Pixar’s critically acclaimed blockbuster "Cars" came out nearly two decades ago, so a lot of the
kids who were mesmerized by the movie in 2006 are now old enough to notice its many other layers —
including jokes, references and, quite frankly, some very weird things that only adults noticed.
Adult humor There aren't any
outright dirty jokes hidden in "Cars," but there
are a lot of suggestive ones that sail right over the heads of its five-year-old fans.
For example, Lightning McQueen is a famous race car, and he's got the groupies to prove it.
After his big race at the beginning of the movie, two red cars named Mia and
Tia proclaim to be his "biggest fans" and then literally flash him with their headlights. Later,
in the movie's central location of the sleepy town of Radiator Springs,
Lightning meets Sally, who has a "tribal" style "pin-striping tattoo"
just above her bumper — the "Cars" equivalent of a "tramp stamp" lower-back tattoo.
In another scene, Lightning barges in on Doc Hudson in his garage — or rather doctor's office,
where he's got Sheriff elevated to examine his undercarriage.
Sheriff asks Lightning if he got, quote, "a good peek."
When Lightning tells Mater and the other cars that he discovered Doc Hudson was once
a three-time winner of the illustrious racing championship the Piston Cup, Mater shouts out:
“He did what in his cup?”
If you don’t get it, say "Piston Cup" out loud three times fast.
Name references The names of characters — and
the actors filmmakers hired to play those characters — offer many references that only
parents in the know, old movie fans, and car enthusiasts would be hip to.
For example, the late comedian and countercultural icon George Carlin gave voice to Fillmore,
a hippie Volkswagen bus — the kind of car countless real hippies drove.
Champion race car "The King" is voiced by Richard Petty, the NASCAR legend known as "The King."
Even Ray Magliozzi and his late brother Tom, a.k.a. Click and Clack, longtime hosts
of National Public Radio mainstay "Car Talk," have cameos. They play the owners of Rust-eze,
the "bumper ointment" company that sponsors Lightning McQueen. Radiator Springs' diner
equivalent, Flo's V8 Cafe, is operated by a former show car named Flo. Her job on-screen
primarily consists of server-like duties. This parallels that of Florence Jean Castleberry, or
just Flo, the sassy waitress, played by Polly Holliday, on the popular '70s sitcom "Alice."
Brutally violent races
As in the human world, car racing is a hugely popular sport in "Cars." But the
cars aren't driving automobiles, like humans do in the real world.
Instead, they're essentially racing around a track using their actual bodies.
That means auto racing in "Cars" is essentially a super-fast, super-competitive track and field
event. It's also very high-stakes and highly competitive. Cars bump each other and jockey
for position at high speeds, leaving each other in the dust or slammed against the wall.
Spinouts, collisions, and accidents happen relatively frequently in real-world auto
racing events. But the cars are so packed with protective equipment
that drivers rarely get hurt. The vehicles take a lot of damage,
but fans don't think too much about it because those cars don't feel pain.
But they do in "Cars." Think about it: Even the most minor racing incident is,
more or less, a horrific injury. Getting a piece of the car's body knocked off? That's
like if a human runner lost a body part, mid-race. A blown tire? The equivalent of a shattered foot.
Viewed this way, the aggressive racing style of the villainous Chick Hicks — which causes
the King to roll over multiple times — equates to gladiatorial combat with intent to harm or kill.
The Pizza Planet truck
Pixar is known for lacing its films with well-hidden
jokes and Easter eggs, and "Cars" is no exception.
Ever since its first appearance in "Toy Story," the beat-up yellow Pizza Planet delivery truck
has made an appearance in almost every Pixar movie. So, it makes perfect sense that it would
show up in "Cars," a movie populated entirely with motorized vehicles. The Pizza Planet truck
appears for just a quick flash as part of a crowd scene before one of Lightning McQueen's big races.
Lightning McQueen’s travel arrangements
In creating the "Cars" world, everything about the human world had to be translated
into its car equivalent. Usually, it works: "Cow tipping" has been replaced with "tractor tipping,"
and Flo's V8 Café serves gas and oil rather than food, for example.
However, not everything is a direct parallel, making for some very strange moments.
One example of this is how Lightning McQueen travels from race to race.
As is the case with a real-world race car, he's hauled around in the back of
a specially-built truck. In "Cars," that truck is presented as something between a private jet
and a limousine, stocked with amenities to ensure maximum comfort for Lightning.
But because this is the world of sentient cars, the truck is a living thing.
This means Mack drives down the freeway with Lightning McQueen
literally inside of him. This is akin to a private jet pilot who keeps rich clients in his stomach.
Where does 'Cars' take place?
Kids can watch "Cars" on a surface level: Cars do stuff, cars learn lessons, cars race. Older
people, however, may be left wondering: How and why is the world of "Cars" this way?
It's about a place virtually identical to 21st century Earth, only everything is built for
cars rather than humans. But they also enjoy human culture that seems based on our real-world things,
celebrities and pop culture moments. Radiator Springs is situated on the disused Route 66.
So what's going on here, exactly? Does "Cars" take place in an alternate dimension where automobiles
are the dominant species and humans don't exist? Or is this some sort of post-apocalyptic,
post-human Earth where cars have evolved and taken over for the now-extinct human race? Either option
feels like it could just as easily be the plot of a horror movie, rather than a film for children.
