for the story, it is Pixar as usual: Great character development, rich plot, and a good message. Tammy felt that it “dragged” a little in places, but I didn’t notice. The humor was spot on, with plenty for kids and grown-ups alike. There was one double entendre, but it was so well masked that only a few of the folks in the audience really got it. (There’s a few of us gutter-minded people in every crowd, right?)

One of the really cool things about Cars is that they used real people for several roles. The real Richard Petty and even his wife have several lines. One of the ensemble cast (the Sheriff) was voiced by a guy famous for his books about historic Route 66.

Another unusual aspect of Cars was that the environment was completely non-human. They avoided any contrived explanations of how and why the cars talked and drove themselves by completely removing humanity from the world. This is a pretty bold idea but it came off flawlessly. Even with the humans factored out, though, they stayed as real as possible (okay, I know talking cars and reality are not best buddies. Hang with me.) The physics of the cars’ movements seemed to “work” in my mind. They weren’t rubbery toys. Even though they gestured with their tires and had eyes in their windshields, the bodies stayed nearly rigid which gave it a very believable feel.

I really tried to go into this show with an open mind, so as not to taint my review, but alas, it seems a forgone conclusion that I rate this movie highly. There is no doubt that I will add it to my Pixar collection and I can’t really find anything to detract. So, I’m giving Cars five out of five grins.

* Estimation based on the decibel level before the movie started.
** Sound like because, at times, I am.