The Muppets is in US cinemas today and we have to wait flippin ages until February 2012 to see it. No, we are NOT happy! Another reason that we are not happy is that the short film which will sit in front of The Muppets is a new one from Pixar using Toy Story and has the name Small Fry. We’ve seen a couple of images and a clip already but I think this one might be my favourite as it shows Mini Buzz getting to meet Mini Zurg. I guess if he met normal-sized Zurg it would be an unfair fight!

The voice cast is comprised of Tom Hanks​, Tim Allen, John Ratzenberger​, Wallace Shawn​, Joan Cusack​, Estelle Harris​,Don Rickles, Jane Lynch, Teddy Newton, Emily Hahn, Angus MacLane, Lori Alan​, Josh Cooley, Jess Harnell​, Bret Parker, Emily Forbes, Kitt Hirasaki, Peter Sohn, Carlos Alazraqui​, Bob Bergen​, Timothy Dalton, Jason Topolski, Jim Ward with Angus MacLane helming the short.

Buzz Lightyear is left behind at a fast food restaurant when a kids’ meal toy version of Buzz takes his place. While Bonnie’s toys are stuck with the annoying three-inch-tall Buzz impersonator, the real Buzz is trapped in the restaurant at a support group for discarded toys. As Woody and the gang devise a way to rescue their friend, Buzz tries to escape the toy psychotherapy meeting.

This image comes from the Toy Story official Facebook page.

Disney Pixar have just sent over the first clip from Small Fry, the Short that will sit in front of The Muppets when it’s released next year on 10th February. Last week we got to see the first two images it and now we get our first clip which is just as awesome as every other Toy Story movie that we’ve seen! In it, we get to see Buzz trying to escape the fast food restaurant and ending up in a support group for ‘Discarded Fun Meal Toys’.

The voice cast is comprised of Tom Hanks​, Tim Allen, John Ratzenberger​, Wallace Shawn​, Joan Cusack​, Estelle Harris​,Don Rickles, Jane Lynch, Teddy Newton, Emily Hahn, Angus MacLane, Lori Alan​, Josh Cooley, Jess Harnell​, Bret Parker, Emily Forbes, Kitt Hirasaki, Peter Sohn, Carlos Alazraqui​, Bob Bergen​, Timothy Dalton, Jason Topolski, Jim Ward with Angus MacLane helming the short.

Buzz Lightyear is left behind at a fast food restaurant when a kids’ meal toy version of Buzz takes his place. While Bonnie’s toys are stuck with the annoying three-inch-tall Buzz impersonator, the real Buzz is trapped in the restaurant at a support group for discarded toys. As Woody and the gang devise a way to rescue their friend, Buzz tries to escape the toy psychotherapy meeting.

Disney Pixar have just sent over the first image (and Stitch Kingdom provided the second) and some new details about the brand new Toy Story short, ‘Small Fry’ which will sit in front of The Muppets when it’s released February 10th in the UK.

Buzz Lightyear is left behind at a fast food restaurant when a kids’ meal toy version of Buzz takes his place. While Bonnie’s toys are stuck with the annoying three-inch-tall Buzz impersonator, the real Buzz is trapped in the restaurant at a support group for discarded toys. As Woody and the gang devise a way to rescue their friend, Buzz tries to escape the toy psychotherapy meeting.

The voice cast is extensive and includes Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Joan Cusack, Estelle Harris,Don Rickles, Jane Lynch, Teddy Newton, Emily Hahn, Angus MacLane, Lori Alan, Josh Cooley, Jess Harnell, Bret Parker, Emily Forbes, Kitt Hirasaki, Peter Sohn, Carlos Alazraqui, Bob Bergen, Timothy Dalton, Jason Topolski, Jim Ward with Angus MacLane helming the short.

We CANNOT WAIT to see it and it feels so good to be writing about Toy Story again!

Love this image, click it below to enlarge.

To say that Cars 2 is bigger than its predecessor is an understatement.  To say it is better than the first film would be robbing it blind. But if you said that Cars 2 is one of the biggest and best film of the year, you would be right on the money.

