Hey folks, Harry here... the downunder backdoor bandit, Latauro, has gotten to see CARS. And I'm happy to report that he's ecstatic over it - and was dodgy on whether or not it looked like anything he was interested in... in advance. Well, let's put the roof down and take off down the road after CARS...

I was a true believer. I held the faith.

Even when that uninspiring first teaser hit the screens all that time ago, I maintained that it was Pixar, and Pixar does not make anything short of great films. When people were dismissing the film because you can't really sympathise with an cast comprised entirely of cars, I pointed out we were all saying the same thing pre-FINDING NEMO, and boy, did we eat our words.

Pixar is six for six when it comes to films, and they're a bloody studio. You just don't get studios with 100% perfect output. Hell, you don't get filmmakers with that sort of track rate! Steven Soderbergh's my favourite director, but the man still made OCEAN'S TWELVE.

CARS is probably the most pre-maligned Pixar film to date, and even a lot of my film geek friends have decided not to see it. I even had a bunch of free passes to the press screening I was at and had trouble giving them all away. Is this attitude deserved, or did I turn out to be correct?

The lights went down and we were shown the trailer for THE WILD. It was pretty unfunny, pretty lame, and made Disney look like they were, for some reason, playing catchup to DreamWorks. Even my girlfriend -- whose face goes blank when I mention directors or studios or production companies -- leaned over to me and asked, ?That's not Pixar, is it?? No, thankfully. Then they played that awesome trailer for RATATOUILLE, which I cannot wait for. Then, the traditional short-before-the-feature.

I loved it when Pixar brought this tradition back. We'd almost seen a return to it when WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? came out, but it wasn't until Pixar got into the swing of things that we began seeing animated shorts regularly before films. So how was this one? ONE MAN BAND is hands-down the best short that Pixar has produced. These guys have clearly been brought up on the Warner Bros. shorts, 'cos ONE MAN BAND has all the hallmarks of a great Loony Tunes cartoon. I won't say too much about it, but my hat off to the guys who made it.

Then the main attraction. The opening of CARS is probably the greatest opening sequence of any Pixar film. I was completely blown away by it, and you're listening to someone who has zero interest in motor sports or cars. So long as my car gets me from A to B without using too much fuel, I'm happy. But this sequence had even me on the edge of my seat, so I can only imagine what it'll do to motor enthusiasts. I also felt sorry for those who were going to avoid seeing the film; this is a sequence that deserves to be seen for the first time on the big screen, not months later on DVD.

The story takes our lead car, Lightning McQueen, to a small backwater town that he's forced to stay at (for reasons that will become clear when you see the film). All he wants to do is get to the big race in California, but he's stuck in Radiator Springs. You pretty much know what happens here; he acts cocky, learns some lessons about what's important in life, etc etc. These are the standards of animated films, and it's a credit to Pixar that they manage to make it fresh and honest.

I never like delving too much into the story and plot mechanics, so I'll jump to the opinionated bits. You know the Jesse the Cowgirl flashback scene in TOY STORY 2? The one with Sarah McLaughlin singing over the top? You either love it or you hate me. Me, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it the first time around, but it certainly got to me on the second viewing! Well, if you were one of the ones that hated it, you're really going to hate the equivalent scene in CARS. The film comes to a screeching halt so they can have Bonnie Hunt's character give a speech on the importance of small towns as a James Taylor song plays. It's a pretty big misstep, and I'm surprised it's in the film.

Don't get me wrong: I like James Taylor. I like Bonnie Hunt. I like small towns. I even like speeches. This one did not work, and it's the first time I've ever felt a Pixar film has strayed from the story. I think that's why it stands out so much. It's not an awful, awful, crappy scene, by any means, but I did cringe a little; the closest I've come to disliking a moment in any of their films.

I hate to focus on that one scene, but it is a sore thumb. Thankfully, it's a sore thumb because everything else is so fantastic. The drag race in the desert, the brilliant tractor-scaring scene, the race track stuff... it's all brilliant.

The voices are also pretty damned good. Owen Wilson plays Lightning McQueen perfectly, and the gravel-crushing tones of Paul Newman are perfect. Bonnie Hunt is great as always, and even Larry the Cable Guy (who I usually dislike intensely) is fantastic.

As with each progressive film, the quality of the animation is getting higher and higher. The standard is improving exponentially, but they never show off. Everything we see is designed to serve the story. Story. How many other animation studios focus this much on the story? In the past couple of years, I've been forced to endure SHREK 2, ROBOTS and SHARK TALE. I'd have long-since given up hope, had it not been for THE INCREDIBLES and CARS.

This gets me to my final point, which is a tricky one to make. See, the truth is that CARS is technically my least-favourite Pixar film... yet it's superb. In fact, if I was a reviewer who *didn't* hate using the star system, I'd be giving it about four, maybe four-and-a-half out of five. It might not be up the top of the Pixar list, but it's a damn sight better than anything else I've seen recently (X3, DA VINCI CODE, POSEIDON).

If you're on the fence about the film, don't be. It's more than worth your time and money. They're brilliant, and they're now seven for seven.

Latauro

I like male!