Even though Cars wasn't quite up to the level of its fellow CG films, there was still something special about it, and quite frankly, whatever that something special was, it just isn't there for Cars 2. Where the first film was the journey of a high-speed race car's lesson to slow down and enjoy the present, Cars 2 feels like nothing more than a way to put Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) at the center of the show room and let him act a fool and do slapstick comedy.
The film starts off with Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) returning from a season of races. Hoping to spend the off season with his best friend Mater, his best girl-car Sally (Bonnie Hunt) and the rest of the Radiator Springs gang, McQueen has turned down an invite to the first ever World Grand Prix. This three-race event takes place in Japan, Italy and England and is used to show off a new alternative fuel that former oil tycoon Sir Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard) has developed.
When a rival race car, Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro), goes on TV and makes fun of McQueen for backing out, Mater calls up the show and defends his friend. This event not only convinces McQueen to join the race, but bring Mater with him around the world. What they don't realize is that there seems to be a plot afoot. A new crime organization has appeared and it is made up of the world's most undesirable cars: Pacers, Gremlins, Yugos and other lemons. It seems they have some plan for the races, and super secret British agent Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) along with his partner, the tech-savvy Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) are on the case.
In a series of pretty contrived and somewhat overdone plot points, Mater is mistaken for an American secret agent and ends up joining Finn and Holley on their mission. The trio work to find out what the lemons are up to while McQueen goes through his races.
While the overall story is okay, there just isn't any real punch to it. Mater blindly stumbles his way through the movie's events and ends up bumbling his way to exactly where he needs to be in order to get the job done. Think Inspector Clouseau, if Clouseau were an American buck-toothed, redneck tow truck. It just feels done already, but I guess it isn't all that contrived for the film's younger target audience.
Where the story is somewhat lacking, the visuals are awesome. The Cars world just feels so much larger than the cozy little Radiator Springs we got to know in the first film. Not only do we see huge cities and sprawling metropolises, but we also see a wider variety of characters. Where the first film only showed us a world of cars, here we see living trains, planes, boats and cranes, and all of it is beautifully rendered. Of course, the high definition Blu-ray just enhances the presentation so, if you are going to watch this film at home, the BD version is the way to go.
Unfortunately, the variety of special features that comes along with the film is about as disappointing as the movie's plot. The release comes with a commentary track and two animated shorts. One features the Toy Story gang as they decide to put on a Hawaiian vacation, and the other has Mater telling a story about going to a town made of planes and getting to fly with a squad of stunt-jets. Of course, this last one is a hint at the upcoming Cars spin-off film, Planes. A sneak peek at that film, as well as Pixar's next production, Brave are also on the disc.
In the end, I have to say that Cars 2 is a rental at most. While I am still a huge Pixar fan, I just don't see enough here to really recommend the package to anyone who isn't an all-out lover of the first Cars film.
