Cars: The Movie

(WARNING: This article is an analysis which seeks to compare the lessons learned by the lead character to the needs of popular culture. Therefore, this article contains SPOILERS. PLEASE DO NOT READ if you haven’t seen the movie and do not wish for the ending to be “spoiled” for you.

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My sons, Jonathan, Matthew, and Stephen had their “Lightening McQueen” and “Tow Mater” t-shirts at least a month before the movie, Cars, hit the theaters. By now, most people are familiar with these characters from Disney/Pixar’s latest animated motion picture.

Because the film is based on a Nascar type racing theme, the movie will no doubt be popular here in the South especially with Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. providing voices for three of the animated characters. Being a Southerner is not why I went to see the movie, and although my dad first took me to the Southern 500 at Darlington back in 1976 and made something of a racing fan out of me, I can assure you that I have outgrown it. I actually went to see the movie because I just enjoy watching my sons enjoy a movie, and like most children their age, they really love the animated films.

As an aside, I need to say something about Nascar. When there are over 40 drivers trying to run over one another to finish first, it’s hard to find anything redemptive in it especially since Christ teaches that those who are first will be last and those last will be first (Matthew 20:16). Let’s not kid ourselves; to be a winning racecar driver, you must have a rather sizable ego. Unfortunately, such egos fail to bring glory to God. Thus, I’m not the racing fan that I once was.

All the things that have fed my growing distaste for automobile racing were actually portrayed in a negative way in the movie which actually made it a delight to watch. The lead character is a racecar named “Lightening McQueen” (Owen Wilson), and just like some of the Nascar stars, he portrays all the egotistical characteristics that are apparently necessary to win.

However, on the way to California to race for the prestigious “Piston Cup”, Lightening McQueen has an accident and becomes lost. Before he can find his way back to the Interstate, he ends up in the forgotten town of “Radiator Springs” along the old “Route 66”. The town had become a bit broken-down as a result of neglect when traffic began to bypass it following the construction of the new Interstate Highway forty years ago. The residents of Radiator Springs are other cars including an old retired racecar named “Doc Hudson” (Paul Newman) which all became neglected as well. Having gotten into trouble with the law, McQueen is forced to stay in the town longer than he expected, but having done so, he learns something about life, humility, and what’s really important (loving and caring for others).

When McQueen finally arrives in California, suddenly winning the “Piston Cup” isn’t all that important anymore. On the last lap of the race, the movie’s villain, “Chick Hicks” (Michael Keaton) wrecks the old veteran known as “The King” (Richard Petty). McQueen has the chance to win the race and the “Piston Cup”, but he stops just inches from the finish line allowing Chick Hicks to win while he, McQueen, backs up to help The King and pushes him across the finish line. When The King asks Lightening McQueen why he allowed Chick Hicks to win, McQueen responded by saying: “The Piston Cup is just an empty cup” (a lesson learned from the old Doc Hudson back in Radiator Springs).

Unlike the Nascar world for which it is based, Cars has a redemptive theme in that it teaches that there are those among us who are neglected, and like McQueen, we should get off the superhighway sometimes, slowdown, and reach out to those who are neglected in our lightening fast culture. And we would do well to learn what McQueen learned: Those who are first will be last, and those who are last will be first. Without such understanding, life is just an empty cup!