IT HAD to happen eventually. Disney Pixar was always going to struggle to top the tearful elation and misty-eyed farewells of Toy Story 3.

Cars 2 falls short of that modern masterpiece, lacking sufficient heartfelt emotion under the bonnet to really rev our engines in the way that we have come to expect from the mercurial John Lasseter and his team.

For any other studio, this high-octane spy caper would be a triumph, orchestrating some death-defying action sequences that look even more startling in digital 3-D.

And certainly young audiences will whoop with glee as tow truck Mater skids and screeches from one disaster to the next as the film’s turbo-charged characters circumnavigate the globe in the first-ever World Grand Prix.

However, compared to Disney Pixar’s most recent features, Lasseter and Brad Lewis’s film lacks the polish which perhaps we’ve taken for granted.

Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) returns home to Radiator Springs as the four-time champion of the Piston Cup.

Best friend Mater (Larry The Cable Guy) welcomes him back with open doors, as does girlfriend Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt).