The reviews have been pretty negative, and I find it very interesting that Pixar choose to make a sequel based on their least popular movie, albeit still wildly popular. Pixar is my favorite studio in Hollywood, as I think they are currently the group making the most unique and interesting stories. They also have a high standard of quality for what they release, especially if they are going to make a sequel. Since the announcement of the fill I have been pondering why Cars? Maybe it’s because it seems to be the most popular film for kids, it has the highest merchandising value, and I give in with the idea that a world of Cars is the most interesting one to play with, especially in a spy spoof. Either way, we now have Cars 2, and while it may not have been the best choice, it certainly is not a horrible one.
One of the pivotal questions of creating an improv scene is, “if this, then what?” This is the format used to heighten and continue playing with the fun thing in the scene. With Cars, it is a lot of fun to think about what the rest of the world would look like if it were inhabited by Cars. We get these great visuals of Japan, Italy, and England. My favorite gags were seeing the Pope and the Queen in car form, seeing famous world icons turned into car landmarks, as the final scene happening in Big Bentley instead of Big Ben was a nice touch! Some of my favorite moments of the original film were the car gags, especially the Volkswagen bugs, being actual small bugs. While I did not catch as much minutia in the details during my first viewing, it was fun to watch them blow up the world of Cars to cover the whole world.
While doing the world press tour for the original Cars, John Lassiter was quoted in saying, “I kept looking out thinking, ‘What would Mater do in this situation, you know?’ I could imagine him driving around on the wrong side of the road in the UK, going around in big, giant traveling circles in Paris, on the autobahn in Germany, dealing with the motor scooters in Italy, trying to figure out road signs in Japan.” While Mater is an interesting character, I am not sure if he is the person I would put the focal point of a movie around. I especially would not put him in the middle of an international spy ring. While these are all really interesting choices I do not think Pixar should have built a whole movie around this topic. This also led the plot into a simple repetitive story for the first half of the film, which got boing for me, “simple plot, Mater gets into a funny situation, car chase through a new city.”
I really enjoyed the last half of the film. This is where we were introduced to the actual villains of the film. I think this was the most genius moment, the antagonists were “lemon” cars, the ones no one likes and always leaves behind, who were out to get their revenge. Once that piece came into focus, and the story rushed to an exciting final conclusion, the last race and chase scene was awesome and exciting to watch. I also was a big fan of the gushy self-esteem booster for the kids at the end. Always a nice feel good way to wrap up the movie. While the end was awesome, this was sadly the first Pixar film where I found myself a little bored in the middle.
Overall, I did not hate Cars 2, but let me be clear I did not love it. I will definitely add it to my Pixar collection, and I really want to go back and rewatch it to catch all of the Easter eggs and small car details I missed. While Pixar may have missed the mark, this certainly is not the end of an era, or the start of Pixar in making shoddy films. As always the animation and action were really well done, and we were taken to new worlds and blown away by their scope and feel. The story, for me, just did not live up to traditional Pixar standards. (3 out of 5 stars)
