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Friday, June 24, 2011

MOVIE REVIEW
Cars 2 (3D)

Meet A Sequel's Most Annoying Car-acter: Mater In The Middle



Michael Caine, Larry The Cable Guy and Owen Wilson voice from left to right, Finn McMissile, Mater and Lightning McQueen respectively in John Lasseter's "Cars 2". 
Pixar
 

by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW
Fri
day, June 24, 2011

Fast, colorful and out of control, "Cars 2" careens and screeches its way across the screen, light, empty and ultimately out of gas.

John Lasseter's follow up to the 2006 smash hit finds Lightning McQueen travelling to Japan to race in the World Grand Prix where he'll try to win the title from a confident Italian car Francesco Bernoulli (voiced by John Turturro).  Mater joins Lightning on the trip and soon gets dragged into a spy mission run by British super agent spy car Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and his sidekick Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer).

"Cars 2" has a dazzlingly beautiful look at times but the scenery is often tarnished by the voice of Larry The Cable Guy, whose voice seems to have risen an octave in the intervening five years.  For some reason the four writers (including the director) thought it a smart idea to expand Mater's role while reducing Lightning McQueen's presence.  As the voice of Mater, Larry The Cable Guy is an annoyance.  Omnipresent, his repetitive antics and grating voice grow shrill and finally unbearable, to the point where I was taken out of the film completely.  Even Jar Jar Binks of "Star Wars" Episodes 1-3 wasn't this irritating or distracting.

The spy story looks, feels and belongs to a completely different film.  The time spent developing the spy story could have been used instead for better dialogue, scenarios and ideas around Lightning as a core character.  Create a conflict for Lightning.  Let Mr. Wilson's Lightning choose between a spy mission that could be lucrative and the passion of racing.  "Cars 2" had a baton that was red hot after hitting gold in 2006 but apparently lost its grip on what makes a good formula for a sequel that deserved the kind of quality audiences have come to know and expect from Pixar.

An indecisive vehicle, "Cars 2" often vacillates between the racing and espionage angles, and the contrast between the two is abrupt, not seamless.  As a result I was never settled when watching this animated spectacle, which isn't truly for kids but neither is it for adults.  Mr. Lasseter's film is ill-defined, shapeless and too haphazard to have a certifiable identity.  Simply put, "Cars 2" doesn't know what it wants to be, and in its own confusion it tries to be everything.

Pixar's latest movie product marks its nadir.  Bustling with color, "Cars 2", in 3D, lacks the life and emotional flourishes in characters that "Cars" possessed.  Mr. Caine's character is an obvious James Bond wannabe, an Aston Martin with tricks up its sleeve both above and below water.  "Cars 2" tries taking an ambitious turn but threw in a sledgehammer to spice things up story-wise when using a spanner or small wrench would have been sufficient.

It is difficult to care about or invest in the shapeless characters that parade across the screen here.  Obviously the makers of "Cars 2" put a huge amount of effort and care into constructing it.  I don't know if it's because I'm getting older or because the material here wasn't compelling enough to fuel my interest but "Cars 2" felt hollow and cold.  Aside from the late Paul Newman the cast from the original film returns, yet they hardly distinguish themselves on the big stage for Mr. Lasseter.  "Cars 2" runs for almost its whole duration on auto-pilot, and is a long, exhausting and remarkably blasé experience. 

"Fast Five", a film featuring cars, tweaked its predictable narrative by finding new ways to integrate its shiny product into a fresh, expanded story.  The gamble paid off handsomely.  "Cars 2" however, falls into the trap nearly all the summer Hollywood sequels have so far: showcasing, bigger, louder and more brash, without putting meat on the bones of a good story or interesting characters.

With the voices of: Bonnie Hunt, Eddie Izzard, Brent Musburger, Thomas Kretschmann, Joe Mantegna, Tony Shalhoub, Vanessa Redgrave, Lewis Hamilton, Cheech Marin, Jenifer Lewis, Jeff Garlin, Jeff Gordon, Richard Kind, Edie McClurg, Katherine Helmond, John Ratzenberger.

"Cars 2" is rated G by the Motion Picture Association Of America.  The film's running time is one hour and 53 minutes.

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