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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
Friday,
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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