Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 74%, based on 199 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Cars offers visual treats that more than compensate for its somewhat thinly written story, adding up to a satisfying diversion for younger viewers." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 73 out of 100, based on 39 critics reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on a scale of A+ to F.
William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised it as "one of Pixar's most imaginative and thoroughly appealing movies ever".
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly called it "a work of American art as classic as it is modern".
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, saying it "tells a bright and cheery story, and then has a little something profound lurking around the edges. In this case, it's a sense of loss."
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying, "Fueled with plenty of humor, action, heartfelt drama, and amazing new technical feats, Cars is a high octane delight for moviegoers of all ages."
Richard Corliss of Time gave the film a positive review, saying, "Existing both in turbo-charged today and the gentler '50s, straddling the realms of Pixar styling and old Disney heart, this new-model Cars is an instant classic."
Brian Lowry of Variety gave the film a negative review, saying, "Despite representing another impressive technical achievement, it's the least visually interesting of the computer-animation boutique's movies, and—in an ironic twist for a story about auto racing—drifts slowly through its semi-arid midsection."
Robert Wilonsky of The Village Voice gave the film a positive review, saying, "What ultimately redeems Cars from turning out a total lemon is its soul. Lasseter loves these animated inanimate objects as though they were kin, and it shows in every beautifully rendered frame."
Ella Taylor of L.A. Weekly gave the film a positive review, saying, "Cars cheerfully hitches cutting-edge animation to a folksy narrative plugging friendship, community and a Luddite mistrust of high tech."
Gene Seymour of Newsday gave the film three stars of four, saying, "And as pop flies go, Cars is pretty to watch, even as it loops, drifts and, at times, looks as if it's just hanging in midair."
Colin Covert of the Star Tribune gave the film a positive review, saying, "It takes everything that's made Pixar shorthand for animation excellence—strong characters, tight pacing, spot-on voice casting, a warm sense of humor and visuals that are pure, pixilated bliss—and carries them to the next stage."
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave the film four stars out of five, saying, "What's surprising about this supremely engaging film is the source of its curb appeal: It has heart."
Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post gave the film a positive review, saying, "It's the latest concoction from the geniuses at Pixar, probably the most inventive of the Computer Generated Imagery shop—and the film's great fun, if well under the level of the first Toy Story."
Jessica Reaves of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, saying, "While it's a technically perfect movie, its tone is too manic, its characters too jaded and, in the end, its story too empty to stand up to expectations."
James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "While Cars may cross the finish line ahead of any of 2006's other animated films, it's several laps behind its Pixar siblings."
Lisa Kennedy of The Denver Post gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "Cars idles at times. And it's not until its final laps that the movie gains the emotional traction we've come to expect from the Toy Story and Nemo crews."
Amy Biancolli of the Houston Chronicle gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "It thunders ahead with breezy abandon, scoring big grins on its way."
Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film a positive review, saying, "The animation is stunningly rendered. But the story is always the critical element in Pixar movies, and Cars' story is heartfelt with a clear and unabashed moral."
David Edelstein of New York Magazine gave the film a positive review, saying, "Like the Toy Story films, Cars is a state-of-the-computer-art plea on behalf of outmoded, wholesome fifties technology, with a dash of Zen by way of George Lucas."
Moira MacDonald of The Seattle Times gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying, "Though the central idea of nostalgia for a quieter, small-town life may well be lost on this movie's young audience—Cars finds a pleasant and often sparkling groove."
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film two stars out of five, saying, "Cars might get us into car world as a gimmick, but it doesn't get us into car world as a state of mind. Thus, the animation, rather than seeming like an expression of the movie's deeper truth, becomes an impediment to it."
Derek Adams of Time Out gave the film a positive review, saying, "There are many other brilliant scenes, some just as funny but there are just as many occasions where you feel the film's struggling to fire on all cylinders. Still, it's a Pixar film, right? And they're always worth a gander no matter what anyone says."
