Cars 2 Review

When Cars released back in 2006, Pixar was greeted with a then unheard of lukewarm (though not by any means bad) critical reception which didn’t harshly impact the huge amounts of money the film shoveled in worldwide. It did, however, show that even the most respected studio in cinema was vulnurable to a subpar effort now and then. The studio promptly followed up in 2007 with Ratatouille, which went on to claim the Best Animated Film Oscar and prove that Pixar was very far from done producing phenomenal CGI-films. Now here we are in 2011 with Cars 2, the studio’s offering this year. It was a strange move by Pixar to choose to create a sequel to their least well received film, but no one questioned the almighty studio’s decision. This turns out to be unfortunate, as Cars 2 is not only unquestionably Pixar’s weakest effort to date, but also a disappointingly mediocre film from any perspective. 

In a surprising move, Cars 2 switches its focus from ego-centric race car Lightning McQueen to his best friend and the comic relief of the first film, dimwitted, lovable tow-truck Mater (who turns out to be the only character in the entire Cars franchise that truly feels worth revisiting). When he’s mistaken for an American spy by a pair of elite MI6 members, Mater is unwittingly thrown into a world of espionage revolving around a quest to stop a criminal group with an apparently super-powerful weapon, but he most obviously has no idea what’s going on (and doesn’t really seem to care) until the film reaches its final bit. Meanwhile, McQueen competes in the first ever World Gran Prix, a huge event sponsored by the creator of an alternate fuel source for cars called Allinol, who wishes to prove the quality of his product by requiring all participants to run on the stuff. When a series of mysterious wrecks during McQueen’s races leads the spies to discover a connection between the criminal super-weapon and the Grand Prix, Mater and McQueen’s stories become one, and lots of explosions, crazy car chases and classic spy-movie style antics ensue. By the film’s conclusion, the conspiracies behind the motivations of the baddies actually turn out to be rather interesting, though a lot of convoluted twists and turns and the occasional plot hole is required to reach that point. To back all this up, Pixar throws in some friendship problems for Lightning and Mater to sort out, but this subplot feels so familiar and utterly recycled that it becomes uninteresting. 

As usual, Pixar has casted its voice talents near-perfectly here, picking up big names Michael Caine and John Turturro to go along with Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy as the two leads. Though there are a few poor vocal performances (namely Emily Mortimer as British agent Holly Shiftwell, who is often painfully corny in her delivery), Cars 2 mostly nails it in this department.  That’s not to say that any of the voice actors have been given much to work with. Though the film moves along at a very brisk (often overly-brisk) pace, none of the characters are really fleshed out or given time to flourish on their second big-screen outing. Not a single one is expanded upon in any way, save for Mater, whose emotional subplot, as mentioned above, never really goes anywhere. I found the same problem with earlier summer animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 2. It’s a somewhat disturbing trend, and something that must be corrected if Hollywood is to maintain trend of the high-quality sequels it’s been pumping out in recent years. 

It makes technical sense for a movie about cars to center around espionage, what with the ridiculous built-in gadgets and crazy vehicular chases we’ve been treated to in past spy-flicks, but Cars 2 never provides enough to fall back on once the explosions have ceased. The mystery surrounding the spy-plot is interesting enough, but outside of this we’re treated to nothing more than a bunch of eyed vehicles with built in gatling guns, bungee cords and jet skis. This is a disappointing creative misstep, to say the very least. These fairly sophisticated spy themes are counteracted nicely by some amusing comic relief primarily from, you guessed it, everyone’s favorite rusty old tow-truck. Though only a few jokes had me laughing out loud, I was mostly satisfied with the comedic elements that come almost naturally with such ridiculous characters in the mix. Cars 2 offers up a lot of visual flare, but this has come to be expected in the realm of today’s CGI-offerings. Every action sequence is a joy to watch, colors pop, foreign architecture is spot-on, and aside from some strangely flat-looking car eyes, this is one good-looking film.

There’s really nothing inherently wrong with Cars 2. It simply doesn’t provide the emotional depth and originality that has become the norm for a Pixar film. In an era where the bar has been set so very high for animated offerings (by none other than the guilty studio behind this film), do we really have to put up with the many disappointing mistakes and narrative problems that Cars 2 plops so plainly onto the table? The answer should be a resounding “no”, and until Pixar can get its act together for next summer’s Brave, and trust me, I’m crossing my fingers that they do, it pains me to say that there will undoubtedly be far superior options on the market as far as family-friendly cinema fare goes by the time 2011 comes to a close.

Final Score:

 5.0/10
"Average"