Pixar Flick 'Cars 2' Plot Has Been Revealed

"Cars" is without a doubt my least favorite Pixar movie, and I'm certainly not alone in that statement. Still, I'm willing to give the animation studio the benefit of the doubt with their upcoming sequel, "Cars 2." After all, "Toy Story 2" was an improvement on the already terrific first "Toy Story," so who's to say they can't make a bigger leap here?

Many at Pixar acknowledge that "Cars" is not their best, even if it was one of their more kid-targeted and merchandise-friendly efforts, and it's likely they're looking to redeem themselves with the follow-up.

You can get a slight idea if that redemption will occur thanks to Empire, who share plot details for "Cars 2" by way of a Disney presentation in the UK this morning. John Lasseter told the crowd the sequel will focus more on the tow truck character Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) as he travels with Speed McQueen (Owen Wilson) on a worldwide series of races called the Race of Champions.

With international settings as diverse as Tokyo, Italy, Germany, Monte Carlo, Paris and London, I'm reminded of Blake Edwards' globetrotting comedy "The Great Race," despite "Cars 2" not involving an ongoing race around the world. The locales and variety of races should also be very adaptable to the video game tie-ins.

Anyway, here's where it gets interesting: among the new vehicles, which include a Formula One race car and Land Rovers serving as Buckingham Palace guards, is an Aston Martin-type named Finn McMissile. He is -- you guessed it -- a British spy; 007 as a car, obviously.

Finn and Mater are apparently the subjects of a paranoid thriller subplot described as "Hitchcockian." Basically it sounds like a "North By Northwest" kind of mistaken identity storyline. So, yeah, Hitchcock meets James Bond meets "The Great Race." Already it sounds a billion times better than the simple "Doc Hollywood" rehash of the first "Cars."

The report claims "all the familiar voices will be returning," which is a sad mistake considering three prominent vocal talents -- Paul Newman, George Carlin and Joe Ranft -- have passed on since production of the first film. Meanwhile, there's a logical presumption that Pixar will get one of the Bond actors to voice Finn. If they manage to coax Sean Connery out of retirement for this, I'll have another reason to look forward to this.

Are you looking forward to "Cars 2"? What do you think of this broader scope in plot? Do you think it will better than the first "Cars"?