Cars 2 Review

Lightning Macqueen and Tow Mater zoom past danger in Cars 2

Cars 2

C+

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Well the streak had to end sometime. Pixar’s 16 year streak of not making a bad movie has come to an end. While Cars 2 is by no means a terrible motion picture that should be burned, it’s just incredibly average. Everything from the jokes to the emotions feels forced where in other Pixar films it would be top notch. Cars 2 is by far Pixar’s worst movie to date and one that I sadly cannot really recommend to anyone over 10.



Cars 2 again follows Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) a young race car who has now gained super stardom in the US. He just came home to Radiator Springs after capturing his fourth piston cup to meet his best friend the tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). After a brush up with the biggest European race car Francesco Bernoulli he is thrust into the Word Grand Prix, a large race tournament to promote a new alternative fuel. Meanwhile good old Mater has gotten involved with two British spies Finn McMissle (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) who are trying to find out who is behind a plot to destroy the Grand Prix race cars.



Lightning McQueen takes a back seat in this film as dose the racing. Where the focus lies is Mater’s spy subplot. The humor here though is obvious and heavy handed. It’s not handled with the usual finesse that Pixar is known for. Neither is the emotional part of the film. It just does not have the level of sophistication required to keep an older audience engaged in the characters and plot.



The performances here are good but not great. The one fun standout here is Michael Cane who works well as the older, more experienced spy. Other than that though Owen Wilson is ok although he lacks some emotion, Mater feels forced as a character to me but I guess that’s not the fault of Larry the Cable Guy. Most of the supporting cast (except of course the late Paul Newman) returns although most of them make small cameos throughout the film.



Visually, Cars 2 is stunning. Pixar’s animation is still the most vibrant and colorful in the industry. Each location the characters visit has its own unique and fun visual flare to it and the visuals are never dull and boring. I cannot comment on the 3D though as I chose to see it in brighter more vibrant 2D.



Cars 2 is the first Pixar film I didn’t like. It lacks the sophistication and finesse of past efforts from the company. Don’t get me wrong it’s by no means a terrible or unwatchable film but it’s not up to Pixar’s standards. Hopefully Pixar will ditch the sequels next year and bring us something original and special.