File:Cars image 2.JPGFrom left to right: Chick Hicks, Lightning McQueen and The King.
Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is a race car who has dreamed all his life of winning the Dinoco 400 Piston Cup Championship. Arrogant and overconfident, McQueen believes he is a "one man show", and ignores the advice of his pit crew. McQueen has an enormous lead in the final lap of the 2005 Piston Cup Championship and is about to become the first rookie to win it, until his rear tires (which he hadn't let his pit crew take the time to change) blow up. McQueen barely finishes the race and ends up in a three-way tie with the cheater Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton) and the veteran champion, "The King" Strip Weathers (Richard Petty).
After the race, McQueen and his transport truck buddy Mack (John Ratzenberger) (seemingly his only real friend after his pit crew quit) begin a journey across the country from North Carolina to California's Los Angeles International Speedway in Los Angeles, California where the tie-breaker race will be held. Lightning wants to get to California first and refuses to let Mack stop for the night at a nearby truck stop. With each mile down Interstate 40, Mack gets even more tired, eventually dozing off on the road completely. Four street racers (Wingo, Boost, Snot Rod, DJ) have fun with the sleeping rig, and a bump in the road causes a sleeping McQueen to roll onto the busy Interstate 40. After narrowly avoiding collisions, McQueen attempts to find Mack, but instead mistakenly chases a similar looking trailer and finds himself lost on Route 66. He speeds past the Sheriff of Radiator Springs (Michael Wallis), who gives chase; McQueen mistakes the Sheriff's back-fires for gunshots and speeds away through the darkness, tearing up the main street of Radiator Springs until he becomes caught in some telephone wires.
Next morning, McQueen awakens to find himself impounded. After talking with Mater the tow truck (Larry The Cable Guy), he is taken to court. Local judge and doctor Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) initially orders the race car out of town immediately (which McQueen agrees with, because he's still anxious to get to California), but Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt), a Porsche and the town's attorney, arrives and convinces Doc to make the race car stay and repair the road. With Doc's mind changed for him, he hooks McQueen up to Bessie, the large, dirty asphalt machine. McQueen is told that it should take him five days to finish repaving the stretch he damaged.
File:Mcqueenandhudson.jpgDoc Hudson (left) and Lightning McQueen (right) before their "race" at Willy's Butte.
Lightning McQueen remains interested only in leaving the town to make it to his race. McQueen makes an escape attempt the instant he is released from his car boot to begin his community service, but finds out the hard way that his warders had his gas tank partially drained for such a situation. Later, McQueen attempts to rush his road repair duty only to create an unacceptable result he has to remove and do over. Tired of the race car's complaining, Doc Hudson challenges McQueen to a desert race at Willy's Butte: if McQueen wins, he leaves town and Doc fixes the road. If Doc wins, Lightning fixes the road Doc's way. At the race, Doc is left in McQueen's dust as the hot rod roars off at the start of the race. Doc remains at the starting line, before requesting Mater's help as they slowly go down the road. As Doc expected, McQueen overshoots a tight turn in the dirt, and winds up over a cliff in a cactus patch. Doc wins the race as Mater fishes McQueen out of the patch.
After the race, McQueen fixes half the road, amazing the townsfolk with its paved smoothness. Since he had run out of asphalt, Sheriff allows him to try to make the turn again under his supervision, but he continues to fail. Doc hints that he is to use the opposite lock steering, but McQueen ignores his elder. After some time, he finds out Doc's biggest secret: he was the famous Piston Cup racer, the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, and the winner of three consecutive trophies (1951, 1952, 1953). Angered, Doc forces him out of his clinic's garage. Some time later, he also reveals that his career ended prematurely because of a devastating crash. When he was fixed back up, no one wanted to sponsor him anymore. Sally finally decides to take McQueen for a drive through Tailfin Pass, on the outskirts of Radiator Springs ending at the Wheel Well Motel, an old hotel located at the top of a bluff overlooking the entire town and valley. At the top, McQueen learns that the town once thrived, before being bypassed after the construction of Interstate 40 decades ago to save 10 minutes of driving. As time goes on, McQueen understands the town's troubles, and becomes friends with all of the residents. After he finishes the road, McQueen gets service from all the townsfolk and they hold a "cruise" (slow-driving). At that point, Doc tips off the media that McQueen is in their town after McQueen helps everyone out, and he is whisked away with Mack and a mob of reporters to the big race when they arrived.
