It's an average film at best, but it's hard not to be disappointed

Rating: Null/10 (24 October 2011)

Make no mistake, Pixar has arguably had a perfect track record. They have produced eleven films, all of which were critically and commercially successful. Would this studio ever make a disappointment? After outdoing themselves several times over in the last few years ("Ratatouille", "WALL-E" and "Up" in particular), Pixar finally made a film that was below par. Another studio could get away with a film like this, but coming from Pixar, who have set the bar so high in the animated medium, it's almost unacceptable. "Cars 2" had a lot of potential. The brilliant opening scene should be an indicator of that. Director Brad Lewis (before John Lasseter had to come in and save the sinking ship) had a project on his hands with so many possibilities. They did one thing right, they showed us the world of "Cars". We saw Italy, Japan, England and France. However, "Cars 2" could've been a great around-the-world adventure. What holds it back from being an international thrill ride?
The story. Of course, Pixar is all about great storytelling. Story is king. "Cars 2" has a story that's so flimsy and so inconsistent, it's a real shame. "Cars 2" should've been about an entirely different cast of characters. It would've been risky, since the characters from the first wouldn't return, but isn't Pixar all about taking risks? The "Cars" world is open to so many possibilities, but yet they stick to a story about Lightning McQueen competing in an international race while Mater is mistaken for a spy. What? Unfortunately, the writing hurts what could've been an okay story. It comes off like a contrived direct-to-video storyline. McQueen and Mater are pretty much out of character in this film. The rest of the characters from the first film are decoration, along with McQueen's World Grand Prix competitors. The film is pretty much "Mater's Spy Adventure". Mater, Finn and Holley dominate the film. Everyone else takes a back seat to the spy story. What else hurts the story? The absence of Doc Hudson. Paul Newman passed away before production on the film began, thus the writers found it necessary to write Doc out of the film, but yet they kept Fillmore even though George Carlin passed away before production began. (There's a small tribute to Doc at the beginning, which felt contrived and tasteless) Pixar should've given the project to the DTV studio so they could do a cheap DTV sequel and start a franchise. Pixar wouldn't be involved, and thus it wouldn't stain their track record. Disney would gain, and so would Pixar. How come this route wasn't taken?
So the story is a mess and the product feels like a toy commercial. What does work? Fortunately, the film aims to be a mindless summer blockbuster-like film and it succeeds at that for the most part. It may not be a good film, but it's not insulting like your usual Hollywood blockbuster garbage. The action scenes are exciting, and the comic relief works for the most part. Even though Mater's antics get tiring after the while, there's still a lot of funny moments. The screenplay is shallow, but it isn't extremely bad either. The animation is dazzling, although the film goes by so fast that we don't get to savor these visuals. The story, despite its extreme flaws, has no problem getting from start to finish. That was the fastest 2 hours I've ever seen.
Final Thoughts: "Cars 2" is definitely Pixar's first mishap. It's a run-of-the-mill action story that has great moments, but the story is so flawed and a lot of potential was wasted. It also lacks heart and sincerity, a Pixar staple. Not a terrible film, not even mediocre. But it isn't good, it's just a fun, average film. It's nothing special, which is a first coming from Pixar.
Grade: C