A Rare Missed Swing For Pixar

Rating: 5/10 (16 January 2012)

On the surface, it didn't seem like there was much cause for a direct sequel to this franchise, but given their track record I had to give Pixar the benefit of the doubt. In reality, it didn't take long for those early worries to be confirmed. This is like a jumbo-sized TV episode with incredible production values but a weak, redundant script. Where the original was, clearly, the worst of Pixar's properties, at least it had an honest message at heart; that the abundance of interstates and high speed traffic has ruined the necessity and charm of small-town America, at once mourning and celebrating that lost taste of cultural charm. By comparison, there's really no reason for Cars 2 to exist. It's a straight-up Saturday morning cartoon, shifting from caper to caper without the benefit of a discernible moral. And while there's really nothing wrong with that - there's an insatiable need for kid's fodder on the big screen, certainly - it's depressing to see it coming from the same company responsible for generation-transcending classics like Monsters Inc., Toy Story and Up. While it'll undoubtedly sell plenty of toys, this was the wrong movie at the wrong time for Pixar, and a rare instance of the studio losing ground to the competition.