At the race in California, Lightning is distracted by thoughts of Sally and Radiator Springs. Lagging behind, McQueen finally revitalizes after most of the Radiator Springs townsfolk (save for Sally, Lizzie, and Red, who stayed behind and watched the race on TV) arrive to become his pit crew, making it to the race, with Doc as his crew chief. Not only does this lift McQueen's spirits, but the crew draws some attention as well such as the re-emergence of the Fabulous Hudson Hornet and Guido's incredibly swift solo tire changing which is faster than most entire pit crews. This encouragement enables McQueen to catch up to the leaders and make a run for the race. On the last lap, Chick Hicks takes a desperate resort to avoid coming in last place, and rear-ends The King, sending him into the air, ending in a horrific end-over-end flip. McQueen, almost about to win, sees the screen and the wreck. Remembering how Doc's crash ended his career, he hits his brakes, stopping just short of the finishing line. He stays there until Chick passes, before going back and pushing The King to the line to finish his career with dignity, knowing that he didn't want the fate that Doc suffered to happen to The King as well. Chick wins the Piston Cup, but is completely booed as a despicable cheat; everyone admires The King and McQueen for their gracious sportsmanship. McQueen is offered the Dinoco endorsement, but turns it down to remain with his original sponsor, Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Oil saying that "they gave him his big break." But he does ask that Tex (H.A. Wheeler), the president of Dinoco, do him a favor and give Mater a ride in Dinoco's helicopter, to follow through on a promise he'd made.
He then decides to move to Radiator Springs and build his racing headquarters there, along with a Doc Hudson Museum. Thanks to McQueen, Radiator Springs gets a boost of tourism again, revitalizing the town, and the once abandoned Route 66 becomes a major traffic roadway once more, having officially been reclassified as "Historic Route 66".
Like all Pixar productions, the animation is computer generated. This is a work-in-progress screenshot.
Unlike most animated cars, the film's cars' eyes were placed on the windshield (which resembles the Tonka Talking Trucks and the characters from Tex Avery's One Cab's Family short), rather than within the headlamps. According to production designerBob Pauley, “From the very beginning of this project, John [Lasseter] had it in his mind to have the eyes be in the windshield. For one thing, it separates our characters from the more common approach where you have little cartoon eyes in the headlights. For another, he thought that having the eyes down near the mouth at the front end of the car made the character feel more like a snake. With the eyes set in the windshield, the point of view is more human-like, and made it feel like the whole car could be involved in the animation of the character.”[2]
The characters also use their vehicle antennas as hands, much like those in the Putt-Putt computer games. The exceptions are Mater, the tow truck, who uses his tow hook, and the various fork-lift characters, who use their forks.
The original script was written in 1998 and the producers agreed that Cars would be the next movie after A Bug's Life, and would be released in early 1999. However, that movie was scrapped and the production of Toy Story 2 took place. Later, production resumed with major script changes.
The race sequence in the teaser trailer was likely made before the other sequences, as the Piston Cup cars sport different body styles and paint jobs.
In 2001, the movie's working title was Route 66 (after U.S. Route 66), but in 2002, the title was changed to prevent people from thinking it was related to the 1960 television show with the same name.
Cars was originally going to be released on November 4, 2005, but soon after the trailer's release in January 2005, the movie's release date was changed to June 9, 2006. Not only would it receive a summer release, one of the complex shots in the movie crashed Pixar's server. Chicken Little was instead released by Disney on November 4.
Cars is the last film made by Joe Ranft, who died in a car crash in 2005. The film was the second to be dedicated to his memory (The first being Corpse Bride).
