Although an official announcement hasn't been made yet, Disney officials have said that John Lasseter will co-direct Pixar's 2011 release, Cars 2.
According to longtime Disney watcher Jim Hill, "Disney reps were quite up front about the fact that the chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios is now working side-by-side with Brad Lewis, the producer of Ratatouille.”
John Lasseter Helps Brad Lewis Direct Disney/Pixar's Cars 2
John Lasseter hasn't directed a single film since he became Disney Animation's chief creative officer in 2006. The smart money said that he was too busy producing and acting as "Logic Police" for both Pixar and Disney Animation's upcoming films, and remaking Disney Animation over in Pixar's image. Lasseter even passed on directing this year's Toy Story 3, handing the reins for Pixar's #1 franchise over to his former co-director Lee Unkrich.
Could this signify a changing of the guard on Cars 2? Several reports have talked about story problems on this film (that said, similar tales dogged Ratatouille, Finding Nemo and Toy Story and look how those films turned out). John Lasseter has never been afraid to pull a director if he felt it necessary: he yanked original director Jan Pinkava from Ratatouille and replaced him with Brad Bird, and he also removed Chris Sanders from the film that eventually became Bolt, swapping him out for Chris Williams.
At this point, Lewis is still officially the man in charge of Cars 2 and, according to Hill, Disney "anticipates that this June 2011 release will be a worthy follow-up to that 2006 Pixar Animation Studios release." However, Lasseter is still Lewis' boss, which would make it harder for Lewis to tell him what to do. Can Lasseter restrain himself, or will this film eventually turn into his baby?
Cars 2 Synopsis
According to Disney's website, Cars 2 follows "Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), his pit crew and his new crew chief, Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), head around the world for the "Race of Champions" taking place in five different countries: Japan, Germany, Italy, a 24-hour race in France and the United Kingdom. However, Mater, involved in a case of mistaken identity, saves the life of a British secret agent named Finn McMissile and finds himself embroiled in his world of international espionage."
True to Pixar's form, a poster featuring Finn McMissile appeared on Andy's wall in Toy Story 3. A short featuring Buzz and Woody from the Toy Story movies will precede Cars 2 into theatres.
Will Cars 2 be any good? Animation fans generally consider the original Cars to be the weakest film in Pixar's library, brought out to fulfill an increasingly onerous contract with Michael Eisner's Disney. However, it was a smash with Disney's Consumer Products division, which is why there was great interest in a sequel.
On the plus side, Pixar hasn't released a commercial or critical failure yet, and the Toy Story sequels are generally considered to be superior to the original 1995 film. With that in mind, it's not surprising that the buzz surrounding Cars 2 is generally positive.
Cars 2 rolls out on June 24, 2011.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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