The Meaning of Cars Changed For Me 20 Years After Its Release
Like most millennials, I grew up watching every animated Disney movie. While Cars (2006) was one of them, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and his crew didn’t really mean much to me until almost 20 years after its release. It wasn’t because the movie wasn’t good; it’s undeniable that the story being told by these incredible animated cars is great. But the truth is that, unlike Toy Story (1995), the movie simply didn’t stay with me.
Fast forward to 2025, I am a mom, and my son is about to turn 2. Unlike some people who truly stand by the whole "my kid won’t watch TV until he is over 2," I found a certain joy in sharing movies from my time with my son. I discovered that there were certain things that stuck with him that had never stuck with me or had never meant much to me. And that is how Cars made its way back to me.
My son sat on the couch next to me, and the way in which his face lit up the moment Lightning McQueen started racing is very hard to put into words. He was on the edge of his seat, cheering, screaming, laughing, and smiling for the 117 minutes. Cars became the first movie he watched from minute 0 to minute 117. Lightning McQueen became his first hero, and therefore the first character and movie that made my mom's heart cry from that moment on.
From that very first day onward, we watched Cars so much that it became my most-watched movie on Letterboxd in 2025, and John Ratzenberger, who gives voice to Mack, Hamm Truck, Abominable Snow Plow, and P.T. Flea Car, was my most-watched actor. Truthfully, Ratzenberger became the most-heard voice in my household when Toy Story joined the list of movies my son enjoyed. Cars became special to me because of my son, and I started paying attention to every detail in the movie.
Beyond being able to name every single character in all three movies (and animated series you can find on Disney+), I became very familiar with the storyline and the dialogue. I know the script (in Spanish because that’s how I show movies to my bilingual son) by heart, and I don’t think I’m ever going to forget it. I came to understand why people love Lightning McQueen, and why we should definitely encourage our children to love him.
McQueen goes from being an absolute asshole to a loving, caring car who has more friends than he could have ever dreamt of. From being a "one-man show" to having an entire team supporting him, leading him to every win. From sacrificing his two back wheels to giving up the first title of his career to help The King (Richard Petty) finish his last race. He becomes the kind and caring character we want our children (or anyone, for that matter) to emulate.
Cars is a movie about friendship, about realizing that you don’t have to do everything alone, about becoming the best version of yourself when you care about others, and about a community. Sally (Bonnie Hunt) is the perfect example of this. She gave up her fancy life as an LA attorney to move to Radiator Springs because she fell in love with the town, its cars, and its past. She believes that Radiator Springs can be so much more than what people see it as now, so she works day and night to make sure they can move it toward a better future. She cares about others, she forms friendships, and she keeps the community alive—everything we want our kids to admire in a fictional character.
With every rewatch, I realized that I had never paid such close attention to the details that make Cars a memorable, iconic, and legendary movie. There’s a reason we’re still watching it 20 years later. There’s a reason even kids born in 2023 fall in love with the movie and its characters. It’s a timeless piece of art that will truly never die. Radiator Springs and every car in town will live on forever in the hundreds of kids who discover the movie every year, and I think that’s the most beautiful legacy a movie could have.
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