CARS 2

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Exceptionally colorful and bright animation mingles with a multi-layered storyline that bogs down around the lowbrow humor of Larry the Cable Guy. Larry's television-promoted white trash shtick is a crucial aspect of his rusty tow-truck character Tow Mater — possibly a reference to the vegetable properly referred to as a "tomato."

Buck-toothed Mater is the reliably idiotic best friend to Owen Wilson's little red race car champion Lightning McQueen. A televised announcement about the World Grand Prix, an upcoming three-city race in Tokyo, Porto Corsa, and London, inspires McQueen to bring along his underprivileged tow-truck pal overseas where, unbeknownst to them, a spy plot is unfolding.

Finn McMissile (splendidly voiced by Michael Caine) is a James Bond-styled sports car loaded with plenty of gadgets. Finn can climb buildings and motor underwater as a submarine. Finn's sleek assistant is a little purple British number named Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer). Alternative-fuel mastermind Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard) provides the ecological premise for the big race wherein all the competing cars will run on his "Allinol" biofuel to prove to Big Oil that their days are over.

The movie works best during its many race and chase scenes. John Turturro has a ball as McQueen's Italian rival, an open-wheeled race car named Francesco Bernoulli. The writers come up with some unexpected, if overleveraged, plot revelations that come at the end.

The detailed animated renderings of exotic locations are positively beautiful. However, the film's over-emphasis on the doofus tow truck character Mater lets the air out of its comic tires. Mojo Nixon would have been a much smarter casting choice for a hick character whose potential for adaptation needed to by much stronger. Owen Wilson's would-be protagonist just gets lost in the shuffle.

Rated G. 107 mins.