FILM

USA 2011  112 mins Dir: John Lasseter Starring (voices): Owen Wilson, Michael Caine, Larry the Cable Guy, Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzard, John Turturro

Even an enviable winning streak can suffer the occasional glitch. For Pixar, the world's greatest animation studio, that glitch was John Lasseter's 2006 film 'Cars'. Now maybe this is a tad unfair. From any other studio, those expressive animated automobiles would have earned our applause. But Pixar has set the bar much higher. In this unwanted sequel, the animation and background detail are once again state-of-the-art, and there are plenty of funny bits in the margins. But you can't help expecting something more sophisticated from the people who gave us 'Ratatouille', 'WALL•E’ and 'Up' than a plot that feels like a 'Scooby Doo' knock-off with a modish green twist.

This time, little red sports car Lightning McQueen (Wilson) is off to Europeland to do battle in the World Grand Prix with egotistical Italian Francesco Bernoulli (Turturro – performing the same function in animated form as Sacha Baron's Cohen's swaggering French driver in 'Talladega Nights'). Reluctantly, he's also brought dim-witted, buck-toothed tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) along for the ride. A misunderstanding then has Mater mistaken for a fellow spy by Brit agent Finn McMissile (Caine) and saucy rookie Holley Shiftwell (Mortimer) as they uncover a sinister plot to discredit an alternative fuel.

There's certainly some clever stuff here. If you've ever wondered how an animated car goes to the toilet, Lasseter and his team provide an elegant answer. Her Maj and Prince William also appear in amusing vehicular form on the British leg. But for anyone over 10, the espionage plot soon gets stale and it's all too easy to become distracted by the stunning 3D rendering of the streets of France, Italy and London. (Robin Askew)

Website www.disney.co.uk/cars/

In cinemas Fri 22 July

Copyright Robin Askew 2011