Pixar piles on the international intrigue with “Cars 2”

Jim Hill

15 years ago

Quick question: What do you think of the “Back to the Future”
sequels?

The reason I ask … Well, while many people consider the
original “Back to the Future” to be an enormously entertaining movie, most
folks don’t feel the same about “BTTF II” & “III.” Thanks — in large part
— to the marked difference between the way Michael J. Fox’s character behaves
in the first film and the way Marty McFly acts in the next two flicks.

I mean, think about it. In the original “Back to the Future,”
Marty is this upbeat, think-on-his-feet kind of guy. Whereas in the “BTTF”
sequels, McFly suddenly becomes this hot head who’s easily goaded into a fight
if someone calls him “chicken.”

This may seem like a minor point to most people. But I
genuinely think that it takes some of the fun away from “Back to the Future II”
& “III” to suddenly have Marty behaving differently than he did in the
first movie. That this lack of consistency between the three “BTTF” films / sudden
& rather clumsy introduction of McFly’s hair-trigger temper significantly
undermines the storyline of the last two installments of this much beloved series.

But – then again — what choice did Robert Zemekis & Bob
Gale have? In order for Marty to learn & grow over the course of “Back to
the Future II” & “III,” he had to undergo some sort of character
development. And if McFly could just learn to control his temper … Well, this
would then prevent the collision with that limo which brought Marty’s
once-promising music career to a halt.

So from the film-makers’ side of the fence, I can understand
why Zemekis & Gale did what they did. But – that said – the awkward
introduction of this new story element (for me, anyway) takes away some of the
fun of “Back to the Future II” & “III.”

“So why bring up the “BTTF” sequels?,” you ask. Well, the
guys at Pixar were facing a similar situation with “Cars 2: World Grand Prix.” You
see, in order for the storyline that they’d developed for this “Cars” sequel to
play out properly, they now had to have Mater behave somewhat differently than
he did in the first film. To be specific, this rusty old tow truck had to go from
being a character with a gift for colorful phraseology (EX: “I’m as happy as a
tornado in a trailer park”) to becoming someone who was now infamous for
telling tall tales.

So how did the people at Pixar decide to introduce audiences
to Mater’s new character trait? Give moviegoers the idea that this loveable
little tow truck might play fast & loose with the truth in “Cars 2”? By
creating this brand-new series of “Cars Toons” called “Mater’s Tall Tales.”

Of course, what makes these new Pixar shorts fun is – at
the end of each “Cars Toon” – there’s this moment when Lightning McQueen insists
that there’s just no way that Mater was ever a stunt driver or a great matador or a heavy metal star … But then something
happens on screen that suggests that maybe – just maybe – Mater is telling the
truth.

Which brings us to the storyline for “Cars 2: World Grand
Prix.” Which – according to what John Lasseter said at the D23 EXPO last week –
grew out of those PR tours that he had to do for the international releases of
Pixar’s films.

“I’d sit in the hotel and do interviews for 6 to 8 hours at
a time, while my wife would get to go shopping or sight-seeing with an escort,”
he remembered. “But as we were driving to the hotel, I’d look out the window
and wonder how the Cars characters would deal with all the different things
that they’d encounter in this country.”

To be specific, John talked about possible gag ideas. Like
Mater struggling to learn to drive on the left side of the road in London. Or
getting stuck in one of Paris’ infamous traffic circles. Or learning how to
deal with all those cars whizzing by him at 100 MPH on the German autobahn.

And it was these fish-out-of-water / Ugly-American-tourist ideas
that Lasseter insisted be folded into “Cars 2: World Grand Prix.” Which – FYI –
is being directed by Brad Lewis, the producer of Pixar’s Academy Award-winning
feature, “Ratatouille.”

Anyway … As “Cars 2” gets underway, Lightning McQueen is
taking part in this enormous multi-stage international race of champions. Which
kicks off in Japan with a nature-to-neon leg (which will take these cars from the
forests at the foot at Mount Fuji right into the heart of Tokyo’s Ginza
District).

With Mater now acting as the McQueen’s new Crew Chief (With
Luigi, Guido , Ramone as well as several other familiar faces from Radiator
Springs signing on to be members of Lightning’s pit crew), this little tow truck now has a lot of
responsibility riding on his rusty shoulders.

But Mater being Mater … Well, he always tries to makes the
best of every situation. Jump right in and experience the culture of each country
the World Grand Prix takes them to. So when this race takes Lightning and his
pit crew to Germany to race through the Black Forest … Well, Mater pulls on his
Mater-hose and then joins right in on the fun at Oktoberfest.

But then somewhere along the way, Mater accidentally saves
the life of Finn McMissile, this secret agent car who’s being pursued by bad
guys … And Finn (because this tow truck came up with a really clever way to
defeat the bad guys) now thinks Mater is also a secret agent car. Because – of course
– traveling around the world as the Crew Chief for a race car like Lightning
McQueen would be the perfect cover for a secret agent (More to the point, there’s
just no way that Mater could actually be as dumb as he seems to be. Which is
why McMissile now thinks that this is all an act).

But – of course – when Mater tries to tell his friends from
Radiator Springs about how he saved a secret agent car, nobody believes him.
Because after all, Lightning McQueen & Co. just know that this little tow
truck loves to tell tall tales.

So – from here – the action moves to Italy (where the cars
now treat all of the scooters on the streets as if they were gnats or
mosquitoes). Where the bad guys – who has also assumed that Mater is now some
secret agent undercover – repeatedly attempt to capture and interrogate him.
Which makes it difficult for this tow truck to be the best possible Crew Chief he
can be for Lightning.

After this leg of the World Grand Prix is complete, it’s off
to Paris (Where “Cars 2” concept art revealed that – in this new Pixar film — the
base of the Eiffel Tower would now look like an enormous wire-rimmed tire) and
then London. Where – as McQueen races by such legendary landmarks as Big
Bentley – Mater must once again join forces with Finn McMissile in order to defeat
the bad guys.

So will Lightning McQueen actually win the World Grand Prix?
More importantly, will Mater’s friends from Radiator Springs actually believe
him when this tow truck tells them all about the espionage-laden adventures
that he’s been having?

To get the answers to those questions, you’re going to have
to buy a tickets to “Cars 2: World Grand Prix.” Which – thanks to all the prep
work that Pixar has been doing lately, getting would-be moviegoers used to the
idea that Mater tell tall tales – looks to be a really entertaining film. Which
will debut in Disney Digital 3D in the Summer of 2011.

So what do you folks think? Does the above plot description
make it that much more likely that you’ll be headed “Back to” the cinema in “the
Future” for some more “Cars”-related fun?

Your thoughts?