Let me start this review off with a dash of honesty before we get started.  I think the first Cars film is the weakest of the 12 films Pixar has pumped out over the last 16 years.  I liked the film overall, as I do with most of what that studio releases, but I just didn’t connect with it as I assumed I would.  The feeling of days gone by doesn’t connect all that well with my generation.  Sure, I spent most summers cramped in an RV with my two sisters traveling around the States and taking in the views.  A fact I hated when I was younger but thank my parents for now as often as I can.  So I figured the Route 66 theme would be a real treat to see. The film, like all Pixar films, is beautiful to watch, but I couldn’t get over the idea of a world populated by talking cars. Sure, the film starts off with a bang at that insanely cool Nascar race, but the second Lightning jumps over a crashed car with his tongue out, I was gone.

Call me a scrooge but I’ve already done bugs, toys and monsters. Also keep in mind that I was coming off the high of Pixar’s previous film, The Incredibles which truly lived up to its name. Something about visiting another world of anthropomorphized characters in Cars wasn’t something I was ready to do again. So when I heard Pixar was working on Cars 2 I was all set to let that film be the first one I would be skipping.

John Lasseter doesn’t like sequels, a fact he’s been very open about. So on the verge of a 3rd Toy Story film (Toy Story being my all-time favorite), Pixar announced a sequel to my least favorite of their films. I was already talking about how Pixar had lost its touch and they didn’t have any new stories to tell and they were scrapping projects (Newt) and DreamWorks was churning out winners.  It all looked pretty awful for a moment.  All this negativity had me believing Cars 2 would be the end of the streak for Pixar.  I could not have been more wrong and proves that I should never doubt Lasseter and his team of creative genius.

Besides this film being tonally very different from the first, which helps for me, it’s an incredibly enjoyable film on its own merits. Under the hood of the film is still the relationship between Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and Lightning (Owen Wilson) that’s very stock when it comes to these types of films. However, everything else on the surface is totally custom.  Cars 2 is a spy caper wrapped up in shiny Pixar skin. Simply put, Cars 2 is the best action film I’ve seen all year and delivered in a package only Pixar can.

Cars 2 starts out with a very James Bond like action sequence. We are immediately introduced to our newest character Finn McMissle (Voiced by the great Michael Caine) as he is in full spy mode investigating this creepy oil rig in the middle of the ocean. This scene sets the tone for the entire film. It’s beautiful and full of action and I almost forgot that cars were talking.  When we finally meet back up with the old gang at Radiator Springs, which provides the only breath you’ll get in the film, we are given a nice touching tribute, which provides dual services to both Doc Hudson and the man who voiced the character, Paul Newman. The short time we spend in Radiator Springs is all that remains of the first film.  We are swept away as Cars 2 successfully navigates two different and sweeping storylines.

Our first story involves Lightning McQueen in his attempt to prove he is the fastest car in the newly created “World Grand Prix”.  Cars from all over the world are entered into a three-race series that takes them to Tokyo, Porto Corsa and London. The real race, however, is between McQueen and a Formula-1 car, voiced by the great John Turturro, named Francesco Bernoulli, a character more boisterous then Jean Girard from Talladega Nights. Their races are elaborate and the settings are beautiful in a way that you can only truly appreciate in 3D. However, all this is happening in the background, the real story rests on the shoulders of the witless tow-truck Mater.

In a conventional way, Mater is mistaken as an American spy and is swept up into this world of espionage and action.  What happens after is quite unconventional in Pixar films.  The film has strong political themes and actually depicts a lot of violence, including the death of several characters, something we haven’t seen on screen since The Incredibles.  The World Grand Prix is created by a wealthy alternative fuel car by the name of Miles Axelrod (voice by Eddie Izzard). He has created the alternative fuel Allinol he believes will reduce our dependence on fossil fuel and requires that all cars in the race use this as proof.  However, there is someone behind the curtain that isn’t too fond of that idea. It’s up to Mater, who is forced to team up with  Field Agent Finn and desk jockey Agent Holley Shiftwell, (Voiced by Emily Mortimer) to find the mastermind behind all the evil doings.  Both of these new characters add so much to the film I can only hope they return to do more in future installments.

