Directed by John Lasseter & Bradford Lewis
Written by John Lasseter, Bradford Lewis, Dan Fogelman, Ben Queen

Owen Wilson, Larry The Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Eddie Izzard Emily Mortimer, John Turturro, Thomas Kretschmann, John Ratzenburger, Bonnie Hunt.

Where do we start with this mess?

Seriously, parents who first sat down in the cinema for the very first viewing must have thought they had taken their kids to the wrong theatre.

Set some time after the events of the moderately successful, and critically well received first movie, Lightening McQueen is now a FOUR time Piston Cup winner and has returned home to Radiator Springs for his annual down time. At the same time an oil billionaire has set up a Grand Prix – with the racers using his new brand of fuel – and just by chance McQueen is called into the race. At the same time, the race is being thwarted by a supervillain (and his unseen boss) – who in turn are being chased by two secret agents – and they believe Mater is a super-secret agent and call him in to assist.

The plot is so heavy that young children may have no idea of what is happening, even I got confused by what the villain’s motives were the first few viewings. It is also ultra-violent, with many deaths, that if you really think about it, are quite brutal (but maybe it’s okay because they are just cars?). The new characters are mostly unlikeable, and almost instantly forgettable – but unfortunately are voiced by great talent such as Caine, Mortimer and Izzard.

For fans of the first movie, who found the character development of McQueen fulfilling, prepare to be disappointed as he reverts back to his same old self – for the figurative ten minutes of screen time he gets, as Mater is made to be the main character in this franchise killer.

I actually have zero redeeming qualities about this film. All the returning characters are caricatures of what they were in the first movie. Followed by Cars 3 in 2017.

½ /5