Cars 2

Espionage, assassinations, sabotage of renewable energy, propaganda, corporate cover-ups, media manipulation and The Mob...

James Bond? Nope. Jason Bourne? Nope.

Disney/Pixar's CARS 2. Wow. This movie wasn't at all what I was expecting. In the second serving of Lightning McQueen and his pals, they take their show to the international stage in a world championship race-off sponsored by oil-alternative manufacturer, Allinol. But turmoil behind the scenes pulls the gang into a world of spies, the Mob, Big Oil, evil German scientists and hit men. Now they have to save the world before it's too late. Oh, and they race too. The animation is amazing. Water, large balloons, backgrounds during races...pay attention because the quality of the graphics in this one are world-class. There are some goofy, funny moments and some nice one- liners for the older crowd. The themes of being true to yourself and bonds of friendship run strong throughout this film but it's the remainder of the message that worried me. There were non-stop put downs throughout and some other questionable topics. I was beginning to question the G rating when the villain ordered his henchmen to "kill" several other cars. Thinking back to the innocence and the good spirit of the first movie, I began to wonder how we got from there to here. Adventures in racing take a back-seat to the more mature plot of an espionage thriller. Looking around the theater, I could tell that kids younger than 4 or 5 were beginning to get lost. Even my ten-year-old had a hard time understanding the socio-political messages. On top of all that, I'd be willing to bet that Cars 2 is a contender for most guns, explosions and bullets fired in a G-Rated movie. This movie had much more violence than the first one.

Aside from the appropriateness of the movie, it wasn't bad. All the likable characters from the first movie were back with bigger roles like 'Mater & Luigi and there were many new characters added that also brought their own personalities into the mix. To me, this was an espionage-thriller so the added bonus of some comedy made the movie move right along at a good pace.

It was engaging for me, I enjoyed it, but the entire time I couldn't help but wonder why Disney/Pixar chose to tell this story through a kids movie.

I know I'm WAY late on this by over a year. Overall I liked it. Loved a lot of the new characters, especially Finn McMissile and the arrogant Italian car guy (whatever his name was). Liked Raoue Carole as well. I just had two major pet peeves with it: it focused on Mater. Mater already had his own little spin-off of "Mater's Tall Tales" which I love. A movie centered on him just didn't do it for me. Had it been on Lightning (like the first one) or any other character I would have been okay. It may have to do with the fact that I'm no Mater fan. My second beef was Doc Hudson wasn't in it. I know why, I understand wanting to honor Paul Newman (whom I adored), hate to sound callous, but the show goes on. If he ended up with a different voice then so be it. Better yet, he could have been in it for a few seconds, and just not say anything at all. Fillmore's voice actor passed and he was still in it so to me there was no excuse not to have Doc in it. My two cents, of course.

The saddest thing about Pixar today is, they don't know what movie they are going to release on their 25th Anniversary since one of their upcoming projects "Newt" was cancelled despite from Blue Sky's Rio plot. Cars 2 feels like it's a direct-to-DVD film. It's not really bad but it's just unnecessary. Though, the action is pretty cool. The kids will enjoy it but the rest is like Rango. Instead of Western Themes, it's Spy movies. The story isn't bad except it doesn't give anything emotional and heartwarming unlike the other Pixar movies. Cars 2 is pretty fun but the most important ingredient of their movies is missing.

Firstly, the lead of the film is Mater. The theme of the film is Espionage but it's just some sort of an animated version of a particular spy movie. Everything moves here. There are too many action that any kid can enjoy but the story is probably too interesting for grown ups. If the movie gets focused to the plot, the kids might get bored. The missing Pixar element here is the heartwarming moments. The movie still has a heart but it fails to be compelling. Don't worry about the humor, that is one thing they will never fail. Some of the writing seems rushed.

The voices do what they do best. John Lasseter knows what to do in this movie. The animation is obviously pretty good. The score is a bit generic that you may hear in any movie or television show. The action keeps everything moving. Watching the car fighting scenes is like watching a kid playing his little toy cars and let them do something fun. Which is pretty impressive.

In Pixar, the craftsmanship or the animation doesn't quite matter. It's all about the compelling story and the emotional heartwarming moments. It's hard to say Cars 2 is bad film. Pixar still knows how to make a good movie but without their important elements, it's like you're watching a movie from a different studio. Once again, it's pretty fun but if you expect a lot of Pixar magic then you might get disappointed.

This is not the worst movie ever made, contrary to popular belief. It's honestly pretty entertaining.

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Cars 2. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of car mechanics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Mater's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realise that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Cars 2 truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Lighting McQueen's existential catchphrase "Kachow" which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Pixar's genius wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them. 😂

And yes, by the way, i DO have a Lighting McQueen tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid 😎