Poster for Pixar’s movie Cars. New, but a bit cocky, race sensation Lightening McQueen is traveling to California for a big race when he gets caught speeding through Radiator Springs just off Route 66. He makes a mess of things when trying to get away, and judge Doc Hudson orders the sheriff to watch McQueen carefully while he makes repairs. McQueen ends up befriending lots of the town folk, and even finds out that Doc, also a racer from days gone by, was his hero growing up.

Sounds like a great story. But all the characters are talking cars. The movie is a wonderful model of reality immersed in fantasy. And all the imagery in motion is the result of computer-generated modeling that accounts for the physics of real bodies in motion.

Credit: Disney 2006