Cars 2

Went and saw Cars 2 last weekend. It is the twelve feature film but out by Pixar, and it is the sequel to Cars which came out in 2006. It is also the fifth Pixar movie directed my John Lasseter, the others being Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life and Cars. Right from the beginning you get the impression that this movie no longer takes place in just Radiator Springs, the small town from the first one.You'd be right, because it doesn't. You also get the impression that this is less about Lighting McQeen, voiced by Owen Wilson, and more about Mater, voiced by Larry the Calbe Guy. Again, you'd be right. So if you didn't like Mater in the first movie, which I don't know how you could not, don't go see this. This should called "Cars 2: Mater 'round the World."

The thing I was most interested about was hearing from reviews, and interviews, before the movie came out was that this was going to be almost like a James Bond film. Boy were they right. The beginning of the movie feels just like a James Bond film. Michael Cain plays an Aston Martin named Finn McMissile who is a British spy. The female intelligence office's name is Molly Shiftwell.. What is more James Bond then that? The beginning of the movie could have been straight out of a Bond film. McMissile is on an intelligence gather mission. Things go wrong, car case scene, explosions, everything you want in a Bond opening. I was expecting to see the infamous "shoot down a site" opening for all James Bond movies.

The plot is simple. Former Oil Tycoon Miles Axelrod, voiced by Eddie Izzard, develops a new form of bio fuel Allinol, and has a Gran Prix around the world to promote it. A group of cars, "lemons", want to destroy Allinol because they just found the largest untapped oil reserve in the world. To do this, they must sabotage the races to show the world that this new bio fuel is dangerous. McQueen enters the race, Mater is mistaken for the American spy counter part, Rod "Torque" Redline, voiced by Bruce Campbell. Let the hilarity ensue.

The thing I loved about this movie was seeing all the things "Cars-ified" like "Big Bently" = Big Ben, there was a Pope car, and there was a Pope Car car (a car which drove the Pope car around). After awhile, Mater's "naivity" gets a little old, but that is who his character is.

All in all, didn't love it as much as I loved Toy Story 3. I liked it better then the first Cars. As with all Pixar movies, this movie has heart.

3 out of 5 stars.


As a side note, Jess and I were the oldest non parents there, but possibly not the youngest "adults". For most of the visual gags, it was me and a three year old girl laughing.