A Sequel That Surpasses The Original!!!

Rating: Null/10 (11 July 2011)

You know the topic of alternative fuel sources has attained a new urgency when an animated movie appropriates it as its theme. The new Pixar/Disney racecar sequel "Cars 2" deals with the issue of our scarce oil reserves and the need to conjure up a substitute. "Cars" director John Lasseter and "Proximity" scenarist Ben Queen have skillfully inserted this message into "Cars 2" without slighting the shenanigans which made the original comedy such fun. In fact, "Cars 2" qualifies as the rare sequel that surpasses its predecessor. The chief reason this hilarious sequel tops "Cars" is that Lasseter and crew have promoted Lightning McQueen's sidekick Tow Mater to the pole position. Larry the Cable Guy's cinematic career appeared in the pits before he provided the voice for Tow Mater. His redneck accent and cornpone humor made him ideal for a rusted wrecker with no hood and buck teeth sticking out of its grille. Sidekicks have always been scene-stealers, and Tow Mater is virtually the whole show in "Cars 2." Mind you, British actor Michael Caine gives Larry the Cable Guy a run for his money, relegating goodie-four tires Lightning McQueen to third place. McQueen still claims his share of screen time. Indeed, he provides the motivation for the plot. Nevertheless, Tow Mater and a gray Aston Martin, voiced by Michael Caine, named Finn McMissile emerge as the leading cars. Unlike the racecars only plot for the original, "Cars 2" shifts its gears and combines the usual racing antics with a sophisticated plot about a devious effort to discredit alternative fuel sources.
Again, when a kids' movie shines the limelight on the issue as imaginatively as Pixar and Disney have done, you have to wonder who has gone to sleep at the steering wheel. In a sense, "Car 2" amounts to a clever propaganda movie that advocates the manufacture of alternative fuel sources. Just as "Cars" celebrated the happy days before an interstate highway bypassed a town and demoted it to obscurity; "Cars 2" recalls 1960s' nostalgia when James Bond made the silver screen sizzle.
Basically, "Cars 2" sends red racing car Lightning McQueen and his best friend Tow Mater off onto the international racing circuit after a conceited Italian hot rodder, Francesco (voice of John Turturro), challenges our hero to prove who has the fastest wheels in the world. No sooner has McQueen gotten back to Radiator Springs after clinching his fourth Piston Cup championship than he wants to pick up where he left off with his girlfriend Sally (voice of Bonnie Hunt) who is the powder-blue Porsche. Initially, McQueen and Tow Mater have a blast speeding around town and indulging in some really big tractor tipping. Afterward, McQueen plans to date Sally and explains to Tow Mater that they want to be alone together. Not one to be put off, Tow Mater crashes their dinner date by posing as a waiter. Lightning and Sally order their 'usual' drinks. Tow Mater careens off to the bar to fetch them without knowing what they drink. While Tow Mater wonders what those 'usual' drinks are, he hears a Formula-One racecar named Francesco insult McQueen on the Mel Dorado television show. In no time, a crowd of cars assembled around Tow Mater who has called into the show to tell off Francesco. McQueen and Sally notice the crowd. Eventually, McQueen intervenes after Francesco insults Tow Mater. The sponsor of the World Grand Prix, Sir Miles Axlerod (voice of Eddie Izzard), is a wealthy Land Rover who is overjoyed when McQueen decides to enter his race. As car characters go, Sir Miles is an interesting vehicle. It seems he decided to circle the globe without a GPS and wound up lost in the wilderness where he exhausted his gasoline supply. Everybody had given up Sir Miles as lost when he emerged from the jungle running on a fuel source that he markets now as Allinol. The World Grand Prix represents Sir Miles' attempt to corner alternative fuel source market. Sir Miles plans to stage three races in Japan, Italy, and England to tout Allinol as a substitute for gasoline. Furthermore, he is making Allinol available to all racers. Nevertheless, there is more to Sir Miles than meets the eye, and Finn McMissile suspects the racing magnate has other things under his hood. "Cars 2" opens with Finn riding out to a remote part of the ocean in the middle of the night for a rendezvous with another car. When the trawler transporting Finn encounters a bigger trawler that threatens to blow it out of the water, the smaller trawler flees. Meanwhile, Finn manages to latch onto the bigger trawler and ride it back to a stretch of ocean dotted by a multitude of oil rigs atop a new underwater range of oil reserves.
If you think Sir Miles is a character, Finn McMissile is an Aston Martin with a gadget for every contingency. He can scale walls using grappling hooks launched from his bumpers. He has special magnetic tire covers that enable him to drive up the legs of mammoth oil rigs. Of course, he boasts other more traditional gadgets that allow him to perform equally incredible feats. Somehow, an American spycar posing as a Gremlin to infiltrate the villain's ranks acquires all the information that Finn needs to expose the mystery surrounding a worldwide scam. Before the American agent car is destroyed by the villains, he slips the information to an unsuspecting Tow Mater. Finn mistakes Tow Mater as a world-class espionage agent masquerading as a buffoon. You can just imagine all the hilarity that ensues when a fleet of Gremlins, Pacers, and Yugos pursue Tow Mater to relieve him of the information which will not only expose their perfidy but also the car behind it. Lasseter orchestrates one amusing stunt after another in this lively 106-minute spoof of spy movies with more sight gags than you will ever spot on the first viewing.