William Arnold of the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" praised it as "one of Pixar's most imaginative and thoroughly appealing movies ever" and Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly" called it "a work of American art as classic as it is modern." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three out of four stars, saying that it "tells a bright and cheery story, and then has a little something profound lurking around the edges. In this case, it's a sense of loss." Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "Fueled with plenty of humor, action, heartfelt drama, and amazing new technical feats, "Cars" is a high octane delight for moviegoers of all ages." Richard Corliss of "Time" gave the film a positive review, saying "Existing both in turbo-charged today and the gentler '50s, straddling the realms of Pixar styling and old Disney heart, this new-model "Cars" is an instant classic." Brian Lowry of "Variety" gave the film a negative review, saying "Despite representing another impressive technical achievement, it's the least visually interesting of the computer-animation boutique's movies, and -- in an ironic twist for a story about auto racing -- drifts slowly through its semi-arid midsection." Robert Wilonsky of "The Village Voice" gave the film a positive review, saying "What ultimately redeems "Cars" from turning out a total lemon is its soul. Lasseter loves these animated inanimate objects as though they were kin, and it shows in every beautifully rendered frame." Ella Taylor of "L.A. Weekly" gave the film a positive review, saying ""Cars" cheerfully hitches cutting-edge animation to a folksy narrative plugging friendship, community and a Luddite mistrust of high tech."