BURBANK, Calif. – (June 14, 2010) – Disney Interactive Studios today announced that Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales is revving its engine for an exclusive Wii™ release this fall. A follow up to last year’s hit, Toy Story Mania! also on Wii, Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales is part of the Mania! line of games, featuring fast-paced, multiplayer, family fun. This captivating game is as fun to watch as it is to play and will engage up to four players of all ages.

Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales will feature a large collection of pick-up-and-play games inspired by Disney•Pixar’s popular Mater’s Tall Tales animated short series. The game will bring Mater together with Lightning McQueen and the “Cars” gang for a new set of adventures, capturing the endearing sense of humor of everyone’s favorite tow truck. Players will join Mater and his pals as they relive the wild stories he conjures up about hilariously unpredictable events that may or may not have taken place.

“Fans of Mater’s Tall Tales and families everywhere who enjoy in-home multiplayer gaming will love this latest entry in the ’Cars’ entertainment franchise and Mania! brand,” said Craig Relyea, senior vice president of global marketing, Disney Interactive Studios. “With Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales, we want to convey the outrageous personality and vivid imagination of Mater and his tall tales set within the Mania! style gameplay of engaging, fast-paced, family fun.”

Designed to keep family and friends entertained for hours, Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales will feature more than 30 levels of play involving a variety of cooperative and competitive mini-games, designed to fully utilize the Wii controls. Offering a large collection of games that will get everyone in the living room off of the couch, players can experience death-defying stunts in “Mater the Greater,” run with the bulls in “El Materdor” or appreciate the heroism of a fire truck in “Rescue Squad Mater.”

Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales for Wii will allow family and friends to experience Mater’s Tall Tales with a Mania! twist. The Mania! franchise, hosted by beloved characters, provides accessible and frenzied pick-up-and-play experiences to be enjoyed by everyone in the living room. With up to four players at once, Mania! video games reward competitiveness and cooperative play among players and features immersive storytelling experiences that are appropriate for all ages.

Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales will be available exclusively for Wii this fall. For more information, visit: http://www.disney.com/carsvideogames.

About Disney Interactive Studios
Disney Interactive Studios, part of Disney Interactive Media Group, is the interactive entertainment affiliate of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS). Disney Interactive Studios self publishes and distributes a broad portfolio of multi-platform video games and interactive entertainment worldwide. The company also licenses properties and works directly with other interactive game publishers to bring products for all ages to market. Disney Interactive Studios is based in Glendale, California, and has internal development studios around the world. For more information, log on to http://www.disneyinteractivestudios.com.

About Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar Animation Studios, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is an Academy Award®-winning film studio with world-renowned technical, creative and production capabilities in the art of computer animation. Creator of some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time, including Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL•E and most recently, Up. The Northern California studio has won 24 Academy Awards® and its ten films have grossed more than $5 billion at the worldwide box office to date. The next film release from Disney•Pixar is Toy Story 3 (June 18, 2010).

I just happened to come across Take Five a Day — a passionate Disney-Pixar Cars hobbyist site — and noticed an ad announcing an upcoming Kmart collector’s event for Saturday, June 12. After some research, I have compiled a few points of interest surrounding the gathering. If you are currently a Cars collector, chances are you are fully aware of the details. However, I am mainly posting this to benefit readers who were unfamiliar with the event (such as myself) or wish to start a collection of their own (no better time to start than with a promotion geared specifically to the hobby).

The event is nationwide, and there are a ton of participating Kmart stores, as well as a select few Sears locations. The checkered flag gets waved at 11 AM (that’s a poor attempt at being cute with what time the doors open). There are 8 different products on-hand …

These special collector days are not only a great way to meet your fellow Cars fans, you can also purchase Cars vehicles with very special accessories added just for this event! These eight vehicles have been previously released, but for the first time they make their appearance rocking synthetic rubber tires:

• Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• Spare O Mint
• Transberry Juice
• Sputter Stop
• Fiber Fuel
• Gasprin
• RPM
• Vitoline

NOTE: All images associated with this post are for enhancement purposes only, and are not meant to represent the products available at the event.

Source(s):
MattyCollector
MyKmart

In the real world, today marks the 94th Indianapolis 500 — one of auto racing’s greatest spectacles. In the virtual world, Disney/Pixar offers up an online outlet for children of all ages to release their inner-Andretti with “The World of Cars Online.”

World of Cars Online is a virtual world based on the hit Disney/Pixar animated feature CARS. Get ready for a high-octane ride full of fun and adventure where YOU are the Car. Design your car, play games, and make new friends. Learn to race like a pro from Lightning McQueen or cruise around and tip tractors. Why? Because you can! Now’s your chance to hang in the Cars world – it’s free to play but access to special features requires a subscription.