Critical reaction
Initial critical reaction was generally positive. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars (out of a possible four) and said, "The movie is great to look at and a lot of fun, but somehow lacks the extra push of the other Pixar films."[3]Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post called the film "great fun" and gave it four stars (out of a possible four).[4]Manohla Dargis of The New York Times reviewed the film unfavorably, criticizing its emphasis on mechanical characters and landscape and lack of living creatures.[5] In her review, Christy Lemire of the Associated Press remarked extensively on the plot's striking similarity to 1991's Doc Hollywood.[6]Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly also commented on this similarity in her review. Lemire was more positive and gave the film an A-.[7] Although the film acquired the lowest percentage thus far for a Pixar animated feature, it still boasts a "certified fresh" 77% rating at RottenTomatoes (as of September 14, 2006), with a 78% rating from the "Cream of the Crop" reviewers.[8]Cars was recognized by the Heartland Film Festival with the Truly Moving Picture award.[9] Director John Lasseter won the 2006 Will Rogers Award for the positive influence the film has had on Route 66.[10]
Box office performance
Information obtained through the Box Office Mojo.[11][12]Cars's gross for its first twenty weeks:
The movie premiered strongly, continuing Pixar's streak of #1 debuts for each of the company's feature films. It earned as much in its first weekend as the total domestic gross of Disney's earlier NASCAR movie Herbie: Fully Loaded. However, the film's performance was less than the previous two Pixar movies, The Incredibles and Finding Nemo, which both made over $70 million their opening weekends. As a result, Disney's stock price dropped slightly.
Cars faced competition from several heavy-hitting movies released in the 2006 summer season, including Superman Returns, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, as well as other CGI films. Despite this, Cars managed to perform well, achieving domestic blockbuster status after crossing $200M domestic on July 8th, 2006 and international blockbuster status after crossing $400M worldwide on August 30th, 2006.
Cars spent 13 days (non-consecutive) as the #1 movie in the domestic box office, lasted five weeks in the top five and seven in the top ten. On its 8th weekend, it overtook X-Men: The Last Stand as the second highest grossing film of 2006 in the US Box Office. It currently ranks as the top grossing film of the car racing genre.
The theatrical and video/DVD releases of this film include the academy award nominated One Man Band, a Pixar short made in 2005, a year before this film was released.
The video/DVD release of this film will be released November 7th2006 in the US. Also, it will include an additional short called Mater and the Ghostlight, starring one of the film's characters, Mater, with Larry The Cable Guy reprising his role.[13][14]
File:Carsdvd.pngThe North American version of the Cars DVD cover
Cars was released on DVD in Australia and New Zealand on October 25 2006. It will be released in the United States and Canada on November 7 and in the United Kingdom on November 27, available in both Widescreen and Fullscreen editions. It will contain the short film Mater and the Ghostlight, the Pixar short animated film One Man Band, Inspiration for Cars (A Documentary about the film featuring John Lasseter) and a sneak peek of Pixar's next feature film, Ratatouille. Reportedly, there will only be a one-disc edition to be available on release, with a 2-disc special edition being released at a later date, rather than releasing both at the same time. Cars is the first Pixar film to have this type of release since Toy Story 2. Australian retailer EzyDVD was taking pre-orders for a two-disc edition of the DVD to be released at the same time as the one-disc version[17], however these are no longer available due to overwhelming popularity. The second disc includes short featurettes covering the music, real cars, Route 66, and other inspirations for the movie, but very little about the animation. It is not known whether this second disc will contain the same features as a future Region 1 two-disc edition. Also, the DVD release will include a 1:55 scale die-cast car Lightning McQueen, as seen on Toywiz.com.
Template:Spoiler
The Cars video game features a story written by Pixar (with the late Joe Ranft as the Script/Story Lead) and the return of the majority of the voice cast. The game was developed by Rainbow Studios, THQ and Buena Vista Games with heavy involvement by Pixar, as it continues the story set forth in the movie through Lightning McQueen's second Piston Cup season. Despite heavy interference from Chick Hicks, McQueen wins the Piston Cup at the end of his second season after a Grand Prix is held in Radiator Springs. He leaves Radiator Springs on a celebratory cross-country trip with Sally and Mater, leaving his Piston Cup trophy alongside Doc Hudson's three trophies.