“What? This place is crazy!”
Product placement
Younger viewers in Pixar's target audience for the film may not even be able to read yet,
but they probably still wouldn't understand the adult nature of the fictional products
being pitched in "Cars." For example, Mack and Lightning McQueen drive past the "Top
Down Truckstop," which proudly boasts its "convertible waitresses." In the land of
"Cars," it means that the servers can take their tops down. In other words, they're topless.
Lightning McQueen's primary race sponsor is Rust-eze, a "bumper ointment."
It's a topical cream for a car's rear-end, or the automotive equivalent of Preparation
H, a product humans use to treat hemorrhoids.
A major supplier of gasoline to the cars of "Cars"
is Dinoco. As gas is food to automobiles, this would make it the equivalent of
a human food conglomerate. Adult viewers may also recognize it as a link to other
Pixar movies — the Pizza Planet truck in "Toy Story" stops in to refuel at a Dinoco station.
Auto-specific names
While some of the car characters in "Cars" perfectly embody their name,
others are known by names that reflect their make, model, or function — designations that
would be clear only to adults, or viewers with at least a passing knowledge of automobile history.
For instance, in his career as a race car, Lightning McQueen gets around from race to race in
the back of a big Mack truck — a friendly, helpful behemoth whose name is literally Mack. Prickly
Radiator Springs physician Doc Hudson is named after, and has the appearance of, a Hudson Hornet,
a super-fast car of 1950s vintage. Differently, local hotel operator Sally Carrera gets her name
from the Carrera model of Porsche, of which she is an example. Radiator Springs town founder Stanley
is named for the Stanley Steamer, an early, steam-powered car, while his surviving spouse,
Lizzie, gets her name from the nickname for the Ford Model T — also known as a "Tin Lizzie."
Old Hollywood rivals
Radiator Springs' old town doctor Doc Hudson is voiced by late Hollywood
legend Paul Newman, who also raced professionally.
Older viewers of "Cars" may remember that Newman played a speedy driver on screen
in the 1969 movie "Winning," which hit theaters a year after "Bullitt,"
an action-packed police movie that featured one of the most legendary car chase scenes
ever shot. That film starred Steve McQueen, who famously did much of his own stunt work,
and had earned a reputation in films like "The Great Escape" as a fearless driver.
McQueen was a hotshot on the asphalt, on-screen and off,
not unlike Lightning McQueen, with whom the actor shares a name.
So, in the first "Cars" movie, Doc Hudson is initially dismissive and openly hostile toward
Lightning — with the animosity alluding to a real-life conflict between McQueen and Newman.
At the peak of their success in the 1960s and 1970s, Paul Newman and Steve
McQueen were seen as Hollywood rivals, often competing for the same roles.
McQueen was nearly cast in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," but turned the role
down when he learned Newman would be getting top billing. McQueen later made a passion
project out of the 1971 film "Le Mans," where he played a driver who delivered the famed line:
"Racing is life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."
Paul Newman took things one step further in 1979, when he raced a Porsche 935 in the real Le Mans,
finishing first in his class and second overall in a rain-soaked race.
In 1974, the duo were paired together onscreen for the first and only time,
in the blockbuster film "The Towering Inferno." When McQueen got his script
for the Irwin Allen disaster flick, he counted out his lines to see if he had more than Newman.
Remaking 'Doc Hollywood'
While on the surface it's a kids' movie about talking cars, Pixar's "Cars" is a poignant tale
of redemption, of one individual realizing what's important in life. This is a story of choices,
regrets, and one laced with melancholy, which has way more appeal to adults than it does to kids.
It also might feel familiar, because older viewers
may already have consumed this story in a very similar form.
In 1991, Michael J. Fox starred in the live-action comedy movie "Doc Hollywood."
A moderate box office hit that lived on for years thanks to home video and cable TV re-airings,
it has almost the exact same plot as "Cars," released 15 years later.
Fox played cocky young plastic surgeon Dr. Ben Stone, driving across the country in his
red sports car until he crashes it in Grady, South Carolina. As a sentence for the property
damage he causes, he's forced to work in the local hospital for a while. He decides to stay
in Grady after falling in love with charming ambulance driver Lou, played by Julie Warner.
In "Cars," cocky young car Lightning McQueen is riding across the country
on his way to a race until he crashes in Radiator Springs,
and as a sentence for the property damage he causes, he's forced to repair the road.
He decides to stay in Radiator Springs after falling for charming motel proprietor Sally.
Richard Petty references
The most idolized race car in "Cars" is easily The King. His name is, after all,
The King, and that nickname comes straight from Richard "The King" Petty, the all-time
winningest racer in NASCAR history who voices his Pixar counterpart.
Older viewers and racing fans may notice a couple of famous on-the-track events
from Petty's illustrious career adapted into the action of "Cars."
In the film's climactic race, The King suffers a horrific spin-out and crash, mirroring one
the real Petty endured in the 1988 Daytona 500. In a show of remarkable sportsmanship and growth
for the once incredibly selfish individual, Lightning McQueen cuts short his assured win
to push The King across the finish line. A similar event went down at Daytona in 1976,
although it was Petty's pit crew that helped him finish the race, not another racer.
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