CARS 2 REVIEW

I’m not sure how many are familiar with the K.I.S.S. method. It stands for keep it simple, stupid. And since the days of André and Wally B, to me anyway, Pixar have always  followed that ethos. All their movies have been lovingly crafted with fantastic stories, but at the same time they were all very simple ideas. Toy Story for example, Toys come to life. Monsters Inc. Scary monsters under the bed. It’s just a pity that Cars 2 hasn’t followed the formula like the rest of the Pixar stable.

Finn McMissle is a Bond style secret agent character (a Jag, what else) who’s on a big case involving some dastardly type camera. While McMissle is on her majesty's secret service,  Lighting McQueen and his old buddy, Mater get involved in the World Grand Prix.  Between the jigs and the wheels of it (see what I did there..) Mater ends up being mistaken for a secret agent and winds up bang in the middle of some international espionage.

Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson, Eddie Izzard and a whole bunch of others all lend their voices suitably to Cars 2. But the stand out vocal performance comes from Michael Caine as Finn McMissle. It just sounds like Caine had an absolute blast doing Cars 2. Moving onto the visuals, forget about the 3D, which is incidentally very, very good. The locations are simply jaw dropping. I don’t think there has been a Pixar movie that has had so much detail in it ever. The flyover’s in London are breath-taking. The level of detail, down to smallest touch is an absolute credit to the folks at Pixar.

But, for me the story is too complicated. It’s quite difficult to engage entirely with it. There’s a tonne of dialogue and the story seems really elaborate and overly intricate. I did find myself struggling with it and at times got quite bored. So I’d imagine the kids will have even a bigger problem with it. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore Pixar and John Lasseter and everything the have done and continue to do. And while Cars 2 is worth a watch for the visual’s, your not going to be leaving the theater anyway excited or enthralled. Mildly entertained comes to mind. At least Cars is now going to end up as the second most disliked Pixar movie.

(at a major push )