CARS 2

Much to my profound chagrin, Cars 2 is the first Pixar movie I didn’t absolutely love.

It wasn’t for lack of trying – as I watched it unspool, I kept hoping it would get better and that the familiar magic of the studio that gave the world brilliant gems like WALL-E and Up (both of which earned full-pie ratings) would somehow materialize in what was otherwise a frenetic, hollow and uninteresting spy thriller. I was sure, at any moment, the film would take a poignant turn, or round a meaningful corner… or even provide some kind of unexpected delight.

But it did not. And, by the time the credits rolled, I felt let down by some of my favorite filmmakers.

In the first Cars, we met cocky racecar Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), who wound up in a dusty, forgotten, middle-of-nowhere town along Route 66 called Radiator Springs. There, he met an eclectic cast of endearing autos, learned about friendship, learned about love and learned more than a few lessons in humility. It was sweet, it was charming, it was lovable and so were it characters.

Cut to 2011, and its comparatively charmless sequel. This time, in the film's biggest misstep, the action revolves almost entirely around dim-witted tow truck Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy), who – despite his epic, and increasingly unfunny, cluelessness – is mistaken for an international spy when he accompanies Lightning (who’s essentially relegated to a supporting role) across the pond for a series of international races against Formula-One nemesis Francesco Bernoulli (voiced by John Turturro). The races are sponsored by a Mark Burnett-y, thrill-seeking SUV named Sir Miles Axelrod (voiced by Eddie Izzard), who’s trying to get the world to eschew gasoline in favor of his new environmentally friendly fuel called Allinol. It’s renewable, it’s clean-burning energy source and, frankly, is described in such needlessly-complicated-for-children terms that I felt like I was suddenly watching an educational film. Unlike WALL-E, which took its environmental message and delivered it with grace and subtly, Cars 2 practically beats the audience senseless with the obviousness of its (somewhat misplaced and misguided) green goals.

Anyway…

Mater is recruited by spymobiles Finn McMissle (voiced by Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (voiced by Emily Mortimer), neither of whom are particularly memorable or engaging, and the trio set out to uncover who’s been sabotaging races and blowing up cars.

And, really, that’s pretty much all there is to it.

Missing from this adventure and the entire film is heart. Where is it? Every single Pixar movie has made me cry, but this one? Nary even a misty eye. Just as absent were the brains – the clever in-jokes, the smart asides, the savvy winks at the audience. Nuthin’. It felt as though the filmmakers made a conscious decision to travel an easier – and, perhaps, quicker – narrative road and, in the process, stripped their movie of much of what’s made Pixar films so great in the past. There are lots of car chases and shootouts and explosions, but very little substance. Thanks to its trans-continental locations, most of the familiar characters from Cars are left in the dust back in America, which is too bad. I was relieved to see my little friend Luigi, but bummed that he and the rest of the Radiator Springs gang are shoved aside for the new, less interesting autos.

I was also somewhat surprised, and not in a good way, by the degree of violence. The entire opening sequence involves a long, casualty-heavy gun fight on an oil rig, and the plot point of exploding cars (i.e., cars dying) seemed out of sync with Pixar's tone. Likewise, the espionage aspect felt like it would likely go way over the heads of the film's pint-sized target audience.

Overall, it didn’t feel like nearly as much thought and precision went into the storytelling, and that the quality of the script was sacrificed in favor of flashy animation and digitally recreating the streets of Paris and London. Admittedly, the movie looks stunning, which was no surprise... but seems dumbed down, which was.

DVD & BLU-RAY NOTES

The quality of the movie notwithstanding, the Cars 2 2-Disc Combo Pack is surprisingly (for a Disney/Pixar release) short on extras. You'll find the short 'toons "Air Mater" and "Hawaiian Vacation" (featuring the Toy Story characters, that was shown in theaters before the film), and commentary by director John Lasseter. Really? That's it? Apparently now you have to shell out for the 3D Blu-Ray release to get the good stuff, and of course you have to have a 3D system in the first place to bother with that. Pshaw!