It should come as absolutely no surprise that for as precisely calculated and micro-marketed a product as the Pixar films are, the accompanying soundtracks are about as shocking as the likelihood of a John Tesh-Kanye West collaboration. Pixar’s latest cash cow, Cars, is no exception and its collection of attendant songs—split almost neatly between pop/country stars of the moment and Randy Newman’s indifferent, unremarkable score—are pleasant, competent, and inoffensive to the point of tedium. Sheryl Crow, whose “Steve McQueen” might’ve been a better fit here, rips into another slice of Lite-FM-ready pop/rock with “Real Gone,” which makes for a jarring segue into Chuck Berry’s classic “Route 66.” Rascal Flatts’s wholly unnecessary update of Tom Cochran’s karaoke staple “Life Is A Highway” notwithstanding, James Taylor’s “Our Town” is oddly affecting, but in that poignant-movie-montage sort of way. Brad Paisley chips in a couple of songs, neither one of which has much spark, and burgeoning blues legend John Mayer’s reinterpretation of “Route 66” is so rote as to be airless. Thank God somebody dusted off The Chords’ chestnut “Sh-Boom.” While Cars is an easily digestible bit of summer multiplex fun, its soundtrack is as ephemeral as the exhaust from Lightning McQueen’s tailpipe; the kids might well wear it out on a car trip this summer, but they probably won’t remember a thing about it by the time school starts this fall.
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