This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Every winning streak has to end sometime. Even Pixar's.
"Cars 2" isn't an awful film, because the artists who push the pixels at Pixar's studios still pack more visual inventiveness into a single frame than some films manage in two hours.
But with a script that apes action-movie conventions without improving on them, the movie directed by John Lasseter, who helmed the first "Cars" and now oversees all of Disney and Pixar's animated product fails to reach the heights of Pixar's best.
Hotshot racing car Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) returns home to Radiator Springs, the town on Route 66 he discovered in the first "Cars." His best buddy Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) is eager to resume their fun times.
Then a rich solar-powered SUV, Sir Miles Axlerod (voiced by Eddie Izzard), creates a worldwide grand-prix racing tourney to test his new environmentally friendly auto fuel, Allinol. McQueen signs on when he's goaded by an Italian Formula 1 racer, Francesco Bernoulli (voiced by John Turturro).
Meanwhile, a conspiracy of clunker cars aims to discredit Sir Miles' Allinol discovery by sabotaging the grand prix. Ace British spy car Finn MacMissile (voiced by Michael Caine) and his assistant Holley Shiftwell (voiced by Emily Mortimer) are on the conspirators' trail, and try to rendezvous with an American agent in Tokyo. They mistake Mater for the agent, and soon the small-town truck is up to his tow hook in international espionage.
The screenplay (by Ben Queen, with story credit shared by Lasseter, co-director Brad Lewis and Dan Fogelman) doesn't pop with the usual Pixar humor, and many opportunities for smart visual gags are left unfulfilled. The energy conspiracy plot is also a bit convoluted, and explained too hastily in the final reel.
Lasseter devises elaborate car chases and fast-paced auto races, but gets a bit lost in the action sequences, which are a bit formulaic and surprisingly violent. (I can't think of another G-rated movie that had so many guns and explosions.)
"Cars 2" doesn't have the emotional heft of Pixar's great tear-jerkers, "Wall-E" or "Up." It can't even match the tenderness of the first "Cars," which plucked heartstrings with its James Taylor-aided appreciation of small-town values. The new movie sputters when it strains for deep feeling, especially as it puts that weight on Larry the Cable Guy's performance as Mater, who's dealing with self-esteem issues.
For all those problems, though, "Cars 2" is still worth a look because of the gee-whiz cleverness of Pixar's artistic team. The globe-hopping story allows the artists to create car-themed landmarks of Tokyo, Paris and London as well as a trippy version of the Italian Riviera where the rock formations resemble fenders and grilles. These images really pop in 3-D, making this one of the few times this summer when it's worth it to spring for the glasses.
(The other reason to buy a ticket: The accompanying short film, "Hawaiian Vacation," featuring the "Toy Story" characters, is five minutes of pure hilarious bliss.)
Between the smart visuals and the dumbed-down script, "Cars 2" manages to be good enough which, considering Pixar's past levels of brilliance, is a considerable disappointment.
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'Cars 2'
Lightning McQueen and pals return in a sequel that isn't running on all cylinders.
Where • Theaters everywhere
When • Opens Friday, June 24
Rating • G
Running time • 104 minutes, plus a 5-minute short, "Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation"