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Sunday, June 26, 2011
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| Picture from Collider.com |
"For our first review, we'll be discussing the highs and lows of Pixar's latest family hit, Cars 2. Though it is a sequel to the original Cars (2006), it feels like a whole different series... in a good way. We'll break the movie down into different parts and rate them accordingly. And of course, spoiler warning.
Radiator Springs
While almost the entire first film was set in this small, all-American town, only about ten minutes of the movie are spent here this time around. It is shown at almost the very beginning and at the very end. At the beginning, it felt rushed with Mater doing about five things that him and Lightning used to enjoy, yet where it happened across an hour and forty-five minutes last time, this time it's condensed into about thirty seconds. The only part I enjoyed from that was the few minutes focusing on Mater posing as a waiter to be able to go on Lightning and Sally's date.
The end part I found unnecessary, but I figured they would show it. The quality of it felt like one of the many "CarsToons" that they have been showing on the Disney Channel, which look great, but have pretty bad plots.
Grade: C- / 75
World Grand Prix
We had only seen a little bit of all the flashy things that the Pixar makers can create in the first film, where as here, it's right in your face. As soon as Mater and Lightning cruise on into the World Grand Prix launch party, your mesmerized with deep purples, blues, greens, yellows, reds, and every other bright color you can imagine. And it looks awesome. While I know that this has no relation to the plot or review of the movie, I find it amazing that if I had just been shown that scene, I might not have been able to tell you if the movie I was watching was animated or not.
The actual racing scenes I didn't like, mainly because of the horrible attempt and showing time passing, where as in the first one, they did a great job with that in the races. The overall racing time in this movie was about ten minutes, and it felt like five. I did like the Italian racer, and especially Jeff Gorvette, as I am a huge Jeff Gordon fan. Other than that, the Grand Prix was only okay for me.
Grade: B- / 84
Mater's Spy Adventure
Here's a hint: there's no way that Lightning McQueen should be on the front of the poster. Mater was easily shown twice as much as Lightning in this movie, which is what I think made people review it badly. However, that's what made the movie for me. Mater went along with his shenanigans, (according to Holly Shiftwell, Finn McMissile's partner, he acts "extremely American") and of course got into trouble in the restroom of all places where he ended up getting himself and unwanted car wash and had a tracking device snapped onto him by an American spy. He is then assumed to be the American spy, and hilarity ensues as he attempts to all the things a spy would do, but with his signature Tow Mater flare.
In the end, Holly ends up being his girlfriend, which I thought was good as poor Mater misunderstood her telling him that they'll "rendezvous tomorrow night", taking it as her asking him out on a date. He is of course asked to be a full-time spy by Holly and Finn, but turns it down saying that he belongs in Radiator Springs. I believe that it was the safe way to go, and they really missed the opportunity to do a Cars spin-off, and of course to break the mold of kids' movies of "Thanks for the totally amazing opportunity to do something that I could never even dream of much less get to participate in my whole life, instead I'll stay in my hometown that has a population of 600 people." or in this case, cars.
Grade: A- / 93
Overall Rating: B- / 84
Overall, it was one of the best kids movies in a long time, and I enjoyed it much more than the original. To help you imagine that, I would rank Cars 2 one slot ahead of Wall-E, but behind Finding Nemo and Up. In relation, the original Cars would be ahead of Ratatouille, but still behind Monsters, Inc. and The Incredibles. Just for the record, my least favorites areToy Story and A Bug's Life, and my favorite would have to be Up. I know that's different than most people's opinions, but I generally have different tastes from others."
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