The film is Mater centric, so if you didn’t like him in the first one, you may have a hard time with the amount of screen time he gets.  If you are one of those people though let me start by saying you’re not alone.  Mater was my least favorite character in the first film, but there is something about his journey that I really like. With the addition of Holley Shiftwell, we get to see two of these characters take very similar journeys alongside each other and eventually towards each other.  I also think the emergency brake-180 burnout this film does helps quell anything you may have disliked in the first.  Sure there are some plot devices that seem to make no sense whatsoever and some obvious humor that seems a bit over the top for Pixar. But overall this film brings back memorable characters in a totally new adventure that leaves the original in the dust.

I think Cars 2 is the standout film thus far in a very hectic summer movie season.  With the addition of great new characters and amazing locations you’ll also want to see it in 3D.  I was fortunate enough to see the film at its world premiere so the bulbs were amped up and the glasses didn’t darken the image all that much.  But I mention being at the World Premiere, thanks to Disney, only to stress the point that I would gladly pay to see this film again. At the end of the day isn’t that what we moviegoers expect from our films, to be worth every penny?

****~ (4/5)

“Cars 2” opens in the US on the June 24, 2011 an in the UK on the 22nd of July.

This Friday sees the release of Disney Pixar’s latest movie, Cars 2 and yesterday morning, the UK premiere was held with director John Lasseter, stars Sir Michael Caine, Jason Isaacs and producer Denise Ream all in attendance. Our friends from Upbeat were there to interview them all and have very kindly passed over their footage. Check out the interviews in the video below.

Cars 2 is directed by legendary John Lasseter and features a voice cast which includes Owen Wilson , Larry The Cable Guy, Michael Caine , Emily Mortimer , Bonnie Hunt , Tony Shalhoub , Cheech Marin , Jason Isaacs , Joe Mantegna , Peter Jacobson , Thomas Kretschmann , Guido Quaroni , Lloyd Sherr , Paul Dooley, John Ratzenberger , Jenifer Lewis, Michael Wallis , Katherine Helmond , John Turturro , Franco Nero , Vanessa Redgrave , Eddie Izzard , Bruce Campbell, Michel Michelis, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip , Lewis Hamiltonand David Hobbs. Rather extensive eh!

You can keep up to date with all our Cars 2 coverage here and watch it when it hits UK cinemas 22nd July.

Synopsis: Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy ) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2″ when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world. Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.

If you missed the first interview check it out here with Larry the Cable Guy and Emily Mortimer. In this interview, I get to chat with Owen Wilson and Eddie Izzard about their roles in the brand new Pixar movie, Cars 2 which comes out in the UK 22nd July.

I enjoy Eddie’s flamboyant comedy and loved his work in “Oceans 12/13” and “Valkyrie”. For me Owen shines when working with Wes Anderson but “Wedding Crashers” is one of my favourite comedies of all time. Needless to say I was extremely excited at the opportunity to talk to both of these men.

I was sort of split going into my interview with Larry the Cable Guy (Daniel Lawrence Whitney) and Emily Mortimer.

My wife and I are huge fans of Emily’s work in such films as “Dear Frankie”, “City Island” and her hilariously brilliant stint on NBC’s “30 Rock”.  On the other end is comedian Larry the Cable Guy, who I only know because of his involvement in these Pixar films and that his catchphrase “get ‘er done” was quite popular for a time.

As actors they have very different bodies of work so I was extremely curious how they would interact with each other during the press questions.  In the film, Mater and Holley Shiftwell (Mortimer) spend most of their time on screen together trying to foil the bad guys.  However, most people are aware that voicing animated characters doesn’t allow a whole lot of face time between actors, so it seemed interesting that they would pair these two together during the junket.

