Cars 2

Voices of: Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzard, John Turturro, Tony Shalhoub, Jeff Garlin, Jason Isaacs, Bruce Campbell, Vanessa Redgrave, Cheech Marin
Directed by: John Lasseter, Brad Lewis
Rating: G
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Children's
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) head overseas to take part in an international race. Mater, meanwhile gets involved in global espionage.

Review:

Tim: Well, it finally happened. Pixar created film that critics didn't love. I personally didn't like The Incredibles, but this film is likely even worse. Cars 2 is very likely the worst Pixar film yet. Whatever the actual intentions, the movie feels like a quick cash grab. Cars sells a lot of merchandise, so why not make a sequel? And, to cash in on the increased global movie attendance, let's set the film in several different foreign countries to up the gross. Everything about this movie made me feel like dollar signs clouded the vision of everyone involved. What Pixar failed to do here is create a compelling, emotional story (which is, you know, what they're known for). This is a major disappointment.

The first thing I strongly disliked about this film is that Lightning McQueen becomes a supporting character, and Mater becomes the leading character. This decision was awful and ruined the movie. Mater works in small doses as a supporting character. He is not a leading one, and is on screen far too long in this film. I really wanted less of Mater, and more of Lightning. I just don't understand why this was perceived to be a good idea. It hurts the movie, because Mater gets really, really annoying in long bursts.

I also disliked how this film traded in the racing storyline for one of espionage and spies. Yes, there's a trio of races involved, but that is a subplot secondary to main plot of Mater becoming a secret agent. Even writing this, the whole story sounds pretty absurd to me. Cars should be about writing, not about spies and corporate corruption. The movie is a mess, and I haven't even mentioned the whole green movement subplot, either. Ugh!

It would be one thing if all these elements worked well together. The film is surprisingly bland. I did not have an enjoyable, entertaining time watching the movie. It's not particularly funny, nor clever, nor fun to watch. It's just silly and feels like it takes far too long to complete (106 minutes felt longer here). There's nothing that really connects us to the characters. We do have a very big, very obvious moral of being true to who you are and not changing to meet other peoples' expectations, but there was no real connection with this moral. It seemed like it was pounded over our heads far too hard and frequently to be effective.

I did not enjoy Cars 2. I personally don't believe this is the first Pixar failure, but it's very likely the biggest.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Cars, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Wall-E