The first impressions of Pixar’s newest film, Brave, are rolling in, and many of them tend to fall in the realm of “I’m glad Cars 2 was an aberration!” or “Pixar has their groove back!” Major Spoilers very own Stephen has repeatedly remarked that the plot of C2 was basically the plot of “A Man Called Flintstone,” which affected the quality, but the plot of the original Cars was basically that of the Michael J. Fox vehicle (pun fully intended) “Doc Hollywood.” For my part, Cars 2 was an okay story, with nice performances by Michael Caine and Eddie Izzard, and some nice auto-industry in-jokes, and while it wasn’t Pixar’s best, it certainly wasn’t awful…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) reminds us that Jack Kirby also created The Black Racer, asking: Was Cars 2 really that bad, or was it just not up to Pixar’s usual standards?
14 Comments
I recently got around to watching this film on an on-demand channel.
With an investment cost of free, I think I got more than my money’s worth :)
I certainly would not shell out $30 for a blu-ray copy.
After it was over, I tried to find some angles in the plot’s subtext that could add a deeper meaning of the overall experience. In some ways, I found success.
However, I also believe that a sign of a very successful movie is that “meaning” should be relatively painless to discover. You shouldn’t have to stand on your head to find the angles.
It wasn’t a bad movie. The problem was that it ceased to be a vehicle for how people live and learn and more of an action film focusing on “The Man Who Knew Too Little” scenario.
Mater was the breakout star of the first film, but his antics are better served in the short format such as Maters Tall Tales than the full length feature film. Was it bad? No. Should it have been something different? Yes.
I was going to write a reply, but your second paragraph basically said everything I would. I don’t get the searing hate people have for Cars 2, but I also see where it’s weaker than most of the other Pixar films.
I don’t think people hate it. I think people have heard that other people hate it, and parrot the expected sentiment.
I agree with you guys because I want to be popular too.
To be honest, I haven’t actually seen it yet. It isn’t that I’m not interested (even if it is bad, I’d still like to see it once), I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Curse of a limited entertainment budget and all that, has nothing to do with people claiming it is bad.
It was only saved by the grace of Bruce Campbell.
Come on, guys. Lay off pickin’ on how ol ‘Mater talks. (Which is pretty dag-gum accurate).
Ah’m f’m Kansas, an Ah know people what talk lahk Mater duz…
Love your music.
Good one!
I don’t know. It’s the only Pixar movie I’ve never seen. I was so disappointed by the first CARS movie that I don’t even have the faintest of curiosities to see the second one. It doesn’t register for me at all. Good or bad, I am not its audience.
I liked the first Cars movie, but the charming nostalgia and the magic of a world where volkwagen beetles are blow-flies and desert mesas resemble fenders and hood ornaments were entirely missing from the second movie. It wasn’t a bad movie, but it wasn’t a great Pixar film either. Disney has a history of producing sequels to successful properties that, to put it simply, blow chunks. It’s sad to think that they may be leading Pixar down the same road, especially since Pixar, when left alone, is capable of producing good sequels, i.e.; Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3.
It’s not bad at all. As people above state- its just not what people wanted.
People (adults) wanted more of the characters of the first one. More McQueen, more Guido/Luigi, more Sally, DEFINITELY more Chick Hicks (IMO, the best part of Cars 1). Instead we got too many more characters than anyone wanted, and a subplot no one wanted.
A car race around the world would have been what everyone could have expected and would have enjoyed, as long as the main characters were in it. This wasn’t that.
BUT- my 5 year old and 3 year old watch it over and over and over along with Cars 1 on DVD. They love them both. So there you go- the true critics have spoken
I think Cars gets a lot more flak than it deserves because of the high quality of the other Pixar movies. Cars 2 is probably a different story though.
I personally think it failed on a number of important rules of movie making, but it does fair better than many cartoon movie sequels… namely all of the Disney direct to video sequels. My son is two and likes Cars, but even he isn’t as entertained by Cars 2. Your second banana should always be second. If this is a world where cars are as alive as people, them blowing up is a horrific thing. Big bad oil is a cheap blow and poor story line choice, even more so in a world where the entire animal population runs on gas. Monsters, Inc. handled the alternative resource thing better.
How does it compare to other animated movies, lets narrow it down a bit and just look at 2011 the year it was released.
‘Gnomeo and Juliet’ was awful, to down right wish I had never even heard of it awful.
‘Rango’ was good, but not so kid friendly
‘Puss in Boots’ was a disappointment, but has its memorable moments
‘Kung Fu Panda 2’ is an improvement over the original, but still not in the range of Pixar
‘TinTin’ was a masterpiece of technology and visuals
‘Mars Needs Moms’ mediocre, and apparently considered bad enough that Disney was afraid to use Mars in titles
‘Rio’ nice music
Personally TinTin is the only one I think I can effectively argue is better, and Kung Fu Panda 2 was overlooked… probably for reasons Cars 2 should have been.