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Pixar pushed the animation envelope another mile with Cars. This story of an ambitious racecar (voiced by Owen Wilson) earned critical plaudits for its surface gloss, even though the story suffered from a "shortage of horsepower". It roared to pole position at the box office, earning a staggering $250m worldwide.
On The Road
Cars arrives on DVD with surprisingly few extras in the boot. The only behind-the-scenes access comes in a brief featurette where Pixar honcho John Lasseter explains the genesis of the project. "Cars is a very personal story to me," he says, before going on to impart a story about his wife having berated him for spending too much time at the studio and not enough with his children. His answer was to take the kids on a little road trip and then get straight to work making Cars. (We feel he might have missed the point slightly.)
Lasseter gives brief introductions to four deleted scenes, presented as animated storyboards. Two of these make up a sequence where McQueen (Wilson) gets left behind at a truck stop and accidentally happens upon a graveyard for old cars. Another sees Ramone (Cheech Marin) relate the story of how he met and fell in love with Flo (Jenifer Lewis) - "with fins that go on forever."
Showcased separately is a four-minute epilogue (that originally ran alongside the final credits), offering a madcap snapshot of McQueen's new life in Radiator Springs.
Off The Beaten Track
Perhaps the best news about this DVD is the addition of two new animated shorts from Pixar. Mater And The Ghostlight features the roguish tow-truck played by the mysterious 'redneck' comedian 'Larry The Cable Guy'. It sees the residents of Radiator Springs impart a spooky local legend that sends the shivers up Mater's back fender...
The other short, called One Man Band, has nothing to do with Cars at all. This is the enjoyably twee fable of two street musicians vying for the attentions of a little girl. It won an Oscar in 2005 for animators Mark Andrews and Andrew Jimenez.
No doubt Cars is travelling light on DVD, but there are just enough treats to keep the kids purring happily.
EXTRA FEATURES
