Watch Cars 2 Fixar Movies Megavideo - Cars 2 is getting killed by critics, scoring a dismal 36% so far on Rotten Tomatoes. That's a far cry from Pixar's 90%+ track record and even the original's 74%. Has Pixar's run of perfection been broken? Yes and no. While Cars 2 is nowhere close to the Oscar-winning near-masterpieces of the last four years (Toy Story 3, Up, Wall-E, and Ratatouille), it is still a fun and entertaining family fun with plenty of laugh and cheer. Unlike those last four Pixar movies, Cars 2 is not trying to be taken seriously and shouldn't be put on that pedestal.
Cars 2 introduces us (in a snappy opening action scene) to Britsh spy car Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) infiltrating a suspicious oil platfrom where the devious Professor Zundap (Thomas Kretschmann) is up to something regarding a fuel cover-up involving regular oil and a new alternative fuel, Allinol. The renewable fuel comes from former oil tycoon Miles Axelrod (Eddie Izzard), who's promoting and sponsoring the first ever World Grand Prix. The racing exhibition has drawn the top race cars in the world, including the dashing and conceited Italian open-wheel racer Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro, doing what he does best).
The competition draws in America's own Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), now four-time Piston Cup champion. He's between seasons in his Radiator Springs home while schmoozing with Sally Carerra (Bonnie Hunt) and catching up with rusty BFF Tow Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). While in Tokyo for the first race of the World Grand Prix, Mater accidentally meets Finn's spy partner, Holly Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer), and gets mistaken as an American agent while thinking he's just gotten a date with her.
This meeting causes a chain reaction of espionage movie cliches, battles, rescues, and hijinks. The embarrassing fish-out-of-water Mater is now roped into Finn and Holly's mission to uncover what's really going on with a gang of lemon cars (Professor Zundap and his Pacer, Gremlin, and other crappy model cohorts) and their sabotaging of the World Grand Prix races. From here, Cars 2 really becomes more about Mater than superstar Lightning McQueen. If you like Mater's redneck persona and Larry the Cable Guy's "I tell you what, that's funny right there" routine, you'll enjoy the mischief he keeps getting into across Paris, Italy, and London. If you don't like Mater and Larry, Cars 2 has the chance to really get old for you.
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