Monster Inc is the finest animated film of all time. It expertly crafts and disposes of a world and worlds worth of characters within 100 minutes, using these as a medium to conjure up all imaginable emotions. It's a masterpiece that sits proudly amongst the greatest films ever, rather than just the best animated ones.WALL-E is a perfect example of the CGI 'digimation' finally coming out of its shell- A mature film with serious issues on its mind but even more so in its heart. However, it still embraces how it is presented, offering laughs and far-fetched ideas that would hardly be possible with a camera and some actors. The original Cars, however, was simply a good example of the digital animation genre. A couple of gags, a couple of action bits, but mostly just a romp aimed at the kids. It seemed to have little-to-no aspirations to be any more than the best vehicle on that particular track, never aiming to conquer the world.
The sequel, however, is on a far grander scale, the plot even reflecting the metaphor I used up above. Now a worldwide event, Lightning McQueen (Voiced by a strangely bearable Owen Wilson, an actor for whom my hatred has recently been rekindled, thanks to a spike of Marley & Me reruns.) must take on the best racers from every country in the world, although we hardly see anything of anyone but the Italian entry, a cocky, snide Ferrari called Francesco. While John Turturro does a good job of making his cringe-worthy lines a bit less irritating, he's still slightly grating, and for all the wrong reasons. Not quite the charismatic anti-hero Pixar wanted him to be. Mater the tow-truck , McQueen's best friend, also falls flat on his digitally constructed face as well. The first films' comic relief character, (Though I personally never found him that funny) he's given a far bigger role this time around, essentially replacing Lightning McQueen as the lead character. There's also not enough of Nigel Gearsley, the British car, who I was really wanting to cheer for. He's little more than a plot device, soon blown off the track by part of the second plot running through the movie.
Yes, where as the original was a fairly straight-forward film, they've essentially put their ideas for film two and film three together here, because along with the World Grand Prix, we've also got a spy plot going on. Moeikal Coaine is really quite good as the British intelligence car (There's a great gag on this when he first reveals this to Mater.) on a top-secret global mission, somehow recruiting Mater along the way, believing him to be an incredible American spy who disguises himself as a foolish tow-truck.Oh, and I meant Michael Caine back there, by the way. Sorry. I'll try and steer away from that kind of thing. (Steer? Anyone? No? Never mind.) Bond references litter the film, some recycled from The Incredibles, although they're a little hit-and-miss, while the London-based climax was surprisingly unpatronizing, with extra jokes that only the UK-based viewers (Or at least those familiar with our culture, even Pixar weren't familiar enough to realise that the Union Jack is not the 'England' flag.) would get, including a cameo from Lewis Hamilton, although he's not as entertaining as Jeremy Clarkson was in the previous instalment.
At the end of the day, Cars 2 is a very different beast to the original. Souped up and pimped out to the max, it fits far better with my tastes- While I'd argue it's a huge improvement on the original, I could understand if those who liked the simplicity of the first film don't appreciate the more ambitious sequel. However, I believe it's everything a good follow-up should be: Bigger, bolder and unashamedly more intelligent. Pixar remain the kings of not just animation, but sequels as a whole. Let's hope next years follow up to The Finest Animated Film Of All Time(tm) lives up to my (extremely high) expectations.
7 open wheels out of 10
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