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Cars poster

Movies that feel likeCars (2006)

Lightning McQueen, 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.

If you loved Cars, the closest films we have are A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story (1995) and Madagascar (2005). All three share Cars' whimsical and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).

🍅 75% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. John Lasseterwhimsicalepicwittyplayfulwarmcozy
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If Cars hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Cars 2 (2011) · Cars 3 (2017)

A Bug's Life poster
A Bug's Life
1998 · dir. John Lasseter
🍅 92%★ 7.2adventure · animation · comedyDisney+

Early Pixar warmth: a small world drawn with real affection

The difference: Ensemble slapstick and peril — no hush, no open road to slow into

On behalf of "oppressed bugs everywhere," an inventive ant named Flik hires a troupe of warrior bugs to defend his bustling colony from a horde of freeloading grasshoppers led by the evil-minded Hopper.

Toy Story poster
Toy Story
1995 · dir. John Lasseter
🍅 100%★ 8.3family · comedy · animationHuluDisney+

A cocky hero learning he needs the ones he looked down on

The difference: Tighter and funnier — a chase story rather than a stay-awhile mood

Led by Woody, Andy's toys live happily in his room until Andy's birthday brings Buzz Lightyear onto the scene. Afraid of losing his place in Andy's heart, Woody plots against Buzz. But when circumstances separate Buzz and Woody from their owner, the duo eventually learns to put aside their differences.

Madagascar poster
Madagascar
2005 · dir. Eric Darnell
🍅 55%★ 6.9adventure · animation · comedy

Bright, gag-packed comfort with friendship holding it together

The difference: Loud and manic — jokes come first, feeling a distant second

Four animal friends get a taste of the wild life when they break out of captivity at the Central Park Zoo and wash ashore on the island of Madagascar.

Wreck-It Ralph poster
Wreck-It Ralph
2012 · dir. Rich Moore
🍅 87%★ 7.7family · animation · comedyDisney+

Racing, rivalry and a hero deciding what winning is worth

The difference: Denser and more frantic — worlds within worlds, less room to breathe

Wreck-It Ralph is the 9-foot-tall, 643-pound villain of an arcade video game named Fix-It Felix Jr., in which the game's titular hero fixes buildings that Ralph destroys. Wanting to prove he can be a good guy and not just a villain, Ralph escapes his game and lands in Hero's Duty, a first-person shooter where he helps the game's hero battle against alien invaders. He later enters Sugar Rush, a kart racing game set on tracks made of candies, cookies and other sweets. There, Ralph meets Vanellope von Schweetz who has learned that her game is faced with a dire threat that could affect the entire arcade, and one that Ralph may have inadvertently started.

Fantastic Mr. Fox poster
Fantastic Mr. Fox
2009 · dir. Wes Anderson
🍅 93%★ 7.9adventure · animation · comedyDisney+

Talking animals played with real personality and dry humor

The difference: Wry and adult — handcrafted mischief instead of open-hearted warmth

The Fantastic Mr. Fox, bored with his current life, plans a heist against the three local farmers. The farmers, tired of sharing their chickens with the sly fox, seek revenge against him and his family.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit poster
🍅 95%★ 7.5adventure · animation · comedy

Small-town charm, oddball locals and a big contest on the line

The difference: Very British stop-motion whimsy — cozy, but no speed or spectacle

Cheese-loving eccentric Wallace and his cunning canine pal Gromit run a business ridding the town of garden pests. Using only humane methods, which turns their home into a halfway house for evicted vermin, the pair stumble upon a mystery involving a voracious vegetarian monster that threatens to ruin the annual veggie-growing contest.

Ice Age: The Meltdown poster
Ice Age: The Meltdown
2006 · dir. Carlos Saldanha
🍅 56%★ 6.8animation · family · comedyHuluDisney+

Companionable adventuring with easy laughs for the whole room

The difference: Sequel-thin — gags stacked up where the heart should be

Diego, Manny and Sid return in this sequel to the hit animated movie Ice Age. This time around, the deep freeze is over, and the ice-covered earth is starting to melt, which will destroy the trio's cherished valley. The impending disaster prompts them to reunite and warn all the other beasts about the desperate situation.

Penguins of Madagascar poster
Penguins of Madagascar
2014 · dir. Simon J. Smith
🍅 74%★ 6.6family · animation · adventure

Cocky animated heroes learning teamwork through nonstop capers

The difference: All velocity, no Route 66 quiet — it never slows down to breathe

Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private join forces with undercover organization The North Wind to stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world as we know it.

Over the Hedge poster
Over the Hedge
2006 · dir. Karey Kirkpatrick
🍅 75%★ 6.7adventure · animation · comedyRent or buy

Both keep coming back to the same thing: villain

A scheming raccoon fools a mismatched family of forest creatures into helping him repay a debt of food, by invading the new suburban sprawl that popped up while they were hibernating – and learns a lesson about family himself.

Flushed Away poster
Flushed Away
2006 · dir. David Bowers
🍅 72%★ 6.6adventure · animation · comedyNetflix

Both are built on the same subject: villain

London high-society mouse, Roddy is flushed down the toilet by Sid, a common sewer rat. Hang on for a madcap adventure deep in the sewer bowels of Ratropolis, where Roddy meets the resourceful Rita, the rodent-hating Toad and his faithful thugs, Spike and Whitey.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie poster
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
2004 · dir. Stephen Hillenburg
🍅 68%★ 7.2adventure · animation · comedyPrime VideoParamount+

Whimsical where it counts, epic underneath

The difference: Leans harder into fantasy than Cars does

There's trouble brewing in Bikini Bottom. Someone has stolen King Neptune's crown, and it looks like Mr. Krab, SpongeBob's boss, is the culprit. Though he's just been passed over for the promotion of his dreams, SpongeBob stands by his boss, and along with his best pal Patrick, sets out on a treacherous mission to Shell City to reclaim the crown and save Mr. Krab's life.

Ferdinand poster
Ferdinand
2017 · dir. Carlos Saldanha
🍅 71%★ 6.7animation · family · adventureMax

Another champion-in-the-making who'd rather savor the slow life

The difference: Gentler and simpler — no racing thrills to balance the sweetness

Ferdinand, a little bull, prefers sitting quietly under a cork tree just smelling the flowers versus jumping around, snorting, and butting heads with other bulls. As Ferdinand grows big and strong, his temperament remains mellow. But one day five men come to choose the "biggest, fastest, roughest bull" for the bullfights in Madrid— and Ferdinand is mistakenly chosen.

In the mood for more whimsical?

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The best-reviewed films that share Cars’ defining feeling.