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In addition to the above-mentioned console and PC versions, a mobile game was developed by Disney and Capybara Games. This game takes place after the movie, as Lightning McQueen prepares for the next season.
Cars-based titles were also released for various educational systems, such as the Leapster, LeapPad and the V-Smile.
Merchandising
Several companies released promotional products related to the movie. Kellogg's released a Cars-themed cereal, as well as promotional fruit snacks.
Fisher-Price released Shake 'n Go Racers that were meant to be characters from the movie. Lightning, The King, Mater, and Doc are available.
Furthermore, in the weeks before the movie's opening, there were also promotional tie-ins with AT&T [formerly SBC Communications] (using four cars to promote the diversity of its AT&T services), State Farm Insurance, The Hertz Corporation, and McDonald's.
The Mattel-produced die-cast cars are some of the most popular toys of the summer. Several stores are having trouble keeping the toys in stock, and some models are currently out of stock because of being shipped in lower numbers than most characters, they include: Lizzie, Sarge, Leakless, Chick Hicks, and Nitroade. Some online Disney enthusiasts are comparing it to the same shortage that Mattel faced with its Toy Story line in 1995. Because of these shortages, some of the die-cast cars are only readily available on eBay.
On June 22, 2006 Disney Consumer Products announced that Cars merchandise broke records for retail sales based on a Disney-Pixar product, recording 10-to-1 more volume than Finding Nemo.[19] DCP reports that product expansion will take place in the fall alongside the DVD release of the film.
Estimates from the New York Daily News indicate that sales of Cars merchandise two weeks out from the release of the film amassed to $600 million USD.
Kelley Blue Book, the de facto resource for appraising values of vehicles, has humorously "appraised" four of the cars, Lightning McQueen, Mater, Sally Carrera, and Doc Hudson according to their make/model and personalities. [2]
In conjunction with the film's release, a chocolateice cream on a stick resembling a car tire was released in Australia. These ice creams were called 'Burnouts'. The naming of the particular product sparked controversy as the name 'Burnouts' was believed to have encouraged street racing and committing burnouts. These acts are illegal and heavy fines and convictions are issued to those committing these acts in Australia. It is unknown as to whether the products have been discontinued or not.
In South Africa and several other countries where Opel is present (or with Opel models under Chevrolet brand), GM has a campaign featuring an Astra, a Meriva and a Zafira as characters in the world of Cars, including TV ads made by Pixar, with the Opel models interacting with Lightning McQueen, Mater and Ramone.[20]
Cultural diversity
Some cars are cast by their owners, others by their nation of manufacture.
The character Mater at different points in the movie says "Git R Done" and "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there," both catchphrases of Daniel Lawrence Whitney (credited as Larry the Cable Guy), who voices the character in the stereotypical drawl of an American Hillbilly. Mater is named after Douglas "Mater" Keever, whom John Lasseter met at Lowe's Motor Speedway.[21] His character is comparable to Gilligan—he's not bright enough to pass any government-administered proficiency test, but possesses a heart of gold.
Den mother Flo appears to be inspired by three early- to mid-fifties show cars: the 1951 Buick LeSabre (front-end lines, the basic hood shape, lights mounted near the corners, and front-quarter trim), the 1951 Buick XP-300 (side trim), and the 1956/57 Chrysler Dart (cockpit, deck lid, and tailfins).[22] Flo is played by Jenifer Lewis who is often cast as an African-American mother figure.
Ramone is voiced by Cheech Marin. He is a lowrider; a creation popular among Latinos. He is Pixar's first Latino character.
