Cars 2
Year: 2010
Director: John Lasseter
Starring: Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Eddie Izzard, Emily Mortimer & Owen Wilson
Runtime: 106 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 27/02/23
Director: John Lasseter
Starring: Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Eddie Izzard, Emily Mortimer & Owen Wilson
Runtime: 106 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 27/02/23
For fifteen years, Pixar had been the top dog of the animation industry. Since their debut in 1995 with Toy Story, Pixar had not only dominated the technological space with its advanced 3D computer animation that was years ahead of the competition; but also dominating the storytelling space by presenting some of the most fleshed out and emotionally resonant animated tales of all time. It seemed as thought the studio could do no wrong, and whilst some projects had certainly been better received than others, the overwhelming majority of Pixar’s slate had received critical acclaim, and none had been considered a misfire. It seems however, that all good things must come to an end eventually, and with Pixar that was the release of Cars 2.
Several years after the original film, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) has just won his fourth Piston Cup. Excited to have his best friend return, with weeks’ worth of activities planned for them both, Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) finds himself intruding on McQueen’s personal life a little too much. But when McQueen agrees to join the new ‘World Grand Prix’ established by renewable fuel tycoon Miles Axelrod (Eddie Izzard), so that he can race his rival Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro), Mater tags along for the journey and winds up getting himself embroiled in amongst secret agents and a plot to blow up the World Grand Prix racers. With the help of Finn McMissile (Michael Caine), and Holly Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer), Mater must save his best friend the only way he knows how…by being himself.
Several years after the original film, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) has just won his fourth Piston Cup. Excited to have his best friend return, with weeks’ worth of activities planned for them both, Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) finds himself intruding on McQueen’s personal life a little too much. But when McQueen agrees to join the new ‘World Grand Prix’ established by renewable fuel tycoon Miles Axelrod (Eddie Izzard), so that he can race his rival Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro), Mater tags along for the journey and winds up getting himself embroiled in amongst secret agents and a plot to blow up the World Grand Prix racers. With the help of Finn McMissile (Michael Caine), and Holly Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer), Mater must save his best friend the only way he knows how…by being himself.
Of all the films that Pixar had made in its first fifteen years, Cars was perhaps the only film that nobody was crying out for a sequel to. It was, up until Cars 2, the Pixar film with the most mixed reception both critically and from audiences. Whilst the original Cars wasn’t a bad film, it didn’t feel as though it had that same Pixar pedigree the studio was known for. Cars 2 meanwhile feels like a studio cash grab, existing for no other reason than to sell merchandise, and lacks everything that makes Pixar films as beloved as they usually are. This is exactly the kind of film that you would expect from a studio like Illumination, largely inoffensive with a couple of good jokes but about as bland and uninspired as a plain rice cake.
Upon the films release many feared that this was down to Disney interfering with Pixar (like they said they wouldn’t) and wanting to push out a sequel to capitalise on Cars’ successful merchandising efforts. But the reality is that studio head John Lasseter just really wanted to make this film, it was a passion project of his, and clearly hubris got in the way.
It’s difficult to understand why Cars 2 ended up becoming the film it did, because it’s a sequel in name only as it bears almost no resemblance to the original film, and instead feels more like a straight to DVD effort. Had the film been a spy story about McMissile’s veteran training Shiftwell’s naive newbie then I think Cars 2 could have sufficed perfectly fine as an expansion of the Cars universe; or had the film been about McQueen and Mater’s friendship being strained as the former travels the world in pursuit of fame and glory that also would have worked as a direct continuation of the original film’s storyline. But putting the two together and having Mater as the main character is just bafflingly stupid. The result is a film that was clearly constructed around silly gags involving Mater with a story being thread around those moments, rather than there being a story that needed to be told about Mater.
Upon the films release many feared that this was down to Disney interfering with Pixar (like they said they wouldn’t) and wanting to push out a sequel to capitalise on Cars’ successful merchandising efforts. But the reality is that studio head John Lasseter just really wanted to make this film, it was a passion project of his, and clearly hubris got in the way.
