Film: Cars 2

GENRE: Animation/Adventure
RATING: G for mild action violence and some rude humour
RUNTIME: 1 hours and 46 minutes
STARRING: Larry the Cable Guy (Blue Collar Comedy Tour), Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers), Michael Caine (Batman Begins)
DIRECTORS: John Lasseter (Toy Story 2), Brad Lewis (newcomer)
WRITER: Ben Queen (Drive)
PLOT: While Lightning McQueen races in the World Grand Prix, Mater gets mixed up in some international espionage.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 Like usual, it was better than I thought it was going to be; but it was definitely not my favourite Pixar film either. I’m nervous about Pixar already dipping into the sequel well. Toy Story was fine (the animated short preceding Cars 2 was awesome) but I hear there is a Monsters Inc sequel in the works. I hope they can continue churning out some great original concepts in the future.
2 Even though Lightning McQueen is supposedly the star, we all know that Mater stole the spotlight last time around, so it was wise of them to put him front and centre on this sequel. He’s even billed first in the credits and rightfully so. He is still a fun character to watch and empathize with. Great work Larry.
3 The supporting characters from the last film definitely took a back seat (pun intended) to Mater this time around. The new characters didn’t have fun personalities; maybe it was because they were too British. They served the story well but I wished for more antics from Luigi and Guido, the Italian pit members.
4 There was a lot of gun violence in this film. I was surprised. It fits the spy genre but seemed a little over the top at times.
5 Having just returned from London, it was fun to see the animated sights again.

RECOMMENDATION: Wait for DVD
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Horrible Bosses