Excellent sequel

Rating: 7/10 (4 July 2011)

Having read through reviews, I did not quite understand the negativity.
First off, I totally enjoyed the movie. That's the most important aspect to movies for me - I usually want to be entertained.
I will speculate why others may not have liked it. They compared it to Cars, and it was different, and it was not what they were looking for.
So when you see the movie, treat it as an action movie, rather than part sentimental part action movie like other Pixar offerings.
I enjoyed Mater's adventures quite a bit. To be honest, even in the first movie, Lightning McQueen's character can be a bit annoying. So I did not mind the break. I am not a fan of any of that blue collar comedy stuff, but Larry the Cable guy is quite amusing as Mater, who is obviously the star in this movie. Deal with it! :) The animation is AWESOME. Check out the buildings in Europe. Amazing. The bright glowingness of Japan. Cool. When in London, look at all the details, such as traffic moving across the Tower Bridge. It made me happy to see such craftsmanship in the animation.
Car fans should love all the car talk. How can you not love a movie which highlights the "failures" we laughed at in the 70s, such as the Gremlin! They had some fun cars you don't often see, like the 3-wheeled car (and I have seen some 3-wheeled mini cars in museums, so fun.) F1 fans should appreciate the appearance by David Hobbs - they even used what sounded like real F1 engine sounds in one scene. The race scenes, all too short for my tastes were well done - some of the most fun racing animation I have seen.
If you like action movies, spy movies, gadgets, state of the art animation, car jokes similar to all the flintstones rock related jokes, references to lesser known cars and Mater, how can you not like this movie? Just don't expect the same movie Cars was (not that Cars was superior, it was a different type of movie.)