IT MUST be absolutely ace to be a kid. It's a cliche, but youth is wasted on the young, but maybe that's because being a child just gets more fun as the years tick by... in line with technology getting more advanced, anyway.

I never had a PlayStation when I were a lad. I had a bunch of books strategically placed on my bedroom floor as a makeshift drum kit (battered with two chopsticks donchaknow).

Anyway my convoluted point is that we think youth is wasted on the young because they have stuff we didn't and so it goes from generation to generation.

By the time I was 10 there were only all three Star Wars films, Goonies and maybe Dark Crystal worthy of any note.

These days they get Over The Hedge, Ice Age 1 and 2, Toy Story 1 and 2, The Incredibles, Madagascar and now Cars.

Pixar has become a Hollywood byword for a family friendly movie and Cars is the latest instalment of an incredibly successful stable of films.

It will no doubt sit alongside the aforementioned movies as a phenomenally big money-spinner for the masters of computer-animated films that provide fun for the kids and a knowing wink to the parents.

This time out, the celebrities (most notably Owen Wilson and Paul Newman) are providing voices for cars.

And herein lies my only gripe with the film: At least with the predecessors, it was feasible for the characters to talk like a bunch of toys, some animals and a family of super heroes.

But I suppose it's testament to the characters and the breathtaking designs that you don't really care that they are talking cars that become personalities.

Not that kids will really care anyway. They'll be too busy getting lost in a fab little world of funny cars that can talk.

I won't bore you with an account of the storyline but there are plenty of laughs to be had.

There are some great exchanges between the 'hippy' wagon and the regimented army car and I suppose the underlying message is don't judge a book by its cover or a car by its paint job or horsepower. 8/10 - The Pixar machine is running very smoothly indeed