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Road Thrill

Cars (Disney-Pixar, $29.99)

The story of Lightning McQueen, a speedy race car in bad need of friends, is about as Hollywood as you can get -- an homage to small-town life on historic Route 66. And yet the story hits on all cylinders, from the digital perfection of its animation to the human nature of its four-wheeled characters. "I create feelings in others that they themselves don't understand," the self-involved McQueen tells a courtroom when he first finds himself trapped in the town of Radiator Springs. By story's end, McQueen has won the big race and returned to his new friends in the once forgotten Route 66 town, declaring, "I thought I'd stop and stay a while. I hear this place is back on the map." Adults on your gift list will enjoy this blockbuster ride once, maybe twice. Kids will never tire of it.

Extras: Super! Three original animated shorts: Epilogue and Mater and the Ghostlight feature the stars of Cars, while One Man Band is a radical departure: a battle of two one-man bands on an Italian piazza.

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