Cars 2
When the first Cars movie was released in 2006, it hit screens around the same time as The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. This allowed for an interesting direct comparison between an established car movie franchise and Pixar's interpretation of that style of movie. The result was that Pixar kicked Tokyo Drift's butt in terms of raw, seat-of-your-pants racing excitement. And Cars 2 is no exception, again capturing the essence of motor racing - the cacophony, the flash, the motion blur, perfectly capturing the thrill of the race. Add into this a James Bond style action plot concerning a cabal of automotive lemons attempting to sully the allure of biofuels by eradicating beautiful sports cars and we have a sequel which betters its predecessor.
This time around Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) takes a back seat and the far more interesting Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) takes centre stage with support from Her Majesty's secret agents, Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holly Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer). The action is smart and thrilling with lots of little references to pop culture and people, the likes of which we've come to expect from the Pixarians. In a particularly nice touch and in a show of respect to the recently deceased Paul Newman, his vehicular counterpart, Doc Hudson, is now also deceased.
Every Pixar film is prefaced by a short film and Cars 2 is no exception. This time around it's a Toy Story short that is cute but naturally lacks the originality of Day and Night or Partly Cloudy or even For the Birds. It is, however, appropriate for the target audience and the kiddies won't be disappointed.
Although some distance off the pinnacle of Pixar's work, Cars 2 is a competent and entertaining effort and its increased action and complexity of story is a solid improvement on its predecessor. Stuart Jamieson www.disney.go.com
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