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This is the latest Pixar production and what director and co-writer John Lasseter did for toys, insects, and fish, he’s now done for cars: anthropomorphized and imparted them with personalities that appeal.  Featuring a talented and eclectic voice cast mix from both the worlds of entertainment and racing, Cars earned over $270 million worldwide; it’s another Pixar triumph.

In this alternate universe, cars are the life form.  Cows are plows and insects are tiny, winged Volkswagen Beetles.  Beetles.  Get it?  The cars have created quite a world for themselves, made all the more amazing considering that they have no opposable thumbs.  Hell . . . they have no hands.  The film’s protagonist is Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), a bright-red stock car with a self-absorbed personality.  He’s obsessed with winning a coveted championship, the Piston Cup, and the lucrative endorsements that follow.  His main competitors are The King (Richard Petty), the reigning champ, and Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton).  The King may be a gentleman - eh, gentlecar - but Hicks is obnoxious and aggressive; he’ll not hesitate for a moment to put a competitor into a wall. 

McQueen is confident to a fault and a loner.  He essentially blows off his pit crew and team manager, a bad move.  McQueen is about to learn a life lesson.  Circumstances isolate him from his transport, Mack (John Ratzenberger), while on the way to California for the most important race of the season.  He inadvertently finds himself under arrest, having managed to destroy quite a bit of Route 66 in Radiator Springs, Carburetor County.  This sleepy little town is nearly deserted and bankrupt.  Years before, Interstate 40 bypassed the town and commerce came to a screeching halt.  McQueen appears before the local magistrate, Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), a Hudson Hornet with a surprising past.  McQueen’s sentenced to community service; he has to repave the damaged highway.

Trapped, McQueen slowly finds himself drawn to the quirky residents and makes friends for the first time in his life.  Mater (Larry The Cable Guy) is a rusty heap of a tow truck.  Luigi (Tony Shalhoub resurrecting his Antonio Scarpacci accent from Wings) is the Ferrari worshiping owner of the tire store.  Ramone (Cheech Marin) is a tricked out old Chevy.  Volkswagen Van Fillmore (George Carlin), high on custom fuel, is a constant source of annoyance to Sarge, the Army surplus Jeep (Paul Dooley).  Even Doc Hudson will have an unexpected effect on our hero.  But the one resident who’ll make the greatest impact is a cute metallic blue Porsche named Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt).  A former lawyer transplanted from Los Angeles, she will bring out a sensitive side McQueen didn’t know even existed.  (I was pleased that the filmmakers pronounced Porsche correctly; the e is not silent.)

This is a journey of self-discovery.  As McQueen gets to know a different side of life, he will question his values and his behavior.  And it will have a considerable impact on the vehicles around him.

The voice cast is uniformly excellent.  The inclusion of notable racing professionals is a wonderful inside joke.  You’ll hear Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mario Andretti, and a hot, red Ferrari 328 GTB Berlinetta is voiced by F1 driver Michael Schumacher.  You’ll hear several other recognizable voices in cameos, like Jay Leno, and the starring voices of previous Pixar films.  Hint: watch the closing credits all the way through.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1 is presented in anamorphic video.  This isn’t quite up to the level of quality we’ve come to expect from a Pixar direct digital transfer.  Halos are visible, albeit of moderate amplitude and width.  But for that, I must penalize the transfer.  It’s a shame, too, because in almost all other respects, this DVD looks very good.  The bright, primary colors of the cars’ paint jobs are vivid and noise-free, without a hint of smearing.  Contrast, black level, shadow detail, small object detail, and finely grained textures are all first rate.  I did not notice any white or black crush, or compression artifacts.  If only BVHE could have suppressed the halos to the level found on the most recent edition of Toy Story, the transfer would have been splendid instead of pretty good.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 EX audio track, on the other hand, is terrific.  The surrounds are very busy and the placement very complex and rock solid.  This track is really fun.  Pans and discrete sounds abound from every direction.  Even the voices of the characters onscreen are panned and placed among the three front channels.  You’ll definitely need EX decoding to fully appreciate the audio imaging.  Substantial bass kicks in whenever a powerful engine revs up; it’s downright sensual.  The sound effects have a satisfying dynamic range.  The musical underscore is a blend of source tracks with a country flare and some orchestral score by Randy Newman; it’s presented with a fine sense of presence.  The looped dialog is crystal clear throughout.

There’s an alternate English track in Dolby Surround 2.0 that I did not sample.  Subtitles are available only in English SDH.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The disc opens with a preprogrammed trailer for the summer 2007 release of Pixar’s Ratatouille (1:48), a promo for the Platinum Edition DVD of Peter Pan (1:35), a trailer for the CGI Meet the Robinsons (1:00) due March 30, 2007, and a little NACAR promo (0:21).  They may be skipped.  And since this is a THX certified DVD, you’ll find the familiar THX Optimizer.

Let’s begin with not one but two CGI animations.  Mater and the Ghostlight (7:06) was produced specifically for this DVD; it’s a cute tale of Mater making a nuisance of himself with practical jokes and sweet revenge.  More entertaining is an Academy Award-nominated short named One Man Band (4:30), in which two performers compete for the attention and coinage of an appealing little girl.  Hint number 2: watch Mater and the Ghostlight’s closing credits all the way through.

Moving on to the Bonus Features menu, you’ll first find the Epilogue (4:17), which seems to be a 1.78:1 presentation of the animation that accompanies the closing credits.  Since the window is so small during the closing credits, I assume the animators wanted to give you a better view.

Next is a featurette called Inspiration for Cars (16:00) in which John Lasseter traces the origins of the story.  This is somewhat autobiographical; his dad was a big car enthusiast.  We learn of the development of the film, including a road trip by the animators to experience and capture the look and feel of the communities on Route 66.  No fluff here; nicely done.

The deleted scenes include Top Down Truck Stop (3:49), Lost (1:42), Community Service (3:13), and Motorama Girls (1:41).  As has been the case in previous Pixar releases, these are early concepts presented as animated storyboards with surrogate voice cast members.  Of academic interest, I didn’t find them very enlightening or entertaining.  They do, however, highlight the evolutionary process of development.

The last supplement is Sneak Peeks.  It includes the trailers that opened the disc plus a 35-second teaser for the Cars Video Game and a 52-second teaser highlighting Disney Blu-ray Discs.  This may be the first time I’ve found a promo for high definition on a standard definition disc.  It’s not very informative, with one exception; expect The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and other titles to be released in high definition in the not too distant future.

The 116- minute film is organized into thirty-two chapters.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

None are included on this disc.