Out the Heart, In the Fun

Rating: 7/10 (23 August 2011)

Cars 2 may be one of Pixar's weakest, but that's certainly the biggest weakness of them all.
In the latest installment, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is getting ready for a worldwide competition, the World Grand Prix, and takes his old pal Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) with him to the opening race. A turn of events gets Mater caught up in a secret spy mission, led by Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell, to stop the "lemon" cars from initiating an attach against new electric oil, Allinol, for their more profitable and less eco-savvy crude oil reserves. Sounds like a high concept story for a kids film, but Cars 2 succeeds, because it doesn't ever treat it's audience like their in a childlike fantasy that the characters would otherwise seem to make up.
With big eyes, and cars with mouths, it's the most ridiculous (and adolescent) of Pixar's features, and yet the rest of the animation is stunning; the flashy, high-energy kinetic vibe of Tokyo to the dreamy Italian landscape, all of the animation in this film is stunning; i would daresay some of Pixar's best. This film, unlike many other sequels, actually attempts something new. It brings a whole new definition to the previously established series, this time accenting the youth-obsessed sports car age, both with the James Bond-esque plot and the eco-savvy thematic conflicts. It's high voltage, and it's a whole lot of fun. The pacing is non- stop and the action sequences are done brilliantly. That being said, what it makes of thrills and action, it sags in emotional heart and laughs.
Though the film banks on current environmental arguments to delve into the theme of being proud of who you truly are and the value of friendship, it it loses the depth of the film in the action that we have come to expect from Pixar. In fact, having seen Pixar's other films is the weakest aspect. You know how good they can be, so to see them not on their A-game (I would call it at least a B-game), many critics took it down. But even though it's animation outshines it's emotional core, it's a whole lot of fun. B+