Luigi is a Fiat 500 with an Italian accent provided by Tony Shalhoub. Shalhoub uses the same accent he used for the lead character, Primo, in the 1996 film Big Night. By coincidence, the Fiat 500 is the same kind of car used by Lupin III, the protagonist of the Lupin III series and movies. Hayao Miyazaki, a good friend of John Lasseter, worked on two of the Lupin TV series and directed the Lupin III movie The Castle of Cagliostro. Lasseter said in an interview he did not intend for the reference to be there, although Cagliostro is still one of his favorite films.[23]
Mario Andretti voices a 1967 Ford Fairlane 500 stock car, painted blue and gold with the number #11. Mario Andretti won the 1967 Daytona 500 with a car of the same appearance prepared by Holman-Moody.
The rules in the Piston Cup shown in the movie that differ with NASCAR include:
In the movie, the point lead tie is settled by an extra race. In NASCAR, the situation is settled by whoever has more wins. If the drivers have the same number of wins, it'll be decided by 2nd-place finishes and so on.
In the movie, Lightning McQueen appears to speed out of pit road to beat the pace car, and stay on the lead lap. In NASCAR, a driver would be penalized for doing that by being required to restart the race at the end of the longer of the two lines of cars that line up behind the pace car. During the final ten laps of the race, when the cars one or more laps down are not allowed to line up to the inside of the lead-lap cars, the penalty is to start at the end of the one line of cars.
In the movie, when Chick Hicks crashed "The King" Strip Weathers, he still won the race and the championship. In NASCAR (unless there is not enough proof that a driver intentionally tried to do something), a driver would almost certainly be denied the checkered flag and the position in which the driver finished.
In the movie, Lightning McQueen pushes the wrecked Weathers across the finish line. In NASCAR, both drivers would be penalized for doing so in that situation (as in NASCAR, the race would be finished under the yellow flag, and under NASCAR rules, no driver can push a car in the last lap of the race). However, it is reasonable that the symbolic gesture would be interpreted as such by NASCAR, as the last line in the rulebook reads "Except in rare instances". The penalty would be largely a pro-forma matter in the situation depicted, in any event, as the penalty for receiving assistance on the last lap is to not have the final lap scored, resulting in the car finishing one lap down—if the penalty was assessed, the only difference in the finishing order would be that McQueen would finish second, and Weathers third.
Some cars in the film's first race have 3-digit numbers, while in NASCAR, 3 digit numbers may be registered for cars, but cars must sport a 1 or 2 digit number on their car. Prior to 1972 it was somewhat common for some drivers to sport 3 digit numbers on their cars.
In the first race, when McQueen blew his tires, the race still continued. However, in NASCAR, if McQueen left significant debris on the track, the race would be put under caution. If the race were to reach its advertised distance during the caution period, one attempt would be made at a "green-white-checkered" finish, where the race would be extended so that it could be restarted and complete two laps before the end. Should the caution come out during the two-lap final sprint, the race would immediately end under caution.
When McQueen came to a halt on the track, because the white flag (indicating the final lap of the race) had been displayed, the caution flag would have been displayed and the race ended immediately. However, McQueen would not have won the race (and thus the Piston Cup) as he was unable to maintain caution speed to cross the finish line, and thus would be scored as having ended the race as the last car on the lead lap.
Modern NASCAR bodies must all have nearly the same shape, differentiated mainly by the painting of headlights and grille. The Piston Cup features cars based on various NASCAR racers since the 1970s.
In NASCAR, sponsors and pit crew are determined by the Team owner, not the Driver unless the driver is the team owner.
Setting
The landscape in the distance behind Radiator Springs is made up of rock formations intentionally reminiscent of Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. The road map shown in the montage history of the town calls the area "Cadillac Range."
The Flo's V8 Cafe logo is similar to that used by the '32 Ford V8, the first V8 for mass marketed cars. This retro logo also appears on late model Ford Explorers (and other Ford trucks whose owners get the part and put it on their vehicles). Flathead also refers to this Ford V8, and was popular with hot rods. The neon spark plugs on the canopy flash in the right firing order.
The name of the Piston Cup racing series is a spoof of the Winston Cup, the premiere series in NASCAR (now known as the Nextel Cup).
