122.
Cars 2
6/10
With the release of a third movie, I needed to catch up on the second, just in case any storyline carried over into the new one. I really enjoyed the first in the series but have heard mixed things about this movie but opinions are just that so with my enjoyment for Pixar anyway, I could still think this is a decent watch. Let's put the pedal to the metal and see if we have a winner.
The film begins with a spy receiving some information of a location so jumps on a crabbing boat to get to the location but are soon stopped but a massive armoured boat, asking them to turn around or else be shot. When they turn and the crabber chats to the spy, we discover he is no longer there and instead he is clinging onto the back of the war cruiser in order to further his progress. It takes him to a dock where he climbs on of the cranes and looks down onto a secret meeting between some lemons. Lemons are described later on, but they are cars that have constant engine trouble and need work done to them. He radios in to his head to let him know what is going on but sees two major pieces of information. One is a TV camera that is in a box labelled by the World Grand Prix and the other is that the boss he is radioing to, is nothing but a crushed cube! The lemons notice Finn, our spy and chase him down. Finn take out a few with his James Bond style guns before flying off the side and into the water, opening some skis and speeding off over the waves. The lemons board the armoured ships before being released and giving chase. Finally aiming with missiles, we have a direct hit and watch as Finn sink in the eater with a trail of oil representing blood but he activates a submarine mode and escaped to safety. Finn is voiced by Michael Caine. Who better to play a stereotypical, English spy?
Our next location is Radiator Springs, where our hero Lightening McQueen has returned from his latest race season and won another trophy. This is the first year that they have renamed the cup after his trainer, Doc Hudson. The car is shown to have passed away but this coincides with the man who voiced him, Paul Newman, who also passed away in 2008. Mater, the red-neck tow truck, is excited to see his best mate is back and sets up loads of things for the two to do before McQueen tells him that he also wants to spend time with his girlfriend Sally. The lovers go for a meal but their waiter is Mater, who has snuck in to spend time with McQueen again. Inside the restaurant, the TV shows that a millionaire, Miles Axelrod has turned himself into a fully electric car and also developed a new alternative fuel source called Allinol. He's setting up a race called the World Grand Prix, which we have little seen already and he along with the presenter are interviewing a confident racer called Francesco Bernoulli, who is played by John Turturro. The Talk turns to McQueen who refused entry because he needed a rest but the Italian car simply puts it down to the fact that he is better than the American anyway. There is a call-in segment and Mater has called in after hearing his best friend being bad mouthed on the show. The show soon attracts other guests in the restaurant and then Sally and McQueen go inside to see what the commotion is about. With the Italian now insulting Mater, McQueen takes offense and vows to race instead of taking a vacation. Turturro is always good for some humour, as shown in Transformers, so to play a mouthy car was a good call. Assembling his usual pit crew, he also gets asked to take Mater, who has been dying to go to one of his races.
Heading out we have a montage of the best friends travelling by plane and driving through the streets of Japan, seemingly having a great time together and emphasising how close they are as friends but as soon as we get to the party before the race day, McQueen has to tell Mater to start acting more normal and keep a lower profile. Other guests included Finn, the spy from the beginning and his partner, Holly Shiftwell. I'm loving these names based around cars and their actions. The pics he took in the beginning weren't good enough so they are meeting an American spy to get some better evidence for their case. They notice there is a decent amount of lemons at this party and figure they must surely be up to something. Axelrod makes an appearance on stage and suggests that using is fuel for the race will show the world how good it is. McQueen is invited onto the stage with him and in the meantime, Mater has tried some wasabi, not knowing what it is and reacts badly to it, breaking past the interview, to the waterfall behind McQueen and Axelrod, to wet his whistle and cool his mouth down. He embarrasses himself though as he begins to talk to the two about the moment he rang into the show and he leaks oil on stage. He insists it wasn't him because that never happens but drives to the toilets to clean himself up. While messing about with the Japanese style toilets, the American spy strolls in along with two lemons who are looking to end him. They are stopped as Mater exits the stall and gets in the way. Rod, the American spy knows he isn't escaping so quickly puts the information he is carrying, along with a homing beacon, onto the undercarriage of Mater. This leads the two English spies to follow the tow truck, no thinking that he is the spy because of the tracker. Holly makes a move to interact with him but he simply thinks she is trying it on with him and becomes flustered. They agree to meet the next day and once mater makes it back to the gang, he lets them know and obviously they don't believe him because Holly is a decent looking model. The same evening, Rod is tortured by the lemons and Professor Zendepp. He's filled with Allinol and the Professor explains that once it's heated, it can become and explosive. After the lemons decide who Rod could have given the info to, they see once of Mater and decide they need to kill him, just as Rod's engine explodes.
It turns to race day and Mater is in the pit with everyone, only for Holly's voice to come over his head set warning him that there are lemons near, closing in on his location after noticing him on the big screen. Mater doesn't realise that it's a secret frequency and his words distract a racing McQueen which leads to the Italian race car overtaking him and winning the race buy a bumper. The race will be remembered though for a few cars' engines blowing out. The two lemons from the toilet attack have been focusing the TV camera on cars and stopping them with a laser. Axelrod is questioned about the alternative fuel and instantly defends it as safe. During the race, Mater had to escape and drove down street that Holly directed him down. Finn came to help him fight off the lemons but yet again no-one believed his story when he got back to the pits. The two best friends of McQueen and Mater have a falling out and Mater leaves the team to head home. At the airport, he is met by Finn who quickly leads him to his own plan whilst being chased by the usual two lemons. McQueen is in his hotel, where he finds the goodbye letter from Mater. Although he feels bad about pushing him away, he is comforted by the fact that his friend will be back home and safe. Meanwhile, on the plane, Mater, Finn and Holly are discussing their next move once Holly has found the info underneath Mater. The photos show an open hood to a car and next to it are spare parts. Although the real spies are clueless, Mater actually knows his stuff and realises that this would be a lemon too. Amazed by this, the spies fly to Paris to meet a well-known, dodgy dealer. Paris is also where the next race will take place. Once they meet the dealer, he only has information on where the parts were sent too, so that's where the gang will head next, knowing that lemons are collecting there. McQueen and his gang make it to a village where one of his pit crew, Luigi's, parents live and the father notices that the racer isn't himself. McQueen tells him the story of Mater in a recurring theme about friendship in this movie.
