Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011

Cars 2

Only the second Pixar title to get a sequel – the first, of course, was the “Toy Story” trilogy. This one should be called, “Cars 2: Mater’s Adventure,” because Larry the Cable Guy’s character takes the lead on this one. Lightning McQueen, voiced by Owen Wilson, takes a backseat in this James Bond parody. If this was any other studio, it would’ve been destined for straight-to-video, but Pixar doesn’t do half-ass. The story is not complex, balanced by action/joke/action/joke, but the film has animation depth to the point of astounding. The European landscapes are like “I Spy” scenes. The bolstering of the cast by Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer and Eddie Izzard helps make it a credible film. It’s not the intricate allegory that we’ve come to expect from Pixar but it’s worth watching while you gobble some pumpkin pie.