Cars 2

Once again I’m glad to say that I avoided the dreaded enforced 3D by going to see a kids’ film. It may have enhanced about 30 seconds of the film, but hardly worth the discomfort of watching the remainder through those stupid bloody sunglasses.

Cars 2

“Tow Mater, average intelligence.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Mader gets mixed up in the spy world as Lightning McQueen undertakes a World Grand Prix.

See if it you like: PIXAR films – it’s a classic example

As usual, we missed the start of the film. This seems to be an annoyingly regular feature of going with the kids, but it’s never their fault. This time it was flipping roadworks with no diversion signs. Thanks, Glasgow Council. Thanks a lot.

Anyway, we only missed a couple of minutes and the beginning of the film takes us right into the spy aspect of the movie. It was brilliant – deserving of an Bond movie and introducing Finn McMissile (Michael Caine), a character originally planned to be just a passing joke in the first film. Instead they held back on the scene he was meant to be in and made him a major character in this one.

We’re swiftly reintroduced to the two leads from last time around, a plot is formed around them touring the world and off we go.

The scenery and imagination used to come up with it is nothing short of amazing. The lifts in the party room before the first race are huge pistons, the Italian Riviera has car-based shapes carved into the hillsides, even the models of cars used for the incidental characters have been carefully planned out to be just right. And that’s even before you spot all the little in-jokes in the background, such as the banners advertising “Lassetyres” (the film’s director is John Lasseter).

I can’t fault the voice acting, either, but with the cast used that’s not a surprise. I mean Michael flipping Caine? Awesome. Owen Wilson and Larry The Cable Guy (seriously – who the hell would work under that pseudonym?) reprise their roles well from the original while Caine is joined by the likes of Emily Mortimer (a sexier voice you will never hear from an automobile), Eddie Izzard and John Turturro.

There is a downside, though. The film has a great story. And a good plot. But to move this forward, there’s a fair bit of dialogue and this means quite a number of fairly static scenes. As an upshot, younger kids might get a little bored as they just want to see the fast-paced action scenes and vehicles hurting themselves. Certainly, Little Mister did. He spent a good while moving up and down the rows. He wasn’t alone, either, with a couple of children near us literally running around the theatre at points. The adults in the audience, however, seemed engrossed.

Related articles

• Cars 2 (creedsdelight.com)
• Cars 2 – review (guardian.co.uk)
• Review: Cars 2 (thepeoplesmovies.com)
• Cars 2 – review (guardian.co.uk)
• ‘Cars 2′ Review: Lively Pixar Sequel Runs Out of Gas (time.com)
• Cars 2 (mirror.co.uk)

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