What happened is exactly how I hoped my first junket would turn out.  They were extremely receptive to my questions and seemed to genuinely enjoy each other’s company.  Before the interview started they were joking and laughing with me regarding my lack of a UK accent considering I was covering the event for HeyUGuys.  It was interesting to find that Whitmer isn’t always in character.  I was fully expecting him to be Mater or Larry the Cable Guy, All in all I think this was the most fun I had at the event. The fact that they still had a sense of humor after three solid days of press put me at ease, and seemed like they put their actual chemistry to good use on screen and off.

Here’s the interview,

I remember seeing “Toy Story” in my local movie theater in Whittier, Ca. I was 10 years old when that film came out. So having the opportunity to interview John Lasseter was a nerve racking and surreal experience.  I told myself if I ever got the chance I would simply tell him “Thank You”.  Last week I got the chance I didn’t miss the opportunity.  Before cameras started rolling on our conversation I explained to the “Cars 2” Director that his feature film debut basically defined my childhood and planted the seeds of what would become my infatuation with film.  We also briefly chatted about the fact that we both grew up in the same Los Angeles suburb of Whittier.  He talked about how his love of cars grew while working at his dad Chevrolet dealership and I explained that I went to a high school called Whittier Christian High School that wasn’t actually in Whittier (he attended Whittier High – which is actually in Whittier). He’s the kind of guy I felt like I could talk to for hours, and I would have if they didn’t tell me that cameras were rolling.  I now had the obligation to start asking some questions.

While I loved “Cars 2” so much more then the original “Cars”, I didn’t really feel like asking a whole lot of questions regarding the film. Actually you’ll see that same theme in my interviews with the voice cast as well. I figured they had probably talked enough about the film over the past three days that I didn’t want to get the same stock answers.  I decided I would ask questions from the stance of a Pixar fan in general.  With Lassester, my questions were more themed on how he approaches his films as a Director and as the Chief Creative Office for Walt Disney Animation.

And while John Lasseter wears many hats at Disney and has become more or less a household name (I mean my dad knows who he is for christ sakes), I still think of him as the guy who directed “Toy Story”. And now he’s the guy who has directed my favorite film of the summer.

“Cars 2” Opens Today in the US and July 22^nd in the UK. My Cars 2 review is here. Check out my interview with John below.

Disney Pixar have just sent over the official Cars 2 music video and song named ‘Collision of Worlds’ which is performed by Robbie Williams and Brad Paisley. If you’re a fan of either artist, you’ll probably like this + we get to see a little more footage from the latest creation from the legends at Pixar. Williams have previously worked with Disney on the Fidnign Nemo soundtrack so parents will have yet another audio delight to listen to over and over again!

The voice cast in the movie includes Owen Wilson , Larry The Cable Guy, Michael Caine , Emily Mortimer , Bonnie Hunt , Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin , Jason Isaacs , Joe Mantegna , Peter Jacobson , Thomas Kretschmann , Guido Quaroni , Lloyd Sherr , Paul Dooley, John Ratzenberger , Jenifer Lewis, Michael Wallis , Katherine Helmond , John Turturro , Franco Nero , Vanessa Redgrave , Eddie Izzard , Bruce Campbell, Michel Michelis, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip , Lewis Hamilton and David Hobbs.

You can keep up to date with all our Cars 2 coverage here and watch it when it hits UK cinemas 22nd July.

Synopsis: Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy ) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2″ when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world. Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.

To mark the release of Disney Pixar’s new movie, Cars 2 on July 22nd, we’ve been given 4 tickets to give away to a lucky reader for a screening of the movie a month before it’s official release date! The screening will take place in London’s West End on Sunday June 26th. Doors open at 10am with the screening starting at 11am.

John Lasseter is back to direct while the the voice cast includes Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen, Larry The Cable Guy, Michael Caine , Emily Mortimer, Bonnie Hunt , Tony Shalhoub , Cheech Marin , Jason Isaacs , Joe Mantegna , Peter Jacobson, Thomas Kretschmann , Guido Quaroni , Lloyd Sherr , Paul Dooley, John Ratzenberger , Jenifer Lewis, Michael Wallis , Katherine Helmond , John Turturro , Franco Nero , Vanessa Redgrave , Eddie Izzard , Bruce Campbell, Michel Michelis, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip , Lewis Hamilton and David Hobbs.

