Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
73
(39 sources)
73
(39 sources)
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100
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100
New York Daily News
Whether the movie will make you believe a shocking-orange stock car has a future with a lavender Carrera, it's more fun to follow than a televised freeway chase. Read Full Review » -
100
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100
Baltimore Sun
Lasseter's inclusive, utterly distinctive sensibility makes Cars all that it can be. His embrace of the comic-dramatic friction between innovation and tradition infiltrates every aspect of the movie - the look, the characters, the story. Read Full Review » -
91
Entertainment Weekly
A work of American art as classic as it is modern. Note to tourists: Leave before the very end of the credits and you'll miss some of the best and funniest roadside sights. Read Full Review » -
90
Los Angeles Times
What's surprising about this supremely engaging film is the source of its curb appeal: It has heart. Read Full Review » -
90
Slate
Who's this movie for, again? No matter: It's impossible to find more joy in the dark at the moment. Read Full Review » -
88
Rolling Stone
What Cars teaches is how to blend brash comedy with technical astonishments so that each enhances the other. I can't imagine who wouldn't want to test-drive this one. Like the promos say, "It's got that new-movie smell." Read Full Review » -
88
Charlotte Observer
On the most basic level, Cars is an old-fashioned fable about an egotistical, talented loner who learns humility and redeems himself by helping unfortunates. Read Full Review » -
88
Premiere
What the film lacks in freshness, it makes up for in great characters, fun vocal performances, and a script with some genuine emotional heft. Read Full Review » -
88
TV Guide
It's the one movie so far this summer that demands to be seen on the big screen. Read Full Review » -
88
New York Post
Cars leaves the animated competition in the dust, even if it is a tad slower and more predictable than Pixar at full throttle. Read Full Review » -
83
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Cars is a fine example of the formula, with pleasant chemistry, the patented Pixar cleverness, and the usual sweetly melancholy nostalgia courtesy of songwriter Randy Newman. Read Full Review » -
83
Portland Oregonian
There's so much to impress and delight you that the time flies by. Read Full Review » -
80
LA Weekly
Exciting though the car-racing scenes are, with their millions of fan-cars swaying fluidly around the stadium, it's the drives through the canyons and passes, and the quiet old ruin of a town (which recalls the abandoned mall in Miyazaki's "Spirited Away"), that truly quicken the pulse. Read Full Review » -
80
Newsweek
As eye-popping as anything Pixar has done. But Cars inspires more admiration than elation. It dazzles even as it disappoints. This time around, John Lasseter and his codirector, the late Joe Ranft, seem more interested in dispensing Life Lessons than showing us a roaring good time. Read Full Review » -
80
The Hollywood Reporter
It might not be way up there in "The Incredibles"/"Finding Nemo"/"Toy Story" stratosphere, but the charming Cars is nevertheless a thoroughly pleasant way to mark Pixar Animation Studios' 20th anniversary. Read Full Review » -
80
Washington Post
The Pixar people have an extreme talent for conjuring imagery that is both soaring in its majesty but also resonant -- it's a stylization but acute enough to carry emotional meaning. Read Full Review » -
75
Christian Science Monitor
By relying too much on snappy dialogue and by adhering to the philosophy that "steel should feel like steel and glass should feel like glass," the filmmakers have bridled their imaginations and created a movie about toys that are too blubbery and not rubbery enough. Read Full Review » -
75
ReelViews
Overall, if the film is not as funny as its predecessors, that's probably part and parcel of why it doesn't seem as enchanting. Emotionally, despite the character arc, Cars doesn't resonate in the same way "The Incredibles" or "Toy Story" did. Read Full Review » -
75
Chicago Sun-Times
I wouldn't have thought that even in animation a 1951 Hudson Hornet could look simultaneously like itself and like Paul Newman, but you will witness that feat, and others, in Cars. Read Full Review » -
75
USA Today
Cars is a classic American tale firing on all cylinders and fueled by organic emotion and a lively sense of adventure. Read Full Review » -
75
Boston Globe
The movie wins you over through crack comic timing and an awareness that the point of driving isn't how fast you get there but what you see on the way. Read Full Review » -
70
Variety
Periodic bursts of cleverness brighten the festivities, but they're too few and far between, and the trademark humor that appeals to adults and kids often misfires. Read Full Review » -
70
The New Yorker
If Cars is something of a letdown, that is not because of the moral messages that it delivers but because of the heavy hand with which it cranks them out. Read Full Review » -
67
Austin Chronicle
Never really quite great, it's still a good enough diversion for the family and should please adult fans of racing. Read Full Review » -
63
Chicago Tribune
Whatever you do, don't leave before watching the snippets that run during the closing credits--the self-referential, tongue in cheek "outtakes" are quite possibly the funniest part of this movie--a visual stunner that seems to have misplaced its heart. Read Full Review » -
63
Miami Herald
Cars is certainly watchable, and there's always some amusing bit of business happening at the edges of the frame. Read Full Review » -
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Warning: Cars comes unequipped with two essential options -- charm and a good muffler. Read Full Review » -
60
New York Magazine
This one is dully conventional even by family-uplift standards. The details are sweated, all right: It's a triumph of perspiration over inspiration. Read Full Review » -
60
Empire
Judged against previous form, this is not Pixar firing on all cylinders, lacking the sophisticated comedy we've come to expect. Judged against fare from other studios, however, it's a triumph. Read Full Review » -
60
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60
Salon.com
Cars is an elaborate concoction all right. But it feels soldered together from a scrap heap of tired ideas. Read Full Review » -
60
Village Voice
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. Read Full Review » -
50
Wall Street Journal
It doesn't make Cars a bad picture -- the visual inventions are worth the price of admission -- but it constitutes conduct unbecoming to a maker of magic. Read Full Review » -
50
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50
San Francisco Chronicle
Curiously and unexpectedly, the movie brings on a suffocating feeling of constraint. It's a consequence of seeing characters with such terribly limited mobility. Read Full Review » -
40
The New York Times
Both in its ingratiating vibe and bland execution, Cars is nothing if not totally, disappointingly new-age Disney. Read Full Review » -
30
Film Threat
If Cars is indicative of the kind of movie we can expect from Pixar post-Disney merger, well, there's always Miyazaki. Read Full Review »
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