PIXAR @25: Cars "Right turns, wrong turns"

What we've once thought as wrong turns might've been the right ones after all.

Fame. Fans. The Piston Cup. The life.

 And the wrong turn.

We've never thought cars could actually resemble a face, with their bulgy head lights and their shiny glass windows. We've seen it all in the animated racetrack and in Pixar's Cars (2006, directed byJohn Lasseter and Joe Ranft).

In a million ways we've once encountered what Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) felt. Drunk with the cheering mob, the entitlement pleasure and the cheap medals and metal cups and glass plates, competitions only transpiring in a political arena. Those were the times when we felt we're so up when in fact we're a lot more down. When we've thought this kind of life is simply heaven but then it's simply not.

Thanks to the night-long ride to California and the sleepy Mack (John Ratzenberger), as they led our sportscar hero to the road less taken, where he could find something more than his life in the limelight.

Fix the road, get all the dirt, and sleep in a tranquil, one-room hotel:  at first all these were simply unbelievable for McQueen. All that could go wrong--with all that dirty work and the delay and the serious deliberation that he's nothing but another trouble-making outcast--were all turned upside down after accidentally bumping into Route 66's secret heroes and paradise.

Of all the unexpected places to visit, McQueen found his inspiration from Sally the Porsche (Bonnie Hunt), a bestfriend from a rusty towcar Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and a hero from the legendary but humble Doc Hudson Hornet (Paul Newman).

The fixed road. The slow drive. The life.

And the right turn.

Just as we kids found our childhood path in Pixar movies, so did McQueen, in the inexistent road called Route 66. I'd always laugh at the scene when Mater and Lightning were making fun of the lawnmowers, and his big break from the race witnessing the road's paradise with Sally.

After all, any race is not about winning; it's about coming to realize who you truly are.

Cars Fact Sheet

1. The Pixar creators had to use a technique called "ray tracing" for the cars to reflect their environments to get the real look from real cars.

2. The movie earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature in 2006, and two Academy Awards nominations, with a box-office hit collecting $461M worldwide.

3. The inspiration came from director John Lasseter's childhood memories with his passion for automobiles, with his dad working as a Chevrolet parts manager in California back then.

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