Is Cars 2 Pixar’s First Flub? Does It Matter?

06/24/2011 12:00 pm by

cars 2 movie Is Cars 2 Pixars First Flub? Does It Matter?

Pixar’s Cars 2 opens today. Which means I will most likely be seeing Pixar’s Cars 2 tonight. Maybe I’ll be able to get away with stalling until an early matinee tomorrow.

My kids are excited about this movie. Like all-caps, extra-punctuation E.X.C.I.T.E.D about this movie. My five-year-old has been asking about it on a near-daily basis since he first saw the commercials for it. My two-year-old already somehow is in possession of movie tie-in toys and will correct you if you leave the “2″ off and simply call them “CARS.”

NO. CARS 2. GET IT RIGHT, MOTHER. GOD.

And you know, usually I share their excitement for Pixar movies. Ratatouille? WALL-E? Up? Holy crap, we were THERE, man. In fact, we were there twice: Once with the kids and once when we had a babysitter so we could actually enjoy the film for ourselves. I remember seeing The Incredibles in the theater and not even having any children yet.

But this time I’m feeling like I’d rather stay at home and endure some direct-to-DVD Tinkerbell spin-off than pony up for Cars 2 in the theater. The trailer just looks so…so…

Generic CG Kids’ Movie v.4.282.390, you know? It looks pretty and shiny and slick, but…there’s just something missing that I can’t quite put my finger on.

As of this writing, Cars 2 has a score of just 37% at RottenTomatoes.

Cars 2 is as visually appealing as any other Pixar production, but all that dazzle can’t disguise the rusty storytelling under the hood.

OUCH, especially coming off last year’s Toy Story 3‘s almost-impeccable score of 99%, dinged by just three negative reviews out of 250. Pixar can do sequels! And do them well! And Pixar can do kids’ movies! And make them appealing to adults!

I’m hoping my low expectations are unfounded and that I’ll enjoy the movie, or at least STAY AWAKE during the whole thing. (Rio? I’m totally looking at you. After four tickets and popcorn, that was one expensive nap.) I’m hoping I’ll be more in-line with the RottenTomatoes’ user rating of 77% positive and be nicely surprised. I’m hoping that Cars 2 will at least be tolerable enough to make me not want to stab it with a fork once we (inevitably) own it on DVD and my kids want to watch it 200 times in a row.

But who am I kidding? Who cares. My kids are going to love the crap out of this movie. So…I guess I’ll go buy tickets for tonight. Instant preschooler hero status, here I come.

 

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About Amy Corbett Storch

Amy blogs at amalah.com, and can be found on Twitter @amalah. She is Team Zombie, though sometimes she is known to side with the Plants.

Filed Under: Animation, DVD, Movies, Parenthood, Theater, Things That Have Jumped The Shark, Trailers Tagged With: ,


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  • http://themousesnest.blogspot.com Mouse

    We are already in possession of tickets for an afternoon showing and have procured babysitting for the 16-month-old. The first Cars was E.’s first movie in the theater, and it was a truly magical moment. I think he’ll love the new one, but I suspect, like you, this won’t have the same power as other Pixar offerings.

  • Laura

    Oh, man, I KNOW. My husband and I are huge Pixar fans, and although our son is only 10 months, if his enthusiastic response to the short “For the Birds” is any indication, he will be a junkie as well. But…seriously Pixar? I’m really disappointed by how over-marketed this movie is. Disney has sunk it’s claws into the company and has infected it with it’s special version of sequel rabies. Pixar always claimed that the stories come first when thinking about a sequel, and that has been true so far. They haven’t made sequels to make more money – they’ve made sequels to continue a story, out of a love of the characters. Its just so sad to KNOW how awesome their stories can be, and see this fall flat.

    Will I see it? Yeah, but on Netflix – we save our nights out for important things…like Harry Potter. But, hey, maybe it will be OK. Looking forward to your review next week!

  • Kate

    I wasn’t a huge fan of the first Cars movie…the remake seems designed to market but not show well. I did hear, however, the REAL reason to see it is the Toy Story short before the film. Hopefully that 4 minute film is worth $13/each?

  • http://hodgepodgeandstrawberries.wordpress.com Hannah

    I’m hoping I can hold my two off at least until it’s not so crazy busy at our local multiplex. The first Cars is the weakest of the Pixar offerings and it’s clear that a sequel is only being made because of the $5 billion (seriously, that’s a real number) in merchandise that was sold from the first one.

    That said, I think at least $1 billion of that is in our house. And I know the boys will love love LOVE Cars 2 with an uncritical eye. But man… I’m going to weep for that $45 as I hand it over.

  • Stacie

    My 4 year old just saw it and it was a major failure! He hated it and asked to leave the theater at 4 separate occasions. There are cars that actually KILL other cars. My son has a real problem with people who intentionally harm others so a good time was NOT had by all.

    • Keri

      Yeah, me and my six-year-old just came home from a matinee viewing. All I can say is, ugh. I was pretty surprised at the amount of violence there was – sure, it was car on car, but we all know the cars are stand-ins for people. Cars get “tasered” (a lot, where they’re left twitching on screen), smashed, head-butted, crunched – I was kind of uncomfortable. Plus, the plot is awful. I had a difficult time understanding it, and when I asked my son in the car on the way home if he understood what the story was he shook his head “no.” All the little kids around us were fidgeting and bored. Big thumbs down.

  • Jen.

    Not looking forward to this one; am anticipating the short. However, my boys were (maybe still are)convinced that the trailer was the actual movie. I’m banking on that, until the 5-1/2 yr old learns to read the cinema marquee…joy.

  • Erin

    Sadly, I can one-up you.

    My 5 year old was invited to a bithday party tomorrow to see the 11:00am showing of Cars 2 at the local theater. And there’s cake and general kiddy merriment in the rental fun room before the movie starts. So….early morning viewing of Cars 2 with a bunch of sugared-up 5 year olds, HERE WE COME!

  • Karen

    I had a really hard time liking the first Cars movie. I loved Paul Newman as the retired sports car, and Mater was funny, but Lightning McQueen was so unlikable. And it was hard to relate to, well, cars. Somehow it was easier to relate to the fish in Finding Nemo. And some of the toys in Toy Story 3.

    Frankly, Up and Toy Story 3 are hard acts to follow.

  • Vickie

    I hated the first Cars. Where was the attention to storytelling?!!! It shares so little with the rest of the Pixar films in this respect. But I’ve already talked to the kids about watching this in the moviehouse, so…

  • Sherpamom

    I guess I’m in the minority because I actually really liked the first Cars. There was little to no violence – it spoke about when time moved slower (we live in rural Maine so this hit a cord for me) and taught about being a good friend and enjoying the simpler things. From what I see of the previews – Cars 2 is the exact opposite – all flash and violence and the original characters are mostly gone. I’m just glad we have no tv in our summer house so my girls have no idea this just came out!

  • http://vhmprincess.blogspot.com VHMPrincess

    Saw it yesterday – even the 2 9 year olds liked it!! Ditto the 4, 5 and 7 year old! AND ME! I thought it was good, did not even register the violence, but I am not overly sensitive to violence in movies if there isn’t blood/gore/people visibly hurt. It was awesome and the kids loved it.