You can keep up to date with all our Cars 2 coverage here and watch it when it hits UK cinemas 22nd July.

Synopsis: Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy ) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2″ when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world. Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.

To be in with a chance of winning all four tickets, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Who voices the character ‘Lightning McQueen’ in Cars and Cars 2?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 22nd June at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available
• Expenses to get to and from the the screening are not covered in the prize

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Disney Pixar have released a new clip from their new movie, Cars 2 and in the clip, we get to see Formula One World Champion, Lewis Hamilton attempting to act! It is quite a sight to be seen (or heard I guess!).

The voice cast in the movie includes Owen Wilson, Larry The Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Jason Isaacs, Joe Mantegna, Peter Jacobson, Thomas Kretschmann, Guido Quaroni, Lloyd Sherr, Paul Dooley, John Ratzenberger, Jenifer Lewis, Michael Wallis, Katherine Helmond, John Turturro, Franco Nero, Vanessa Redgrave, Eddie Izzard, Bruce Campbell, Michel Michelis, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, Lewis Hamilton and David Hobbs.

You can keep up to date with all our Cars 2 coverage here and watch it when it hits UK cinemas 22nd July.

Synopsis: Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2″ when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world. Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.

Disney Pixar have released this brand new featurette for their new movie, Cars 2 called ‘Spy Cars Like Us’. In the featurette we get to find out more about the Spy Cars that we get to meet in Cars 2 introduced by Director, John Lasseter.

The voice cast in the movie includes Owen Wilson, Larry The Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Jason Isaacs, Joe Mantegna, Peter Jacobson, Thomas Kretschmann, Guido Quaroni, Lloyd Sherr, Paul Dooley, John Ratzenberger, Jenifer Lewis, Michael Wallis, Katherine Helmond, John Turturro, Franco Nero, Vanessa Redgrave, Eddie Izzard, Bruce Campbell, Michel Michelis, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, Lewis Hamilton and David Hobbs.

You can keep up to date with all our Cars 2 coverage here and watch it when it hits UK cinemas 22nd July.

Synopsis: Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2″ when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world. Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.

Disney Movies UK & Pixar have just released a brand new international trailer for their latest movie, Cars 2. The trailer is similar to the US theatrical one that we put up last week but has a few new bits in there.

The movie is directed by legendary John Lasseter and features a voice cast which includes Owen Wilson, Larry The Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Jason Isaacs, Joe Mantegna, Peter Jacobson, Thomas Kretschmann, Guido Quaroni, Lloyd Sherr, Paul Dooley, John Ratzenberger, Jenifer Lewis, Michael Wallis, Katherine Helmond, John Turturro, Franco Nero, Vanessa Redgrave, Eddie Izzard, Bruce Campbell, Michel Michelis, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, Lewis Hamilton and David Hobbs. Rather extensive eh!

You can keep up to date with all our Cars 2 coverage here and watch it when it hits UK cinemas 22nd July.

Synopsis: Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2″ when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world. Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.

Check it out below:

Disney Pixar have just released the third and most likely final trailer for their new movie, Cars 2. The movie is directed by legendary John Lasseter and features a voice cast which includes Owen Wilson, Larry The Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Jason Isaacs, Joe Mantegna, Peter Jacobson, Thomas Kretschmann, Guido Quaroni, Lloyd Sherr, Paul Dooley, John Ratzenberger, Jenifer Lewis, Michael Wallis, Katherine Helmond, John Turturro, Franco Nero, Vanessa Redgrave, Eddie Izzard, Bruce Campbell, Michel Michelis, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, Lewis Hamilton and David Hobbs. Rather extensive eh!

You can keep up to date with all our Cars 2 coverage here and watch it when it hits UK cinemas 22nd July.

Synopsis: Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2″ when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world. Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.

