Lost in the Last Ghost Town of Route 66 Cars

Lightning McQueen is the big rookie out on the track this year; he’s cocky, he’s fast, and he has a whole slew of fans just waiting for him to win the ultimate racing championship (especially for a rookie), the Piston Cup. He’s certain (in his own mind) of a win and is focused on winning the big sponsorship, Dinoco, since their car is retiring after the season ends…and winning that Piston Cup is a sure way to impress them and become the new face of Dinoco.

But something goes wrong…Mac, McQueen’s truck, dozes off while he’s heading down the road and swipes an oncoming truck. Mac recovers but the wild swerving served to jettison McQeen out the back and Mac doesn’t notice. McQueen, having never been out on the open road and lacking headlights, ends up in some forgotten town off Route 66 still inhabited by the last hangers-on who are certain that their dear Radiator Springs will someday be restored to its former glory from before the interstate was built.

McQueen is detained for the damage he did to the road when he arrived and can not leave until he fixes the road. Along the way he meets a previously famous racecar who won numerous Piston Cups but left the racing life far behind; this car teaches him the importance of respecting others and thinking about the ones around him instead of himself…a lesson driven home by an attractive Porsche and a rusted old tow truck who’s decided that McQueen is his best friend. But…all fairy tales must end and the life Lightning left behind is bound to catch up with them, it just remains to be seen if he’ll remember anything he learned from his brief stay in a little piece of the past.

Yes, it’s another animated film (but all the characters are cars!). There sure do seem to be a lot of those lately, but this one seemed to actually have some thought put into it as opposed to the endless sequels and “based on comic” movies they’ve come out with lately. I’ll admit that at first I had absolutely no desire to see this film because of all the sub-par films previously mentioned but last Christmas my significant other’s niece and nephew received the DVD as a gift and had to watch it right away so I got to watch the first half. That first half intrigued me enough to go after it and watch the rest and I’m glad I did.

There are few movies, even animated ones, that are truly “fun for all ages”…either it’s dull and boring for adults or has jokes that are too mature for kids or anything else in between. There was one comment that may have been a little off-color for the youngest kids but other than that it was clean and, in my estimation, was quite entertaining (my other half laughed so hard at the tractor tipping he almost needed an inhaler, you can tell we’re from Wyoming!).