I saw this today and I thought it was alright. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it the way I love films like UP and WALL*E..
Comparing Cars to Up is like com pairing Apples to battery rechargers.
I discovered something about Up that I found interesting... something theorhetical...
If the film were live action, and ENTIRELY a long drawn out version of the opening montage and ended after Elle died, it probably would have been an art/prestige film (or as I like to call it cry porn). But what Pixar did was use an adult story as a springboard for an amazing adventure fantasy with elements of a buddy pick. The manage to squash so many types of movies into one with Up. I find Up and Ratatouille their high end films, which is why one didn't have much merchandise and the other's merchandise didn't sell.
Cars and its sequel are fun movies. Nothing wrong with that. They don't really have the same level of pathos or many adult themes in the mix, but they don't really need them. I find those movies and Bug's Life the weakest of the bunch, YET, it doesn't mean I don't like them.
Brave looks like a step back into a more artistic feature, and I'm really excited for it. I didn't see a preview for that one until I came home because that was a 3-D exclusive. All and all, I'm looking forward to the next batch of Pixar films (though I hate waiting until 2013 for Monsters Inc -1), way more than the next batch of Dreamworks ones... I mean, a movie where a snail gets superpowers? And they DON'T want to sequel Monsters Vs. Aliens WHY?!?