This new trailer focuses mainly around the race and the first ever ‘world grand prix’ and then cue Michael Caine and the main storyline where the bad guys are out to get Lightning McQueen. It’s scary stuff!

This one comes courtesy of Apple where you can watch it in high definition.

Yesterday I posted the first image from Cars 2, Jamie brought you the first poster and now Disney Pixar have released the first trailer for the movie which we can expect in the UK July 22, 2011. They’ve also sent us a collection of new images to that feature within it.

The movie feature a voice cast which includes Owen Wilson, Tony Shalhoub, John Ratzenberger, Cheech Marin, Larry The Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt and is directed by John Lasseter, Co-directed by Brad Lewis and produced by  Denise Ream. We also find out from this trailer that Sir Michael Caine is providing the voice of Finn McMissile! How cool!

Synopsis: Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2” when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage.  Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world.  Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.

John Lasseter returns to the driver’s seat to direct this follow-up to his 2006 Golden Globe®-winning “Cars.” “Cars 2” is co-directed by Brad Lewis, producer of the Oscar®-winning film “Ratatouille,” and produced by visual effects industry veteran Denise Ream (associate producer, “Up”; visual effects executive producer, “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith”).

Check out the new trailer below and click the images to enlarge.

Earlier today, Disney sent us the very first image and synopsis from Cars 2 and this evening Yahoo! Movies have debuted the official poster for Disney Pixar’s Cars 2.

It is the sequel to the 2006 film, Cars and features a voice-cast including Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, John Ratzenberger, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub and Cheech Marin.

Cars 2 is co-directed by John Lasseter (Cars) and Brad Lewis (Ratatouille).

Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2” when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage.  Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world.  Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.

Feast your eyes on the poster below, and come back tomorrow for the debut of the brand new trailer:

Disney Pixar have just sent us the very first official image, synopsis and release date for Cars 2 which we can expect in the UK July 22, 2011.

The movie feature a voice cast which includes Owen Wilson, Tony Shalhoub, John Ratzenberger, Cheech Marin, Larry The Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt and is directed by John Lasseter, Co-directed by Brad Lewis and produced by  Denise Ream.

Synopsis: Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2” when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage.  Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world.  Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.

John Lasseter returns to the driver’s seat to direct this follow-up to his 2006 Golden Globe®-winning “Cars.” “Cars 2” is co-directed by Brad Lewis, producer of the Oscar®-winning film “Ratatouille,” and produced by visual effects industry veteran Denise Ream (associate producer, “Up”; visual effects executive producer, “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith”).

Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich is often to be found on Twitter in a state of excitement as his wonderful film continues to break records and garner critical and commercial love and affection wherever it goes.

We followed him through the development of the acclaimed third Toy Story film and he was a willing and generous tweeter, and he’s clearly still in big love with his film, and last night he tweeted this.

The answer is obvious and you can go to the Disney Awards 2010 page to download the script. It’s a testament to the actors and filmmakers that even the words on the cold page convey the charm and character of the film, and with a story from John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich screenwriter Michael Arndt must have had the time of his life.

While it downloads click here for more toy related fun.

You may remember back in March, along with a group of other awesome bloggers and YouTubers from around the world, I got to visit Pixar, see a very early screening of Toy Story 3 and the short that sits before it, Day and Night and meet the creators of the phenomenal movie that is released in UK cinemas TODAY.

While I was there, I got to meet Pixar Archivist, Christine Freeman (view here), Stereoscopic Supervisor , Bob Whitehill (view here), Production Designer, Bob Pauley (view here) and Lead Animators, Bobby Podesta and Mike Venturini (view here) and finally director Lee Unkrich and producer Darla K. Anderson which went up earlier today here.

One thing we didn’t get to do was interview the cast but fear not as our friends from Upbeat did and managed to get us our own interviews which you can see here. In the interview, we get to meet, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Michael Keaton, John Ratzenberger, Timothy Dalton, Joan Cusack and any more talk about Toy Story 3 of which they are all very proud and so they should be!

