Cars may have been one of Pixar's least lovable efforts, but it was also by far their most merchandisable: kids can't empathise with an anthropomorphised steel vehicle, but they can certainly play with one. Even Pixar, however, couldn't be bothered with this half-hearted spin-off, which was initially conceived by parent company Disney as a straight-to-DVD release. It shows, both in its bland, pastel-hued animation and its join-the-dots story of a lowly Midwestern crop-duster with dreams of international air racing. For "international", read "packed with wince-worthy ethnic stereotyping" — it's the only way the writers know how to define character in a universe this soulless.
