On June 9, 2006, Pixar unveiled its latest original feature Cars in theaters. The John Lasseter-directed pic revved up to gross $460 million globally, kicking off another franchise for the studio. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:
It might not be way up there in The Incredibles/Finding Nemo/Toy Story stratosphere, but the charming Cars is nevertheless a thoroughly pleasant way to mark Pixar Animation Studios’ 20th anniversary.
While the other guys are still hawking talking animals, the folks at Pixar continue to up the anthropomorphic ante with terrific characters and crowd-pleasing storytelling that are as much a part of the company’s much-deserved success as all that state-of-the-art technology.
Although the latest model — concerning a hotshot hot rod who takes an unanticipated detour from life in the fast lane — takes a little while to achieve traction, it ultimately hits all the key emotional and comedic checkpoints.
Given a fan base that spans virtually all demographics, Cars will handily take first place in its opening weekend and is destined to emerge as one of the season’s biggest performers. After spending the past seven years in an executive producer capacity, John Lasseter logs his first directing credit since 1999’s Toy Story 2 with this soulful road picture about a cocky rookie race car (voiced by Owen Wilson) who is enroute to the Piston Cup Championship in California when an unfortunate chain of events lands him smack dab in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs.
