Rev up your engines for the animated ‘Cars’

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines! “Cars,” a new animated movie from the Pixar Studio, opens in theaters all over the country June 9. “Today” movie critic Gene Shalit says head to the theater, and step on it!

Summer movies shift into overdrive as Pixar’s “Cars” zooms from zero to 116 minutes in under two hours. When racecar rookie Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) drives to California and gets lost on desolated Route 66, he pulls into Radiator Springs, whose locals haven’t seen a passerby since turnpikes took their toll and Route 66 was 86’d. But they absorb the shock and welcome McQueen. Pixar is practically peerless. The story and topnotch writing come first, then the battery of inspired animators swings into high gear, drawing us to the local yokels — like towtruck Mater, the cheerful village dipstick who becomes Lightning’s best friend, and Sally, the popular Porsche (Bonnie Hunt), who takes one look and her feelings jump-start. The heart of Radiator Springs is Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), whose secret past is a wrench. The character voices, music, and animation are so joyous, “Cars” will be cheered throughout the NASCAR fan belt and by everybody everywhere, coast to coast. It’s a piston.

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