What 'Cars 2' does, it does well.

Rating: 10/10 (27 June 2011)

In this sequel to Cars, race cars Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and his tow truck pal Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) head overseas to compete in the World Grand Prix race. Mater, however, gets sidetracked with international espionage. Helped by British spy cars, Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer), Mater must stop an unknown villain trying to sabotage the race, with Lightning McQueen as his possible target.
I liked the first Cars, but I admit, amongst the other works of Pixar, it was my least favorite. With that said, I really enjoyed Cars 2. Yes, more so than Cars 1. It's very entertaining with both subtle and not-so-subtle humor that not everyone will quite get nor appreciate. The scenes in Tokyo are colorful and extreme. The scenes in Paris and Italy are breathtaking and beautifully rendered. This is a story about cars. There's only so many ways you can go with this subject. With that said, Pixar has again created a piece of work that remains consistent to their high quality.
Admittedly, Lightning McQueen, the main character in the last film played by Owen Wilson, gets less of a role here compared to Mater, played by Larry the Cable Guy. I would guess some may have a big problem with this. To be frank, Larry the Cable Guy's brand of humor isn't to everyone's taste (nor mine), and perhaps represents what makes one feel embarrassed for being Americanespecially when in a foreign country. Well, that issue is exactly what comes up in this particular film. Mater is a constant embarrassment for Lightning McQueen whenever he is around—he is ignorant, unsophisticated, and often gets himself into bad situations. What Pixar does here, however, is not to simply leave Mater to just be the butt of every joke. In fact, the characters here actually learn somethingor at least we do. The theme in this film is about friendship and seeing value in people we normally would rather not associate ourselves with.
The story is strong and twists are rather mind-boggling enough to keep little kids confused (but as an adult, I thought it was great!). Making Mater the main character, on a practical level, makes sense. Frankly, there are only so many more stories you can really squeeze out about Lightning McQueen at this point—everything already had been told in the last film. It's like a Rocky movie. Rocky sequels were okay, yes, but after a while, Rocky was no longer the underdog—now it's all about him keeping his title (it's like a story about a rich man staying rich)—there are not a whole lot of ways you can go with that plot (I suppose Rocky's next sequel could have him fight in spaceI know! Time machine! Brilliant!). One can say Cars 2 is like the further adventures of Rocky's Paulie, Mickey, or Adrian, from their point of view. I thought that was a good move. It's like how Empire Strikes Back was really Han Solo's film (although that is open for discussion).
In the previous film, I didn't care much about Mater. I learned to like him in this film. A simple character has been made a little more complex. Lightning McQueen learns a valuable lesson about friendship, and Mater learns to self-reflect. Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy are fun as always as Mater and McQueen. Michael Caine is excellent as Finn McMissile, a super agent spy car, and Emily Mortimer does fine work as Holley Shiftwell.
The overall feel of this film is more "mature"-flavored without being overtly mature. This is true for much of Pixar's films in general. If you think about many classic Warner Bros. films, for example, they had many underlying mature themes. As for Pixar, they have explored, among others, themes related to mortality (Toy Story series), the family unit (The Incredibles) and fatherhood (Finding Nemo, Up). Cars do come in harm's way in this film. Some do explode. Nothing shocking here. They're cars. I dug the action scenes. This plays like a spy thriller, which admittedly, is more exciting than watching car races. Like much of Pixar's work, there is plenty of humor, a great helping of emotion, beautiful renders, and a clever story. I can't think of anything more to ask for than that. Now, did Cars really need a sequel? Perhaps not, but I enjoyed this one and it makes me even like the previous one. I'm not really into talking cars, talking bugs, or talking fishes, personally, but Pixar still manages to make me like them.
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