Cars 2: Car Harder!

Jeered by some as “the worst Pixar film,” Cars 2 isn’t actually bad, just less ambitious.

Okay, perhaps I’ve aged myself a little by using that Die Hard 2 reference. But it’s appropriate, as the whole sequel mentality of “bigger, faster, more explodey!” was really brought down to bear on the latest Pixar offering.

Cars 2 takes characters from the first film and fuel-injects them into an international espionage caper of mistaken identity involving big oil, double agents, even the Queen of England herself.

While touring the world for an international grand prix, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and, in particular, best friend Tow Mater (Larry The Cable Guy) get entangled in a web of intrigue.

Where the original featured races, this one gets to add chases to the mix.

The spy genre (even the civilian-as-spy sub-genre) seems so removed from the first film that it may be alienating, especially with the introduction of new (though welcome) characters like Finn McMissile, a suave veteran agent voiced by Michael Caine.

John Turturro voices Francesco Bernoulli, who serves the same function as Sacha Baron Cohen in Talladega Nights: hilarious challenger.

But then the familiar characters appear, and the best anchor of all — humor — comes into play, and mostly stays throughout.

When it first came out in the US, some critics were a little too quick to call it Pixar’s worst film. Though they’re harsh words, I have to unfortunately agree.

However, to qualify that statement, “Pixar’s worst” does not necessarily mean “bad” per se. It’s still better than most other CG animated fare from non-Pixar studios. It just has a lot less on its mind. It’s not as ambitious with its emotional storytelling, a hallmark of Pixar.

Sure, there’s the attempt; here, it’s the careworn lesson about “being yourself.” But there’s nothing particularly new about it as presented here. At one point Lightning McQueen apologizes for telling Mater to not be himself sometimes, referring to an embarrassing incident in Japan.

But leaping from “not being yourself” to “behaving differently when abroad” can be dangerous, especially when you kind of are supposed to behave in such a way that you don’t offend people from a different culture.

If the buck-toothed Mater annoys you to no end, you may want to give Cars 2 a wide berth, as it’s mostly his show.

That mentality of “be yourself at all times and places, no matter what, and if people don’t like it, that’s their problem” can feel like such an American way of thinking, that explains why some people around the world don’t take kindly to the archetype of the boorish, loud American tourist.

There is still much to recommend the film. It’s a perfectly adequate, lighthearted, entertaining distraction. The visuals are beautiful, especially the exotic locales they visit (Puerto Corsa, a highlight). The races and chases are capably thrilling enough.

The best thing remains the gags, whether it’s visual ones like car versions of Japanese geisha and sumo wrestlers or (my favorite) the “Pope”-mobile inside its own Popemobile.

New members to the cast besides the aforementioned Caine include Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzard, Jason Isaacs, even Vanessa Redgrave as the Queen.

But it’s John Turturro who stands out, playing Italian racecar Francesco Bernoulli. Effectively he’s the same character as Sacha Baron Cohen in Talladega Nights: the European braggart who is nonetheless charming and very, very funny.

Cars 2 unseated the original Cars as “Pixar’s worst,” but the new film doesn’t give a tug on the emotional heartstrings the way the first did, and even that one was minor compared to the glorious highs in Pixar’s celebrated repertoire.

Nontheless, there’s got to be a reason why my seven-year-old nephew is obsessed with these characters.