Culturebox: Speeding Ticket

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movies Speeding Ticket Cars 2 is confusing and loud. By Dana Stevens Posted Thursday, June 23, 2011, at 5:49 PM ET Cars 2 (Disney), directed (like several great Pixar films of the last two decades) by John Lasseter, finds itself in the unlucky position of the not-so-bright kid in a brilliant family. No matter if his performance in school is comfortably average; he'll always be seen as a disappointment compared to his stellar siblings. There's nothing really objectionable about Cars 2, although parents of young children should be warned that a few evil vehicles meet violently inauspicious ends. It's sweet-spirited, visually delightful (if aurally cacophonous), and it will make for a pleasant enough family afternoon at the movies. But we've come to expect so much more than mere pleasantness from Pixar that Cars 2 feels almost like a betrayal. In an alternate world where motorized vehicles are the world's sole inhabitants, the tow truck Mater (voiced by the blue-collar comedian Larry the Cable Guy) welcomes his best friend, Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) back to their beloved town of Radiator Springs. Lightning, having become a world-famous racecar in the interval since the first Cars movie in 2006, is returning home for some R & R. But when he's mocked on a sports show by a vain Italian racecar, Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro), the outraged Lightning signs up for the World Grand Prix, an international race created by an oil tycoon who's introducing his newest alternate fuel. To continue reading, click here. Dana Stevens is Slate's movie critic. E-mail her at slatemovies@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Shafer: Jose Antonio Vargas' Real Crime Is That He Betrayed His Editors' Trust Why Are Passenger Jets So Slow? They've Flown the Same Speed for Decades. Researchers Discover Amazon Tribe That's Never Had Contact With Modern Civilization	Advertisement
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