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In a release that was a real turning point for the studio in many ways, we approach the 2006 film that sold a billion toy automobiles. So we dig into the many complex questions of the world of Cars, and the even more complex development of the film. Learn about an overlooked co-creator, how the film was a key part of Disney acquiring Pixar, and many more surprising details. And after the history segment, we'll start a spirited watch-along of Lightning McQueen's search for meaning in a small town destroyed by highways in our fun syncable commentary track. So self-serve yourself some gasoline and listen along now!

Note: Commentary begins with the movie when the Pixar logo has fully faded out on the screen, which is 00:00:44 on the Disney Plus version, similar on other versions.

If you want to skip directly to the commentary, go to 1:14:00 in the podcast.

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Comments

Frank Grimes

at the time, it was one of the best looking blu-rays out

Bryce Lavender

My dad thought this movie was my favorite so we would watch it everyday and I wasn’t going to say no but I’d rather watched the incredibles or wall-e. I had so many cars toys I played with like twice

Jonathon

Finally, my college education becomes directly relevant! In Dubious Battle is one of the most cynical works I have ever read. It demonstrates the ruthlessness of the land owning class with their willingness to kill so they can keep labor costs down and control everything, but it is also extremely critical of labor organizers, making them out to essentially be carpetbaggers in some sense. Several of the main characters are not from the area but arrive to help organize farm laborers. However, these organizers are not shown to really care about the actual workers at all and instead just use them to push their rhetoric without accomplishing much of anything. It's certainly an interesting book to read in the wake of heightened labor struggles and attempts to strengthen unionization in the US, but it definitely left a bad taste in my mouth as it feels very nihilistic in its conclusions.

Anonymous

Wow, the history segment was like going back to 2006 and summarizing how I received the release of this movie, how it was wrapped up in the Bush-era culture war context, and the understanding that it marked the beginning of a decline in the Pixar brand. (Maybe Cars 2 was the bigger indication, but I remember there being anxiety about its sale.) The only two differences in my own life than the hosts: My "Welcome to Berkeley" Pixar movie was Wall-E, and I think "Life is a Highway" is good. (The original, anyway.)

Brian Hortin

I think Luigi’s hair is his sun roof. He is a Fiat 500 which was available with a cloth sun roof.

Anonymous

Love the episode, but one note about George Carlin's character. I'm sure it's shocking, but it's actually more boomer nostalgia. Carlin started out as a character comic, and one of his most popular characters was Al Sleet, the Hippy Dippy Weatherman. I double checked, and Carlin is definitely doing his Al Sleet voice.

Dylan (batmanboy11) Freitag

(I will preface this by saying I really enjoyed the podcast episode, because podcasts about bad media can still be very good!) -- I... really, really despise this movie. I was 10 when it came out and had absolutely 0 interest in it, and only saw bits of it through cultural osmosis (and through memes of how stupid ka-chow was as a catchphrase), so my first viewing was for this podcast. Even besides all the culture war bullshit the movie was doing, it's just so fucking BORING to me. I didn't care about any character in the movie, Owen Wilson feels so flat as the protagonist, Michael Keaton is wasted as an annoying one-note villain who isn't even IN 75% of the goddamn movie, and the rancid car designs horrify me. While the plot, writing, pacing, and action of the movie are all much more concrete criticisms that make the movie as bad as it is, I was still left wondering many things about this universe because they didn't take any time to really explain or establish anything. You *could* make some of the same complaints about Toy Story, but I think they did a better job of explaining as much as they needed to (and building a premise that still existed in OUR world more or less), and in general I can excuse those questions away because the movies are fun & funny. Here, there's nothing to work with, so these questions are what I was thinking about the whole time I was bored out of my mind as Lightning McQueen learned his lessons about country bumpkins and slowing down. WHY IS THE MOVIE ALMOST TWO FULL HOURS??? Absolute stinker, probably one of my most hated movies that you guys have ever covered, up there with the likes of Space Jam and fucking Cool World.

nina matsumoto

I like "Life is a Highway." I hate this movie.

Anonymous

🎶you two shine like stars in this podcast on cars, I’m Popeye the sailorman!🎶💨💨

Joe Hodgson

I'll confess to a bit of schadenfreude when this was released because Pixar had appeared bulletproof to the point of exhaustion. Can they make a bad movie? Yes, they can! Though by bad movie standards I'll concede that Cars is fine. It's way too long and self-indulgent by Lasseter and Owen Wilson brings nothing to the table as a voice actor. I do wonder if part of me is going easy on this movie because the sequel is so bad, but as a father of a now 8 year old boy, I saw this movie a lot because little boys do seem to enjoy it so I should hate this thing more, but I still find myself mostly indifferent instead. Thankfully, that phase is long over and I haven't had to watch this in years and I don't really intend to watch it ever again.

Mario

I was the perfect age for this film (ten) i was hyped AF but when I saw it? I thought it was fine , nothing more but a class movie day type of film but Life is a Highway was the biggest thing for me cause that was stuck in my head and most likely other people my age cause I hear the song alot on TikTok

Lance Flexington

I remember seeing this in theaters and some boomer couple started crying behind me during the James Taylor montage about the death of the town. Sums up how shitty the movie was overall.