The track that the opening race (Motor Speedway of the South) takes place on is actually based on and an enlarged version of the real life Bristol Motor Speedway. The track used for the Piston Cup Championship race is a clever knock-off of the Pasadena Rose Bowl as well as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the California Speedway, host to races in NASCAR and other racing series. The dome on top of the entrance to the track appears to be a replica of Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi's famous dome atop the cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy.
The film features mostly American cars from the 1950s and 1960s, but also some Japanese tuner and American muscle cars from the 1970s, K's from the 1980s, and minivans and Miatas from the 90s.
At one point in the movie, when many places are shutting down in anticipation of a big race, a sign can be read for a brief moment that reads: "City of Emeryville - Closed." This is a reference to Emeryville, California, where the Pixar studio is located.
Route 66
Many characters and places in the movie are directly inspired on real Route 66 places and people.
To quote the Pixar crew:
"As we traveled on Route 66, we were privileged to visit many places and to meet a number of people who live and work alongside 'The Mother Road.' The following is a list of the places and people we wanted to honor by including their names in our 'Special Thanks' credits at the end of the film."[24]
The soundtrack had the classic blues piece "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" twice, once by Chuck Berry and a new version recorded specifically for the film's credits performed by John Mayer.
Among the many references to Route 66 landmarks and personalities:
The Cozy Cone Motel's design is based on the two Wigwam Motels along Rt. 66; in Holbrook Arizona and Rialto, California. These were once two out of seven motels, with individual cabins shaped like tepees. The name "Cozy Cone" was inspired by the Cozy Dog Drive-In of Springfield, IL, which lays claim to being birthplace of the corn dog.
The character "Fillmore", referring to the famous San Francisco music venue The Fillmore, was at one time to be named "Waldmire" after Bob Waldmire, a self-proclaimed hippie artist known to Rt. 66 fans for his detailed pen-and-ink maps and postcards of the route. Though Waldmire's family owns the Cozy Dog Drive-In, Bob, now a vegan, preferred not to see his name put on a character that would become a Happy Meal toy.[25]
Ramone's House of Body Art is based primarily on the U Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas. It opened in 1936 as Tower Conoco (from its distinctive Art Deco spire) with the U Drop Inn Cafe and a retail building attached. Many other establishments built along Route 66 in its heyday had Art Deco elements that might be reflected in the design of Ramone's.
Morals
Many reviews refer to the morals in the movie:
Take care of your friends.
The journey can be as important as the destination.
A trophy is just a dusty old cup in the end.
Listening to Kenny G may adversely affect night driving alertness.
References to other Pixar movies
Many of the sponsors on the sides of the cars are references to past Pixar films or as puns on real-life automotive-related companies. Here's a brief list of them:
The number "2319" visible on a racecar under "CDA" is a reference to "23-19," the code used by the Child Detection Agency in Monsters, Inc. when a sock was found clinging to George Sanderson's fur.
The tires on the racecars say in small print "Gamma Quadrant Sector 4," a reference to where Zurg hides from Toy Story 2.
The King's sponsor is Dinoco, the gas station from Toy Story, which itself is a pun on Sunoco, the official fuel supplier for NASCAR, though the logo is closer to petroleum company Sinclair which features a dinosaur on its logo.
Flo is similar to Al's car from Toy Story 2.
Some of the racing cars in the teaser trailer have Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life logos on the side as well as "JLP" for John Lasseter, the director, and CDA (Child Detection Agency from Monsters, Inc.).
The birds from the Pixar short For the Birds can briefly be seen and heard on a telephone wire in the "Life is a Highway" sequence. (It is difficult to see since the screen passes them quickly.)
The jackalope from Boundin' is depicted on the back of a motor home. Also, one of Fillmore's bumper stickers reads "I Brake for Jackalopes".
Radiator Spring's founder Stanley is actually the same truck that's seen in the Pixar short Boundin'.
The Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story with a rocket on the roof can be seen at the entrance to the stadium in the final race sequence.
