Cars 2:
*** (out of four)
Voices include Owen Wilson, Larry the
Cable Guy, Emily Mortimer, Michael
Caine, Eddie Izzard and John Turturro.
Directed by John Lasseter and Brad Lewis.
Approximately 113 minutes. Playing at major
theaters. Rated G.
In 2006, an animated feature film from Pixar called ``Cars'' was released. I never saw it for some reason. I think it was because I didn't want to see it.
Well, it's now 2011 and I want to see it. I have seen the sequel, ``Cars 2'', which did not get very good reviews. I didn't want to see ``Cars 2'' right away. I thought that I should wait and see the first film so I could understand the second film. However, I had not seen a movie in a bit and I really wanted to see one, so I decided to go see ``Cars 2''. I mean, it couldn't be that hard to understand.
Fortunately, I was right. It was easy to understand. Here's the story: In the beginning of the movie, a spy named Finn Macmissile (Michael Caine) is checking out an oil platform with a bunch of evil cars and he takes some photos of a special camera they have. He gets involved in a chase with the evil cars when he is caught, but he escapes.
Meanwhile, in the fictional town of Radiator Springs, Tow Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) is waiting for his best buddy, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), to come visit Radiator Springs. When Lightning arrives, Mater is so excited and he does some crazy things with Lightning such as riding on railroad tracks. However, at the end of the day, Lightning tells Mater that he is going on a date with Sally (Bonnie Hunt) and that he will spend the whole day with Mater tomorrow. Mater is crushed and pretends to be a waiter at the restaurant Lightning and Sally go to.
While there, Mater sees an interview about a World Grand Prix run by Miles Axlerod. The purpose of the race is to promote his renewable car fuel Allinol. He sees one of the contestants in the race, Francesco Bernoulli, and he starts saying he's faster than Lightning McQueen. Out of anger, Mater calls in and tells Francesco that Lightning is faster than him. Lightning happens to come in at this point and he decides to compete in the World Grand Prix.
Sally suggests that Lightning should take Mater along, since he sort of made him a contestant in the World Grand Prix. So, Lightning takes Mater along with him, but he quickly regrets it because Mater starts embarrassing him (eg. mistaking wasabi for pistachio ice cream and screaming). When Mater goes to the bathroom, he is mistaken for being a spy by another spy and Finn Macmissile and another agent Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) think he's a spy also. So, they take him away and tell him that someone is going to sabotage the World Grand Prix and they need Mater's help.
This movie does not live up to the high standards of greater Pixar films like ``Toy Story 3'' or ``Up'', but it's still pretty good. I thought that Larry the Cable Guy was funny as Tow Mater, the story was almost never boring and there is a good moral spoken after Lightning gets angry at Mater for messing him up in a race: ``No fight is more important than friendship.'' Plus, the action with the spies is pretty good. Also, the animation is fantastic. For example, when the cars are racing in Italy, Italy looks absolutely beautiful. So, if you are looking for an animated movie with good action, fantastic animation, a good moral and good comedy, you should check out ``Cars 2''. Don't worry. You probably can still enjoy it without seeing the first film.