It’s difficult to understand why Cars 2 ended up becoming the film it did, because it’s a sequel in name only as it bears almost no resemblance to the original film, and instead feels more like a straight to DVD effort. Had the film been a spy story about McMissile’s veteran training Shiftwell’s naive newbie then I think Cars 2 could have sufficed perfectly fine as an expansion of the Cars universe; or had the film been about McQueen and Mater’s friendship being strained as the former travels the world in pursuit of fame and glory that also would have worked as a direct continuation of the original film’s storyline. But putting the two together and having Mater as the main character is just bafflingly stupid. The result is a film that was clearly constructed around silly gags involving Mater with a story being thread around those moments, rather than there being a story that needed to be told about Mater.
The previously mentioned gags are wildly hit or miss. There are a couple of jokes in the film that are genuinely funny, but they are few and far between with the overwhelming majority of them eliciting little more than a groan or a huff from me. Almost all of them revolve around Mater being a cultural fish out of water. It was well established in the original film that Mater has no sense of decorum or knowledge of how to appropriately act in social situations, he’s a ‘dumb hick’ who speaks his mind before he even knows what he’s thinking. In Cars 2 he is almost always in a situation where he’s making a fool of himself because he doesn’t understand the local customs, and especially jokes like the Japanese smart toilets feel incredibly outdated and scraped from the bottom of the barrel because of how cliché and pointless they are.
Cars 2 is also weirdly violent. I suppose it comes with the territory of being a spy thriller, but considering the original film was slapped with a PG certificate in the UK but Cars 2 gets by with a U, despite the fact that there is literal car homicide depicted multiple times is just strange. Cars are cubed, blown up, beaten, set on fire, and have bombs strapped to them. Now I might be getting sensitive in my old age, but how that passes as suitable for children as young as three, but the original film was suitable only for the ages of seven and up is beyond me.
Cars 2 also lacks the visual innovation that Pixar are so highly regarded for. Whilst the first Cars film may have not presented the best story, it did represent a massive technological leap for Pixar which firmly put them the best part of a decade ahead of the competition. Cars 2 hardly improves upon the visual standard of the original Cars, let alone a film like Toy Story 3 which presents far more impressive lighting and texture work.
I suppose the only fair question at this point is to ask whether Cars 2 would work as a kids film, rather than family entertainment. My assumption is that it would suffice. Kids of seven or under would likely sit and watch it, enjoy the humour, and ask for Cars related merchandise once the credits roll. That is the bare minimum of what an animated film should achieve, and whilst I’d be prepared to let some lower quality animation studios get away with that, Pixar is the leader of the pack, they’re so much better than this, and so that’s why Cars 2 seems so disastrous. The reality of it is that it’s no better, nor worse, than the majority of kids animated films on the market today; but Pixar have proven time and time again that they don’t make those kinds of films and that they want to make the animation medium something to be respected…Cars 2 is the exact opposite of that, and it’s a real shame.
Cars 2 is also weirdly violent. I suppose it comes with the territory of being a spy thriller, but considering the original film was slapped with a PG certificate in the UK but Cars 2 gets by with a U, despite the fact that there is literal car homicide depicted multiple times is just strange. Cars are cubed, blown up, beaten, set on fire, and have bombs strapped to them. Now I might be getting sensitive in my old age, but how that passes as suitable for children as young as three, but the original film was suitable only for the ages of seven and up is beyond me.
Cars 2 also lacks the visual innovation that Pixar are so highly regarded for. Whilst the first Cars film may have not presented the best story, it did represent a massive technological leap for Pixar which firmly put them the best part of a decade ahead of the competition. Cars 2 hardly improves upon the visual standard of the original Cars, let alone a film like Toy Story 3 which presents far more impressive lighting and texture work.
I suppose the only fair question at this point is to ask whether Cars 2 would work as a kids film, rather than family entertainment. My assumption is that it would suffice. Kids of seven or under would likely sit and watch it, enjoy the humour, and ask for Cars related merchandise once the credits roll. That is the bare minimum of what an animated film should achieve, and whilst I’d be prepared to let some lower quality animation studios get away with that, Pixar is the leader of the pack, they’re so much better than this, and so that’s why Cars 2 seems so disastrous. The reality of it is that it’s no better, nor worse, than the majority of kids animated films on the market today; but Pixar have proven time and time again that they don’t make those kinds of films and that they want to make the animation medium something to be respected…Cars 2 is the exact opposite of that, and it’s a real shame.