Let’s get this bit of information out of the way first. For those keeping a scorecard, the creative masterminds over at Disney’s Pixar studios go an astonishing seven for perfect seven with their new summer release “Cars.” It is a remarkably entertaining computer animated family frenzy, a joyous romp into a world we’ve often fantasized existed but always knew in the back of our minds never really could. It is our wildest dreams come to life, and as such is a raucous wonderment speeding to success down the box office fastlane.

Now that the good news is out of the way, the bad is that this hydro-fueled adventure of growth and auto racing isn’t going to prove to be as transcendent or classic as say “Toy Story 2,” “”Finding Nemo” or “The Incredibles.” Instead, John Lasseter (returning to the director’s chair for the first time since helming the studio’s only sequel) and company are going to have to settle with having made a movie that sits somewhere between the delightfully amusing “A Bug’s Life” and the exquisitely wonderful “Monsters, Inc.”

Something tells me the new Disney animation head honcho isn’t going to have much of a problem with that.

Needless to say, audiences aren't going to complain either, this story of a spoiled rookie race car named Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) learning to slow down and smell the speed bumps as entertaining as movies like this can come. Stranded in the middle of the desert wasteland thanks to his own ego out on historic Route 66, Lightning comes face-to-face with a quiet community (led by an irrepressibly grizzled Hudson Hornet named Doc played by an unmistakably wondrous Paul Newman) of cars eking out a survival even though the interstate has unfortunately passed them by.

What happens next doesn’t exactly come as a shock. Lightning learns there’s more to life than winning his sport’s highest honor the Piston Cup, romances a flashy sports car named Sally (Bonnie Hunt) and makes an actual friend in the form of the beat-up carcass of a rusty tow truck named Tom Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). He also gets some new pointers on both racing and life from old Doc Hudson, with all these events leading up to a big-time race in California against legendary icon The King (Richard Petty) and aggressively selfish Chick Hicks (an amusing Michael Keaton) for his long-desired Piston Cup.

“Cars” may have been Lasseter’s pet project, but it goes without saying the script could have used a tad more work before this went into production. Much more thin and glossy than usual for Pixar, and fresh off their success on the complex characterizations and family dynamics in “The Incredibles,” this one can’t help but be a little disappointing. For the most part, no one really stands out quite like they should, and as much as I wanted to stand up and cheer for all the automobiles speeding around the screen Lasseter kept me too far at a distance from the majority of them to ever really get me to do so.

Thankfully, like “A Bug’s Life,” none of this causes too much of a problem. “Cars” is brilliantly realized on a technical level, no nuance or idiosyncrasy left to chance. The film is a feast for the eyes exploding the conventions of what is possible inside the workings of an animated feature taking inanimate objects that should have no personality and making them become believable living breathing characters a person can’t wait to spend some time with.

Better, as thin as much of it is there is still such a rich quartet of actors at the core creating wonderfully intriguing personalities it’s impossible not to let out a humongous grin. Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt and Larry the Cable Guy make an astonishing team, each working so well with the others they manage to create symphonic melody of grease monkey engineering that truly revs a person’s engines. “Cars” might not be the studio’s best, but it’s still entertaining, and like a Monster Truck jam at your local speedway it’s a down and dirty giggle crafting delight that can’t help but be on sensational guilty pleasure.