Vroom for improvement

REVIEW, TAKE TWO: Further reflections on Cars 2

LINKS / FRESHNESS RATING: Daily Herald review of Cars 2 / This post contains small SPOILERS for Cars 2

When I'm hunched over a keyboard reviewing the latest new wonder from Pixar, I find that I rarely have space to mention the excellent animated short films that Pixar includes with each of its feature-length releases. With Cars 2, they've outdone themselves. Literally. The short film is a dip back into the world of Toy Story, with everyone from Tom Hanks and Tim Allen to Timothy Dalton (the voice of Mr. Pricklepants, the actorly hedgehog) back in the mix. (I mentioned in my review that it might be an obscene display of limitless power that Pixar hired Sophia Loren and Franco Nero for 90-second roles as Italian cars. When you add this to that, there's no "might" about it. We get it, John Lasseter. Your people are awesome and EVERYONE wants to work with you guys.) The short is called Hawaiian Vacation and it's funny, touching and includes at least a quick gag for every single toy who was in Bonnie's bedroom at the end of Toy Story 3. Wow. Hawaiian Vacation is, in a word, sublime. And it sort of blows Cars 2 out of the water. It's far too strong a reminder of everything that's awesome about the Toy Story movies to be anything but a hindrance to the main event. Cars 2, huh? Why didn't they just make Toy Story 4? Other observations:

Et 3(D), Cars 2?: Once upon a time, it seemed like animation was the only realm where 3D really made a difference. Now I'm beginning to suspect that, a) it's almost as superfluous for animated films as it is for live-action films, and b) the best possible way to enjoy 3D animated movies is to see them in IMAX. I saw Robert Zemeckis's animated Beowulf (remember Robert Zemeckis's animated Beowulf?) that way and, more recently, How to Train Your Dragon. I think both of those films have scenes that maximize the visual impact of 3D, but I also think IMAX projection just make everything look better. Of course, I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in IMAX 3D and the 3D was as bothersome as it is with every live action film, so there's that. At any rate, don't bother with Cars 2 in 3D. The 3D doesn't improve it one single iota.

Mater Mind Meld: Disney pioneered this gimmick at least as early as the memorable "Pink Elephants on Parade" number from Dumbo (1941), and it's still alive and kicking 70 years later. Mater gets trapped by the bad guys and drugged with something, whereupon the image blurs briefly and we fade into a trippy sequence set inside Mater's head. I almost invariably find such sequences to be a waste of time. (Remember Alex the Lion getting tranq darted in Madagascar?) Just have Mater conk out and wake up trapped inside Big Bentley (see what they did there?), which is how the "this is Mater's brain on drugs" sequence eventually ends. "Pink Elephants" turns this trick better than most because of its musical component, but nobody ever nails it.

Spy tech: Late in the movie Mater gets equipped by British intelligence with an array of voice-activated Spy Hunter-type gadgets. The voice activation lets a trademark Mater exclamation such as "Dadgum!" be TWICE as funny as it normally would (it's normally zero funny, so do the math). "Dadgum!" causes a gatling gun to pop out of Mater's innards, so you can imagine what goes down when he follows that up with a "Sheeoooot!" It's not so much that gag is handled poorly as that it's older than Mater's rusty chassis. Actually, a lot of the jokes in the film feel like retreads.