The critics were right. Cars 2 is Pixar's weakest work to date. But they're only partly right in that the lowest rung of Pixar is still far, far higher than most animated features, including those of rival studios Dreamworks, Sony Imageworks and Blue Sky. The problem with Cars 2 isn't that it's bad (it's not) but that it's not as good as other Pixar films. Specifically, there's very little sophistication and very little in the way of powerful emotion to give the story gravity and depth.
There's much to recommend it though. It mixes the tense car races of the first film, this time expanding the action to a global scale to include Formula One racing, the Italian tradition of car manufacturing and classic British automobiles, along with the conventions of the spy movie. It's great to see these conventions adapted and subverted to serve in a universe populated entirely by talking vehicles. From tracking devices and other gadgets, the Bond pre-title action sequence, double crosses, a mega-maniacal villain and in true Hitchcockian form, a case of mistaken identity the spy genre is throughly exploited and it's always fun and engaging to where they'll go next with the wacky concept.
It looks great, is fast, funny, has one of the best soundtracks of the year with Michael Giachinno's 60's sounding spy score and it is endlessly inventive. If you're going to spend time, money and effort animating something you'd better make sure it's something that can't be done with live action otherwise what's the point?..Cars 2 knows this and flaunts it. But it's also the most childish of the Pixar movies and the emotional depth is about as great as your average Bond caper.
Great fun, just not the classic we've come to expect.
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