The spies have now hacked into some security cameras to spy on the lemons travelling to a massive mansion, all being towed by trucks because they keep breaking down. Finn knows that these are part of a larger crime family, kind of like the mafia, but cars. The trucks towing them are familiar to Mater, so the plan is put his undercover to get more information. They try to put a new disguise on him but it won't work because of his dents. When Holly goes to buff them out, he refuses because each one is like a memory for him. By now, Mater is trying to explain that he truly isn't a spy but Finn is having none of it and over the headset, Mater has to hear Finn telling him that he plays the fool very well in order to not break character. Putting on the disguise with his voice activation, he heads over to pick up one of the lemons and heads inside where the room are greeted by the Professor. The main leader isn't coming to the meeting, but instead is communication over a TV with the simple image of his engine again, along with the voice being disguised. He then goes on to explain his main plans to end the racing. With the Professor knowing about Allinol's explosive contents, the intend to sabotage the races and destroy, Axelrod's plans for cleaner energy. Having found a large deposit of oil, they are set to make millions. To finish the meeting, champagne is brought to the tables as the race is shown on TV and again, one by one the racers are taken out by the two lemons and their camera laser. The race ends with McQueen beating Francesco by a second but they are the only two to finish. Finn has tried to stop the two Lemons by driving over rooftops but is stopped by a massive magnet on a helicopter. Holly is also cornered by some black lemon cars, representing the mafia in their suits. Back at the meeting, as all the lemon leaders celebrate, Mater fears for his friend who has come out and said he still wants to use Allinol even though Axelrod said he will not be continuing to sell it. Professor and the rest decide to end McQueen's engine, causing Mater to try and escape but instead he turns his disguise off and everyone starts shooting at him. Absolutely blagging his way through the scene, Mater whips out some guns and shouts shoot, which deploys a parachute and he flies away to safety. Heading to the beach to warn McQueen, he is cornered in the end and kidnapped, but McQueen heard his friends voice and pushing passed the crowd, he couldn't find him and found another tow truck, that is linked to the lemons.
Mater is knocked out with gas and in his head, is the constant talk of him being a fool and memories of how he has messed up in the past few days. As he wakes, he realises that he is tied up in London. He is in Big Bentley, the car world version of Big Ben. Clever. Finn and Holly are also tied up together on the massive cogs, as the usual two lemons have set their camera up in the clock to look down onto the race. The rest of the friends from Radiator Springs have joined the put crew. After thinking he heard Mater in Paris, McQueen asks where is friend is but none of the gang know where is has gotten to. Axelrod has now pulled up and thanks McQueen for his confidence in his product. As the race starts, the laser is pointed on McQueen but nothing happens and the two lemons decide to head down and do the job themselves but let the three spies know that they have planted a bomb nearby in case all else fails. Mater realises that his mini guns may not have bullets left but the friction caused by them rotating can cut through his ropes. It works and he heads off with the other spies' blessing to save the day. The two are left but manage to escape and find Mater's filter from his engine leading to the shocking truth that he was the bomb. They've planted it on him, knowing that he will go and try to save Lightening. McQueen notices his friend is in the pits but Mater wants to run away to save his best friend. McQueen doesn't realise this and doesn't want his friend to run away again. Meanwhile, the two spies have come across the crime boss as the Professor drives away to escape, heading to one to the armoured ships at the docks. Finally grabbing him before he escapes, they take him back to Mater to deactivate the bomb, but it doesn't work because he's not the one that set it. Mater is out of ideas but soon something clicks as he sets his rockets on and flies to the finishing line with a very confused McQueen in tow. The podium is in front of the Queen and of course, a well-named, Prince Wheeliam. Mater suddenly starts to accuse Axelrod of his electric transformation being fake. He accuses him of the leak in Japan because he is really a lemon and if he popped the bonnet, we would all find out. Those parts needed in the pictures were actually for him and getting closer and closer to Axelrod, the bomb ticks down until Axelrod deactivates it before he gets blown up, proving Mater right. This was the leader all along. He wanted to make the money through the oil but making sure that Allinol failed.
The end comes as Mater is himself, trying to make the palace guards laugh before being knighted by the Queen. The Grand Prix is cancelled but everyone is invited to Radiator Springs for a friendly race, including the Italian. Finn and Holly arrive and she admits to being Mater's girlfriend before blasting off to their next mission. Mater refuses to go with them as he is suited to his home town and even joins in the race after asking to keep the rockets as a reward for his work.
This was a very interesting second movie in the franchise for me. Although it's called 'Cars' you would always expect Lightening McQueen to be the main character, but this wasn't the case. Instead we have a story about his best friend, a clumsy but loveable, rusty old tow truck. His stupidity carries the humour for the film and it seemed like something I have seen before as someone falls into a spy job when they aren't meant to be there, but still come out smelling like roses. I wouldn't rate this anywhere near the top for a Pixar film and not entirely sure that a third film will be needed but it's happened. There was hardly any racing in this, which attracted people last time and instead there was quite a bit of underlining violence. It can't really be aimed at the younger viewers but maybe at the kids who loved the first and are now a little more grown up.
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