Thanks to Simon Thompson especially for conducting the interviews for us. As I mentioned, Toy Story 3 is out today in UK cinemas. Whatever you’re doing this evening, cancel it and go and watch this movie, then, tomorrow, cancel everything else and go and see Inception! So far the two best movies of the year so far. Then, roll on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Tron: Legacy!

Threequels: traditionally the point when a movie franchise sells out and quality goes out of the window.

The Matrix, Spider-man, Shrek, even The Godfather: all series that were creatively bankrupt and utterly out of steam by the time their respective third film lurched into cinemas.

So all hail Pixar then, who have confounded the ‘threequels are rubbish’ rule with this stunning (and hopefully final) third installment in the Toy Story saga.

Why “hopefully final”? Don’t get us wrong, we’ve certainly not fallen out of love with Woody, Buzz, Mr Potato Head or the rest of the gang. Far from it. No,  it’s because Toy Story 3 deals with themes like death, mortality and growing up in such a subtle but gut-wrenching way that dragging the characters back again in five years time – after what they go through this time round – would feel just plain sadistic.

There’s an ‘end of an era’ vibe in Toy Story 3 that is simply and beautifully set-up ten minutes in. After a stunning opening action scene showing Andy, back when he was a 10-year-old, playing an elaborate and hugely imagination scenario with all his favourite toys (the highlight is a nuclear-mushroom cloud of monkeys) we cut to 8 years later. Andy is packing for college, and the toys are relegated to the toybox. In their desperation to simply “be played with”, Woody and friends hatch an ill-fated plan involving Andy’s phone to try and get his attention. It fails however: Andy’s just not interested in playing anymore. Rex the dinosaur is so grateful for any human contact that when his owner picks him up, only to toss him away he shouts “Andy touched me!” excitedly over-and-over again.

It’s a funny scene, but also one that’s also desperately sad and one that tells the audience that the toy’s ultimate destiny – the loft (heaven) or the trash can (hell) – is looming ever closer.

However – via an inventive series of narrative contrivances – the toys soon arrive at a kind of purgatory instead in the form of the sinisterly-monikered ‘Sunnyside Day-Centre’. Upon their arrival they meet a whole crew of new toys lead by the initially charming Lots O’ Huggin’ bear (Lotso for short). His cronies however (apart from the metrosexual Ken) – including the creepy Big Baby and the psychotic Cymbal Monkey – are not quite so welcoming.

Indeed it soon becomes clear that Lotso is rotten to the core and that Sunnyside isn’t the toy haven Andy’s playthings imagined. They are dumped in the room with the youngest (“age-inappropriate”) kids to be chewed, thrown and smothered in glue by day, and locked up in boxes by night.  Sunnyside is a prison, and (of course) the setting for a perfectly realised ‘great escape’ set piece two thirds through the movie.

If all this all this talk of prison camps and mortality makes Toy Story 3 sound rather depressing then you couldn’t be more wrong. This is still utterly adorable and incredibly funny flick. As you’d expect, Pixar has packed in some comedy gold, the highlights including a Spanish-speaking Buzz Lightyear, Ken’s dressing up room and (our favourite) Mr Potato head swapping his usual torso for a taco. Trust us, it’s hilarious. As you’d expect from the studio, the dialogue is also as snappy and (mercilessly) just as un-reliant on contemporary pop-culture references as ever.

Nonetheless, whilst Toy Story 3 is often as breezy and effortlessly snappy as Pixar’s other concoctions, it also has perhaps the darkest moment in any of the animation house’s films. We won’t spoil the scene, but suffice to say for a while you believe that some of the most beloved characters in cinema history are going to meet a shockingly brutal demise.

It all works out alright of course, but the conclusion is still a bitter-sweet and – we admit it – tear-drenched affair that is a monument to the animation studio’s singular ability to mix cutting-edge animation, razor-sharp dialogue and utterly charming characters that you can’t help but care deeply about. Pixar, rather boringly, have pulled it out of the bag once more with their last ever Toy Story. Spider-Man 3 it ain’t.

Review by Orlando Parfitt.