Cartoon car talk

Cars is not among Pixar’s best films, but it is still good animated entertainment | Andrew Coffin

A new Pixar short precedes Cars in theaters. This has become a tradition with Pixar films (mimicked recently by DreamWorks), with delightful brief animations introducing the main feature. Like the others, the new short, "One Man Band," perfectly encapsulates in just 4-1/2 minutes this preeminent animation studio's ability to dazzle us with artistry and enchant us with simple, poignant stories.

Cars (rated G) itself, the new Pixar feature that follows in the footsteps of Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles, is not quite so polished a product. For a variety of reasons, Cars is not top-notch Pixar, but it's still very, very good Pixar. And good Pixar is still great family entertainment.

Cars relies on a very simple story, though the protagonists are certainly not so typical. Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is a hotshot rookie race car chasing after a win at the Piston Cup, the top race of the year. A three-way tie between Lightning, dirty driver Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton), and legendary veteran The King (Richard Petty) in the Cup sets the stage for a tie-breaker race in California.