No doubt about it: America has had a love affair with cars since Henry Ford's first Model T rolled off the assembly line in 1908....


We've long loved car models for their beauty and their brawn. They've been part of our culture and history. Cars fulfill our need for speed and our longing for freedom and the open road.
For decades our parents and grandparents bought shiny new Chevys, Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Fords. And we loved every minute of the experience when the new car was driven home. Our wealthy neighbors owned mile-long Cadillacs that we all oohed and aahed over. Teenagers lusted over Corvettes and Mustangs, the muscle cars of our youth. Convertibles were hot. NASCAR was born and started to really take off by the 1970s. Let's face it: cars are part of the fabric of our lives.
Since the 1960s of course, the world has become our showroom for cars. We can buy virtually any model offered on the planet. And we do. We drive Hondas, Volvos, Toyotas, Mercedes, BMWs and Kias as well as American car brands. Most of us are opinionated and passionate about the brands we love, too. We buzz about cars and car brands incessantly.
No wonder Disney and Pixar teamed up to make what promises to become another blockbuster animated movie about, what else: "Cars." The title is clean, short and simple. With its release (planned for June 9th), all of the kids nearing the end of the school year, and their parents, will be filling every movie theater from New York to L.A. to see this one.
"Cars" will likely become a hot branded entertainment vehicle because it's got it all. Great theme, lots of consumer passion; a tale parents will want their kids to see since it has a great moral to the story. The merchandising has already been underway for some time, and we can all expect to see "Cars" stuff popping up everywhere.
Movie synopsis: a hotshot race car named Lightning McQueen is driven (pun intended) to cross the finish line fast and first. He ends up taking an unexpected detour off the fabled Route 66 in a forgotten town named Radiator Springs, while en route to compete in a California race, the "Piston Cup Championship." In Radiator Springs, Lightning McQueen meets a group of offbeat characters, including a vintage Hudson, a spiffy Porsche named Sally and a rusty tow truck named Mater. The young hot shot race car soon learns there is more to life than setting records and winning trophies.
What life and friendship really mean comes to the fore, but with lots of action, humor and heart.
I ask you: what's not to love about "Cars"?