Pixar's Weakest Film

Rating: 3/10 (15 January 2018)

The talented people at Pixar have brought us many excellent films over the years such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Ratatouille, Inside Out, and most recently Coco, to name a few. Unfortunately, as I watched Cars 2, I became increasingly dismayed as I realized it was the first film from Pixar that I truly disliked. Granted, I did not care much for the original Cars in 2006, but it is not a straight-up bad film. Cars 2, on the other hand, is a massive step down from its predecessor.
The major difference between the first and second film is that whereas the first focuses on Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), going through a decent amount of character growth before a large racing competition, the second oddly focuses on the first film's comic relief character, Tow Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), who is caught up in a plot involving secret agents and a monocle-wearing super villain. Meanwhile, McQueen and his new racing problem is relegated to something of a backdrop.
The biggest issue in this film is the focus on Tow Mater, who is annoying at the best of times and insufferable at the worst. Unfortunately for me, he is in the majority of this nearly two-hour long film. Meanwhile, the story itself is dull and generic. The plot is identical to those in countless spy/action films and there is absolutely nothing new to see here. The story ends up feeling deflated and tedious as a result, which is a real shame when past Pixar films have had a great deal of creativity in their writing.
However, despite these criticisms, I understand that this is a film targeted for a much younger audience than myself. I am sure children who see this film will have a great deal of fun with it, but I am disappointed since Pixar films usually have some appeal for people of all ages. In Cars 2 there is sadly very little for older audiences unless you like Larry the Cable Guy.
I will give credit where it is due, however. Cars 2, in terms of visuals, animation, and voice-acting has a level of polish that is to be expected from a Pixar release with a production budget of $200 million. For that, I have to give the film at least some points.
Overall, Cars 2 would be an okay but completely unremarkable film if Larry the Cable Guy did not have such a large presence in it. As it stands though, listening to Tow Mater chattering throughout the 106 minute runtime brings my opinion of it from roughly neutral to moderately negative. It is a film I would recommend avoiding unless you loved the original Cars or want to see it for completionist's sake.