Look, I get it: the Mater character is the most unique and identifiable persona from the first flick. But making him the focus of the sequel? Somebody in the Disney headquarters was really desperate to corner the yokel moviegoer market. As a result, we get this wildly uneven outing that drills home the grating nature of the Larry the Cable Guy-voiced character. Mater is a seriously one-note song, practically a drone of deep boondocks stereotyping. (An aside: not only do I personally find the character grating, I am eternally baffled by the character’s name. “Mater” as in Latin for “mother”? He’s clearly a male. Or “Tow Mater” as in a hillbilly pronunciation of “tomato,” ie. “tomater”? That barely rises to the level of “single-entendre.” Gah! The stupid, it burns!) Even if the viewer, in a spirit of generosity, obliges with a laugh or two at the rustbucket’s antics, that collection of slapstick and groaners is hardly an inexhaustible source of entertainment. The bit wears thin quickly, and thus it gets more difficult, as the story moves forward, to stay engaged with the film’s more complex plot (compared with its predecessor). Also not helping, the staggeringly predictable resolution of the story’s mystery (if it deserves such a label); nobody in the audience whose wardrobe didn’t come from Gymboree can fail to figure who is ultimately behind the scheme. On the other, more positive hand, the movie does do a solid job of parodying most spy movie cliches, including the very British agents and the generically continental henchman villain, complete with ostentatious monocle (on its windshield, no less). Another aspect for which the viewer can be grateful: the shift of venue from thinly-veiled NASCAR series to thinly-veiled Formula 1 circuit raises the class level of the racing scenes—a change that incidentally precipitates one of the movie’s real strengths: the CGI location scenery of Japan, France and the UK, including a gorgeous rendering of the French Riviera. The film looks like a couple-hundred million bucks, even if the driver’s seat, so to speak, is being occupied by a ten-cent character. I guess in the end you can achieve much success by relying upon the uncritical sensibilities of children (and their simpatico parents), but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to do better. This vehicle escapes a trip to the impound lot, but just barely.
