The Cars phenomenon is even better than the Power Rangers for providing child-focused entertainment that adults can tolerate. The movie was nominated for 2 Oscars and actually won a Golden Globe and is packed with memorable celebrity voices like John Ratzenberger and Cheech Marin, which add to the humor of the talking cars. Cars also has amazing animation that somehow hypnotizes children into stillness while the movie is on, then transforms this hypnotic state into a residual post-film Cars obsession. Not content to rest on the laurels of $1 billion + in merchandise related retail sales that Cars has already accumulated, the Disney/Pixar crew is already busy working on a sequel, due in 2012.

This is actually good news for people who have kids in their lives. It means that Cars themed merchandise and parties will continue to be relevant and “cool” with kids for years to come. Some of the cooler Cars items:

The Disney Cars Twin Bed - an update of the classic Silver Spoons race car bed.

Cars Video Games - Mater National Championship is the most recent, but Cars: The Videogame is also a lot of fun.

And of course, there are plenty of Cars toy cars!