Cars 2: A Review

It's not great, but not as bad as you've heard.

I'm about to do something I have never done before.  I'm putting my hands to the keyboard to write my very first movie review.  For a kids movie, no less.

I'm writing to defend Cars 2, which has been criticized for a lack of heart and originality.  Cars 2 is easily the lowest of the movie offerings from the computer animators at Pixar, but it's still worth a look.

What Cars 2 is is formulaic.  There's the "international intrigue" plotline.  The story takes race car Lightning McQueen and tow truck buddy Mater overseas for the inaugural World Grand Prix to determine the world's fastest car.  There's the "fish out of water" element involving Mater, who easily embarrasses himself and his friends in Japan.  There's the "mistaken identity" segment in which Mater is mistaken for an American spy.  Yes, it does require a leap of logic for someone to make a mistake that big.  Mater also "helps by accident," Jar Jar Binks style, after being fitted with high tech weaponry.  And there's a "tested friendship" portion in which Lightning pushes Mater away, only to realize later he needs him afterall.

What the film really needed was more racing.  There are three racing segments, through the streets of Tokyo, Paris and London.  They're rendered beautifully but each is too short to have a lasting impact on the viewer.

Complaints aside, Cars 2 is still a pretty good and entertaining movie, better than say, the Shrek sequels that Dreamworks keeps churning out.  There are plenty of laughs, the best coming when Mater gets caught in a cutesy Japanese washroom.

It sets no new standards for computer animation but it certainly lives up to Pixar's very high benchmarks.  Automobiles have no hands but in Cars 2 they can operate computers, scale walls and fire machine guns.  It's fun to watch how the artists worked around those obstacles.

A few more quibbles.  Cars 2 continues the seemingly pointless movie trend of taking a perfectly good 80's pop song, in this case, The Cars "You Might Think," and having it redone by a newer band.  Weezer's version of "You Might Think" sounds almost exactly like the original.  Listen for yourself here.  Wouldn't it have made more sense to have The Cars on the Cars 2 soundtrack?

You may have heard complaints that the movie is an indictment of the oil industry.  Allow me to say that the film's "evil oil" plot line is not that complicated or widespread; even Mater figures it out.  Anyone screaming that Cars 2 is a child's "indoctrination" into environmentalism is probably full of hot air.

Cars 2 is the 12th feature film from Pixar.  One has to be the lowest rated and Cars 2 is it.  But considering Pixar's track record, isn't that like naming your least favorite flavor of ice cream?

Links:
Cars 2 Official Site