I found myself at the movies for a second week in a row. Normally I’m not this big a movie goer (well, not any more) and usually see “new” movies on cable. Sometimes they’re movies I want to see (such as Inception) and sometimes they’re just on (such as watching Sex Drive Saturday night which is a poorly made remake of The Sure Thing). But this time, for the first time in a couple years, I went to a movie on opening weekend and saw Cars 2. The original Cars was one of my least favorite Pixar movies, along with A Bugs Life, so I wasn’t exactly looking forward to the sequel. And, while it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, it wasn’t anywhere near Pixar’s usual standards. Let’s see why.

The basic plot is that Lightning McQueen gets talked into participating in a 3 race World Grand Prix to promote a new alternative fuel. Since he hasn’t had much time to spend with Mater recently, he decides to bring Mater along. The races include drivers from around the world and Lightning gets a new rival in Francesco Bernoulli, an Italian Formula 1 racer with an attitude.

Due to a mixup, Mater gets involved with a couple of spies Holley Shiftwell and Finn McMissile.Originally they are looking for some information that a real spy planted on Mater as a decoy, but the three of them start getting involved in the races since somehow competitors are catching fire during the race. Mater and Lightning have a falling out, which gives Mater plenty of time to be the hick James Bond and try to save Lightning from the fiery fate.

The ending (which I won’t give away) makes Scooby Doo writers look clever. The biggest problem I have with the movie is that there is almost no time given to Francesco and he’s a fun new character. Finn and Holley are decent, but not nearly as fun. And Mater is much better as a sidekick than as the star. As always the kids will love it and Pixar/Disney will sell several tons of Cars merchandise (which appears to be the point of the movie). It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t really up to Pixar’s high standards. And with their next two movies being a fairy tale and a prequel (to Monsters Inc.), I do worry that the Pixar magic hasn’t been dulled down by Disney. Mildly recommended.