Pinoy animator lends artistic touch to 'Cars'

Watch out for Pinoy touches in Disney and Pixar's upcoming animated flick "Cars," as pioneering Filipino animator from Pixar Animation Studios, Nelson "Rey" Bohol, lends his imagination and ingenuity to the movie being hailed by Time Magazine as "the first great movie of summer 2006."

Bohol will also be the special guest of honor in an invitational gala premiere of "Cars" on Saturday, June 3 at the Mall of Asia in Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City.

A native of Samar, Bohol has worked in the visual development of such Hollywood blockbusters as "Finding Nemo" and "Incredibles." Many thanks to Bohol, there was a bahay kubo and the Mt. Mayon-inspired miniature volcano, Mt. Wanahakalugi, in the aquarium of tiny clownfish Nemo. In "Incredibles," the island where the Incredibles battled against the evil superhero-wannabe Syndrome, in fact, take after one of the 7,106 islands of the country, replete with coconut trees, saging stumps and the whole tropical Philippine charm.

Pinoy talent, again, formed part of the crew that revved up the making of "Cars," as Bohol stood as the film's supervising production artist. Fueled with plenty of humor, action, heartfelt drama, and amazing new technical feats, "Cars" is a high-octane delight for moviegoers of all ages.

After taking moviegoers magically into the realm of toys, bugs, monsters, fish, and superheroes, the masterful storytellers and technical wizards at Pixar ("The Incredibles," "Finding Nemo," "Monsters, Inc."), and Academy Award ®-winning director John Lasseter ("Toy Story" movies, "A Bug's Life"), hit the road with a fast-paced comedy adventure set inside the world of cars.

In the film, 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.

Opening across the Philippines on June 8, "Cars" is distributed by Buena Vista International through Columbia Pictures.