thedriveintheatre

Accordion not included.

A while back, I wrote a post describing 5 things I expected from Pixar’s sequel Cars 2 such as ‘It will be a spy movie’, ‘There will be few slapstick jokes’, ‘There will be heart & soul’, et cetera. I’ve provided a link to that post at the end of this one. It is now time to review that post in light of having seen the film, as well as to add a few retrospective details.

1) It will be a spy movie

Pixar has definitely struck it out of the ballpark in this area. I really wondered how they were going to pull of a conspiracy plot that would somehow involve Lightning and Mater without feeling too far a stretch, but I’m glad it was plausible and even logical in the end. Danger - tick. Excitement - tick. Hell, there’s even a little adult innuendo, although it’s more of the chaste flirting type (although Holley’s last name comes tantalisingly close).

There’s not so much spoofs or parodies of the spy genre as more of loving homages. So we get an enemy-base infiltration sequence in the beginning, a couple of car chases (always a perennial staple), a backalley fistfight (or should I say, tyrefight?) and a dramatic countdown finale.

Pixar also doesn’t portray a romantic view of the secret agent occupation; characters are tortured and killed in various gruesome fashions, and as a spy, Finn has many enemies and fewer friends (there is a great line he tells Mater that expresses this axiom). I would’ve liked more backstabbings and double-crosses, or even a twist that I wouldn’t see coming at the end, but sadly most of the plot was very predictable.

But like Lasseter said, this is a spy movie.

2) There will be few slapstick jokes and pop-culture references.

On the scatological front, the trailer revealed most of the toilet jokes (thankfully). There was a line where Mater almost cusses when he fails to pronounce the last syllable of Holley’s surname (whether this was intentional or not, I don’t know). But most of the gags are of the ‘Mater-acting-silly’ kind.

With regards to pop-culture references, they are thankfully not the ‘flavour of the month’ kind used by lesser Dreamworks movies or any of the ‘(insert genre) Movies’ that will get dated two years from now. Rather, these are grander and more timeless cultural perceptions and stereotypes. So we get Japanese kei cars with dewy anime-eyes, Italian mothering-types who smother you with home-cooked food, stern-faced Queen’s Guards with giant bearskin hats, that sort of thing. It is very interesting how Pixar takes these cultural observations and ‘Cars-ify’ them within the world’s internal logic, so I can appreciate that.

3) The antagonist will not be a straw villain.

Oh man, Professor Z… he’s not exactly the most memorable Pixar antagonist - he has awfully little screentime and even fewer remarkable lines, but his actions speak louder than his words. What he lacks in quoteworthy bad-guy dialogue he makes up for in callous indifference in his acts of villainy. We witness the aftermath of his murder of Finn’s colleague in a rather brutal way (by cars’ standards) in the opening act, and one of the most unforgettable scenes is of his slow and sadistic torture of Bruce Campbell’s character.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t directly dispose of his victims, instead relying on his henchmen Acer and Grem to do the dirty deeds. Also, there are moments where he breaks out-of-character and becomes weak, like when he recalls his past of being treated as a lemon in the casino, or when he is captured by Finn and squeals when he is pressured to reveal the bomb disarming code. It’s great to show moments of vulnerability in the antagonist; Kung Fu Panda 2 handled that very well with Lord Shen’s moments of self-doubt. The way Cars 2 did it though, felt like it was played for laughs with Z’s dramatic sobbing when he recollected his memories of being teased as a lemon, or when he flees from Finn when his men abandon him. It would’ve been more bad-ass and in-character if he had simply faltered during the ‘remembering’ scene, or if he actually tried to fight Finn one-on-one instead of relying on his henchmen or escape crafts.

Also, the big baddy had a nice reveal (thanks to Mater’s sudden burst of intelligence), but as another Pixar Planet member pointed out, they still won in the end since they had legitimate ownership of the oil fields.

4) There will not be loads and loads of characters.

I am disappointed to say that Pixar let me down on this aspect. But not because there were too many characters, but that I wish they devoted more time to letting us get to know them. I know it’s very difficult to squeeze in a few more lines for a film with this many sub-plots and settings (despite the 2 hour-length). But I would’ve loved to hear more lines from Lightning’s fellow racers- I, personally, was disappointed to hear barely a word from my favourite racer Carla Veloso, but I’m sure fans of other cars like Max, Rip and Shu would feel likewise. I mean, they could’ve said something, maybe a congratulation to the winner of each race, or maybe a cuss word or two when they’re overtaken, something like that. At least Lewis got a few quick sentences.

Another Pixar Planeteer also pointed out that Uncle and Mama Topolino’s role could’ve easily been replaced by Sally as a confidante to Lightning during a crisis point in his relationship with Mater. Granted, it was nice to hear about Luigi and Guido’s backstory, but the Topolinos were superfluous characters.

As for Finn and Holley, I wish they included a scene where they had a heart-to-heart talk with Mater to take the spy game seriously. I can just imagine Holley having a quiet moment with Mater amidst all the chaos, and she questioning Mater why is he doing this, what does he stand to gain from trying to stop Professor Z. Or Finn, revealing a little of his past as a spy, seeing all his friends die and being unable to do a damn thing about it. Something like that! Again, missed opportunity.

It’s great though, to see the returning characters put to good use. Filmore, in particular, plays a crucial role in the film’s climax that I didn’t see coming, so good on that VW truck, maaaan!

5) There will be heart and soul.

Ooh, this one’s tricky. Yes, it has more heart than the average animated fare put out nowadays. The emotional backbone of the story is Lightning and Mater’s friendship and how that is put to the test when time passes on. I loved how Mater was upset about Lightning having less time with him as best-buds, only to find new friends in the form of Finn and Holley (the latter, I think, stands a good chance of being his next ‘Doreen’).

But when compared to other Pixar films, it lacks that certain spark, that sincere and honest ‘I’ve got a story to tell’ enthusiasm. The emotional backbone is diluted by the whole spy plot, and it is difficult to sum up the story in less than five words.

Truck tries to be a spy.
Truck mistaken for secret agent.
Tow truck saves the world.

Okay, bad illustration. But it is difficult to find the core, the theme, the by-line… I will elaborate more about this in my next post, but I was very disappointed at how this was handled.

Don’t get me wrong. Cars 2 has its heart in the right place. It just didn’t come through as clearly and succintly as I hoped through all that exposition and convoluted plot.

So was I proven right on all the points I made? To an extent, yes. Pixar hit a home run on a few like ‘It’s a spy movie’ and ‘Few slapstick and pop-culture references’. It was kinda iffy on others like ‘The antagonist will not be a straw villain’ and ‘There will be heart and soul’. As I’ve said in my review, Cars 2 is Pixar’s best movie since The Incredibles. But it just… lacks that special something that elevates it to the greats. I still like the film much more than the critics did, but I don’t think I’ll be fawning over it as much as I did for all the other animated films I’ve seen this year.

5 Things I Expect From Cars 2

Cars 2 Review