(Pixar) The Cars

From "The Art of Cars" book:

"We never shortchange the story development," John Lasseter says. "At Pixar, the story drives everything. Throughout a film's production we are constantly reworking the story again and again until we have a film that we want to watch with our own families."

"All of the time and research, however, only served to help them reach the ultimate goal of crafting a memorable story and believable characters. When you see this film, you don't see the research. You feel like you are a part of the crowd in the bleachers or a member of the pit crew at the racetrack. You meet characters that are endowed ith the same idiosyncrasies, foibles, fears, courage, humor, and resiliency that can be found in everyone. You get to know what it's like to be out on American's Main Street, where nothing is predictable."

They actually do A LOT of research trips every now and then, just for one feature animation (wonder how much that costs). They stop by to explore, observe, interact, and absorb as much as possible from the real world, even through the history of the subjects, exchanging knowledge with equally passionate people of the relevant fields so that they can "recreate" the same feel into their works. All driven by the same goal and passion.

Awesome bunch of people.