When Mack is driving by the truck stop, one of the trucks' logos is "i, Inc." This is a reference to The Incredibles (the "i" is Mr. Incredible's monogram).
There is a motor home in the second Piston Cup race at the end and he is surrounded by flamingos and a pool in reference to the short Knick Knack.
The railway train's number which almost crashed into Lightning McQueen when he was on his way to Radiator Springs is A113, a recurring inside joke in several animated shows and films, referring to the classroom number used by animation students at CalArts. Mater's license plate has the same number.
During the end credits, scenes from previous Pixar films are re-enacted with cars. There is a scene from Toy Car Story featuring Tom Hanks (as a Ford Woodie) and Tim Allen. Also, John Ratzenberger comes up on the window sill as Hamm. There is one from Monster Trucks, Inc. featuring John Goodman and Billy Crystal, also John Ratzenberger comes up as the Abominable Snowplow. Finally, there is one from A Bug's Life featuring Dave Foley, also John Ratzenberger comes up as P.T. flea. John Ratzenberger is featured in all three scenes, and his Cars character Mack (John Ratzenberger again) comments on the recurrence, from supportive at first to disgust and says "They're just using the same actor over and over again! What kind of cut-rate production is this?".File:Cars image.JPGMater and Lightning McQueen in a screenshot from the original teaser trailer
The opening music in the original teaser trailer is from A Bug's Life.
A highway sign in the interstate sequence reads "Andy's House", a reference to the child from Toy Story.
Lightning McQueen's number, 95, refers to the year Toy Story came out.
References to other movies
In the teaser trailer to Cars, a little bee is seen flying around, a possible reference to Wally B. (Note that the presence of organic insects renders this teaser noncanonical. In the movie itself, there are no organic insects or animals of any kind; all insects are tiny Volkswagen Beetles with wings. There are some non-vehicular birds - see here)
The scene where Lightning almost gets hit by a train is a reference to The Fast And The Furious, as is the scene with the three Import Scene cars surrounding Mack.
The scene where Lightning leaves Radiator Springs in Mack and all the press go with him, leaving Sally alone, is a reference to Notting Hill.
When Mater jumps out of forest and over a moon back into a forest during the backwards driving sequence, it is a reference to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
The scene where Lightning brakes and causes Chick to brush the wall is a reference to Herbie: Fully Loaded, where Maggie Peyton did the same thing to Trip Murphy (only it turned into a bigger wreck). It is also a reference to Days of Thunder when Cole Trickle did the same to his opponent during the final race.
The scene where Mater removes "the boot" (wheel clamp) on Lightning and Lightning makes a run for it, you hear Lightning scream out "Freedom!" in the distance. This is a reference to Braveheart, where Mel Gibson shouts "Freedom" just before he is executed.
The scene where Mater and Lightning McQueen are being chased by Frank the Bull (Combine Harvester) is a reference to a similar scene in The Hunter - a Steve McQueen film.
Other References
In the initial race scene, a car features a logo implying sponsorship by Apple Computer (Steve Jobs's "other company").[26] The car carries number 84, referring to the original Apple Macintosh's initial release in 1984.
After the first race, Lightning McQueen is talking to his sponsors, and is told to say a few words. As the lights turn off and a spotlight is aimed at Lightning, in the background you can hear someone yelling "Free Bird!" "Free Bird" is a song by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and is commonly shouted in jest as a request at nearly any rock concert.
In the scene just before the Los Angeles race depicting the shutdown of California for that race, a sign reading "City of Emeryville" is marked as closed. Emeryville is where Pixar's studios are based.
The song "Route 66" is featured in the movie; however, it is unclear if it is a real reference to the working title.
Chick's number, 86, refers to the year Pixar was established.
Lightning's sponsor, Rust-Eze Medicated Bumper Ointment, is a clear reference to Blistex Medicated Lip Ointment, as the bumpers are often the location of the cars' "mouths".
Cultural References
While Cars is too new to have been parodied or made a cultural reference in commercial media, references have been made in user-generated media