The first order of business prior to entering Radiator Springs is to create your car. Players can choose gender, eye color, model, name, number and color. The initial customization options are fairly limited, but when The World of Cars Online moves from open beta to an official release, many in-game items can be had within the “body shop” in exchange for money earned during gameplay. And speaking of gameplay … what exactly goes on in this world of muscle cars and slick speedsters you ask? Well, racing, of course, is the focal point. However, players can take part in missions such as finding and gathering certain items at the request of characters, the ultra-fun practice of “tractor-tipping,” and the ability to chat via keyboard with other players.

During the time myself and my little guy spent with “World of Cars,” I must say that we had a blast. The Cars license lends itself very well to being an effective online community. As mentioned though, the full experience will not be made available during its beta stage. But those parents who choose to fork over $5.95/mo. for “sponsorship” will have access to many accessories and privileges once the full release hits. (as well as a few exclusives during beta). For more info about sponsorship, go here. But for now, gas up and hit the road. Just stay outta my way!

Director: John Lasseter, Joe Ranft Starring: voices of Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Paul Newman, Larry The Cable Guy Running Time: 1 hour, 56 minutes Theatrical Release: June 9, 2006 Shop for Cars Merchandise

Plot Summary

Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson), a hotshot rookie race car driven to succeed, discovers that life is about the journey, not the finish line, when he finds himself unexpectedly detoured in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs. On route across the country to the big Piston Cup Championship in California to compete against two seasoned pros, McQueen gets to know the town’s offbeat characters –including Sally (a snazzy 2002 Porsche voiced by Bonnie Hunt), Doc Hudson (a 1951 Hudson Hornet with a mysterious past, voiced by Paul Newman), and Mater (a rusty but trusty tow truck voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) – who help him realize that there are more important things than trophies, fame and sponsorship. Fueled with plenty of humor, action, heartfelt drama, and amazing new technical feats, Cars is a high octane delight for moviegoers of all ages. (from MovieWeb.com)

Film Review

If there’s any film studio churning out one quality film after another to near flawless results, it’s Pixar Animation. The Incredibles was the studio’s last effort and the film truly lived up to its title. Their latest project, simply titled Cars, was slated for release last year but was delayed to have further work done to it. The end result is up to speed with its predecessors, but doesn’t exactly top them.

It’s hard to ignore the fact that Cars is heaps of fun from start to finish. The visuals are the best you could imagine from animation and the voice acting is spot-on. As with many of the other Pixar vehicles, Cars is also chock-full of mini homages to their previous films, inside jokes, and clever ideas to create a new, yet familiar, world. While this was touched on with the city atmosphere in A Bug’s Life or the world of scary creatures for Monster’s Inc., Pixar has gone the distance with Cars to make a human-free world inhabited exclusively by all kinds of automobiles. From insects represented as tiny VW bugs with wings to farm tractors being the equivalent of cows, Pixar successfully continues to think outside the box.

The story isn’t especially original, but stands to be unique in its own right despite familiarity. The film follows hot shot rookie racecar Lightning McQueen, voiced perfectly by Owen Wilson, who gets lost in a rundown town and held there until he repairs a road he accidentally damaged. While there, he finds friendship among the country folk, learning things that life in the fast lane wasn’t teaching him. While certain story aspects reminded me of other films and stories (especially the stranger-saves-small-town-who-change-his-life-in-return angle of Jim Carrey’s underrated The Majestic), Cars has enough charm and its own personality to stand out. And the other voice talents didn’t hurt this either. Those that especially stood out were blue collar comedian Larry The Cable Guy as Mater, veteran actor Paul Newman as Doc, Monk’s always delightful Tony Shaloub as Luigi, and Michael Keaton as the rival Chick. Although they had very little screentime, Jeremy Piven was a nice surprise as Lightning’s manager Harv while staple Pixar voice contribution John Ratzenberger was also wonderful as Mack.

While it’s hard to think of a single negative thing about Cars, something seems to hold it back from the greatness that the Toy Story films and The Incredibles achieved before it. Perhaps it’s harder for us to relate to automobiles given human traits, I’m not sure. Another problem may be the film’s pacing. While a wonderful story and perfectly written to “flesh” out the characters, it may not move along quick enough to really keep the kids interested for its duration. They’re the kind of problems that great stories like The Majestic and The Kid have suffered. The other problem Cars may endure, is that it’s a bit too long for an animated film. While adults can absorb and appreciate each moment of screentime, I can see it being difficult for a child to make it through its 2 hour running time, let alone the slower romantic moments.

Whatever the flaw that might exist within the confines of film that comprises Cars, it’s a fine addition to Pixar’s catalog of animated features. With great comedy, great visual, and great characters carry Cars to the finish line, Pixar continues to create films with the right elements that other Hollywood filmmakers should be looking to for examples on how to do it right. Oh, and all viewers should stick it out for the entire credits, and even after they end, to catch all of the film. Some of Cars funniest moments are in the credits, and will be appreciated especially by those who have been enjoying Pixar films for years.