Cars 2

Rating: 2/10 (2 July 2020)

Cars 2, was directed & written by John Lasseter, again, but co-directed by Brad Lewis this time. He's produced titles like Ratatouille, and has been a voice over in The Incredibles & Ratatouille. It was a highly anticipated film, but it clearly fell flat, and missed the mark completely. John Lasseter gave us a messy, unwanted, unoriginal spy sequel. First things first, they should've scrapped EVERYTHING about the spy scheme, and expanded on building Radiators Springs. I was personally excited to see them expand on Radiator Springs, but they decided to go cliché once again, and do a stupid world tour. With the reputation that Pixar has of building worlds, this one was just okay, but could've been so much better, and focused. This may be far fetched, but I got this weird taste of Rocky 3 & 4 in this movie.
Owen Wilson returns as Lightning McQueen, but as an underlining character; he just didn't have much to do. McQueen seemed to have matured off screen, but in the first set, it seemed like the same arrogant McQueen, mixed with the nice guy attitude as well. After the heavy foreshadowing first act, the movie basically became super predictable and all about Mater. Larry the Cable Guy hasn't lost a step, as far as his comedy and stature goes. If you like his character, you'll most likely enjoy this film. If you are one of those people who had a negative opinion on Mater, you're most likely going to strongly dislike this movie. As much as I love Michael Caine, Finn McMissile, and everyone else affiliated with the spy scheme, should've been abolished. I didn't care for any of their characters whatsoever. Professor Z is just a cliché bond villain, that the writers try making important, but he just sucked.
The screenplay by John Lasseter, Dan Fogelman & Ben Queen had their fair share of comedy, but it wasn't as cohesive as the first, and seemed a little forced at time, including the world cultural jokes.
We got more action this time around, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was better. The racing, courses, and foreign car designs were very cool, but all of that kind of took a back seat to the stupid spy theme they were going for. The cinematography by Jeremy Lasky, again & Sharon Calahan was visually beautiful, with so many colors, with amazing animations, that stood out more than the first movie. The art directors created this beautiful European atmosphere, with realistic looking back drops, that I personally don't really care for in an animated film.
Overall, I hate to say this because I really enjoyed the original Cars but, Cars 2 my least favorite Pixar movie.