Pixar seems to be in a hurry to get the sequel to its most poorly reviewed product out the door. Cars 2 is being bumped up from its initial release of 2012 to summer 2011.

Brad Lewis, who served as a producer on Antz and Ratatouille, is directing the film, which Lasseter said takes inspiration from cars around the world  he saw while doing publicity tours on behalf of the first Cars.

In the meantime, Pixar will keep the Cars engine humming with a series of animated shorts that it will dub Cars Toons -- the first is titled Mater's Tall Tales, taking its title from the name of the character played by Larry the Cable Guy (The Get 'Er Done Guy).

We were okay with Toy Story sequels, we wouldn't mind seeing more Ratatouille or continue to work with Monsters Inc. Heck we'd even continue looking for Nemo if Pixar asked it of us, but Cars 2? The first one was kind of a hollow experience that seemed to be the first time Pixar decided to just blow us away with visuals and forgot to make us love their storytelling. Let's hope this one cranks out a worthwhile script, oh, and decides to totally ditch Larry the Cable Guy. How does that guy even have a career still?

Leave a Reply