'Cars 2' review: Pixar spins its wheels in rusted-out automotive sequel

" Toy Story " proved that computer animation could, indeed, carry a feature-length film. "A Bug's Life" further showed that such a film could include hundreds of individual characters. "Monsters Inc." brought advancements in the rendering of fur. "The Incredibles" brought human main characters.

And with "Cars 2" -- the first non-"Toy Story" sequel to come out of the envelope-pushing, Disney-owned shingle -- we get another first: For the first time in its 25-year existence, Pixar has created an utterly ordinary film.

Built around characters we already know and a situation (anthropomorphized autos) that was thoroughly mined in the lackluster 2006 original, "Cars 2" ends up spinning its wheels more than ka-chowing its way around the track. The result is a beautifully rendered and brightly colored family film, but one that ultimately is flat and forgettable.

Part of that is in the uninspired execution of a fun but flimsy concept: Rustbucket tow truck Tow Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) is mistaken for a spy while accompanying his high-performance buddy Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) on an international racing circuit.

Being the lovable rube that he is, Mater is oblivious to the fact that his new "girlfriend" (Holley Shiftwell, voiced by Emily Mortimer) is really a British spy who thinks he's an American agent with a really, really good cover. By the time he figures it out, he's fender-deep in a 007 -inspired plot involving an alternative fuel and a shady car cartel.

Also along for the ride: the nicely cast Michael Caine, as dashing British agent Finn McMissile; and John Turturro, as McQueen's trash-a-talking Italian rival, Francesco Bernoulli.

(Missing this time, though: Paul Newman and George Carlin, both of whom have died since the first film. Newman's character, Doc Hudson, is absent but acknowledged with a "Doc Hudson Museum" near the film's beginning. Carlin's character, the hippie van Fillmore, is still around -- vocal mimic Lloyd Sherr does the duties -- although Carlin is saluted on Fillmore's license plate with the numbers 51237, which represents Carlin's birthday, May 12, 1937.)

The whole scenario is good for a few Clouseau-type chuckles as Mater bumbles his way in and out of trouble, but once you get past the auto puns and the pratfalls, the charm is far thinner here than in previous Pixar outings. What's worse, "Cars 2" is boring -- another first for a Pixar movie.

Lacking originality and cleverness, the whole thing reeks of lazy writing, both in terms of comedy and storytelling. That's not the Pixar way, but there it is.

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Before its acquisition by Disney, Pixar was known for its posh policy to ignore sequels, but that policy has since changed. But there is still an entrenched creative culture at Pixar: at its core, Pixar is still a director-driven animation studio. So no sequel can be put into production unless the director of the first film gives the thumbs-up and/or is on board in some sort of creative capacity on that project. So it's more than likely that The Incredibles 2 isn't produced yet because of Director Brad Bird...

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