Cars 2 review
This is probably the worst movie I have seen all year* and you have no idea how much it pains me to say that. I. Love. Pixar. They’re as close to a sure thing as you can get as far as studios are concerned and they have been on a streak of unimpeachable greatness. “Toy Story 3” made that series one of the only perfect trilogies in existence, “Up” was my absolute favorite film of that year (and still demolishes me when I rewatch it), “Wall•E” was incredibly ambitious (though I greatly prefer the first half) and “Ratatouille” was a film that should not have worked (“The Incredibles” director Brad Bird replaced former director Jan Pinkava who reworked the entire film a year before release) and yet it’s one of my all-time favorites. Which brings us to 2006’s “Cars,” the first disappointment in Pixar’s history. Not a terrible film by any means but just not one that reaches the impossible standards set by other other work. The worst thing I can say about it is that it’s an average film, and with it’s pop culture references, celebrity voices and pop songs, one that seems like it would have been more at home at Dreamworks.
Because I wasn’t a fan of the first film (it’s the only Pixar film I’ve seen once and do not own), I had not been anticipating “Cars 2.” At the same time I thought, “if anyone can pull off making an incredible film sequel to an original film that was only so-so, Pixar can.” So I tried to remain optimistic even as the film earned the worst reviews in the studio’s history. But unfortunately, as it pains me to say this, the film is absolutely terrible from just about every conceivable angle except visuals, which are striking as usual. The first film tells the story of Owen Wilson’s cocky racecar Lighning McQueen who learns to slow down and enjoy life after he gets waylaid in small town Radiator Springs. He meets a cast of “colorful characters” who unfortunately are mostly one-note stereotypes with the exception of Bonnie Hunt as love interest Sally and Paul Newman (in his last credited role) as Doc Hudson.
“Cars 2” ditches Hudson (after Newman’s passing), reduces Sally to about a half dozen lines of dialogue and even puts Wilson’s McQueen in the passenger seat (as his character has almost no impact on the plot of the film) all so we can make way for Larry The Cable Guy as dimwitted tow-truck Mater, who is the film’s hero. Let that sink in for a minute. Additionally the small town is ditched in favor of some convoluted spy plot. And it does not work in the slightest. The film moves quickly, shoving lots of colorful action onscreen but the jokes are horrible and the story is completely broken. I spent 90 minutes wondering “How did this happen? How could Pixar let this happen? How could director and head of Pixar, director of the original “Toy Story,” a modern classic, let this happen? I’m still not sure of the answer but the film seems the very antithesis of everything Pixar has led us to believe they are about.
Firstly, it’s a sequel to a film that did not need a sequel which is something the studio has said repeatedly they would never do. Many have pointed to the billions of dollars in revenue the “Cars” series has brought in for the studio and its shareholders but it just depresses me to think that could have motivated them. It’s further compounded by being the 2nd sequel released by the studio in a row, with next year’s “Brave” proving the first original since 2009 for them, only to be followed by a 2nd “Monsters Inc.” If the studio had failed making something as ambitious as “Up” or “Wall•E” I could understand. The first “Cars” film, even if it didn’t entirely work, was at least something different for the studio and celebrated Lasseter’s obession with cars.
But what I cannot understand is how no one on the crew saw this coming. How these incredibly talented artists and producers could work for years on this film and at no point did anyone realize “This film is broken at the story level and it needs to be fixed badly.” This is the same studio who completely retooled “Toy Story 2,” “Ratatouille” and next years “Brave” replacing director’s on two of those films when they simply could not get the job done. They also cancelled an entire film, “Newt” because of its similarity to another animated film, “Rio.” So how did this happen? I can only hope it’s a mistake the studio can learn from and not the beginning of a downward slide. It’ll be a full year until we get a chance to see the answer as I’m sure Pixar knows how much of their reputation is riding on their next effort. As a huge fan, I really hope they can pull it off.
*If anyone at Pixar is reading this, I was totally kidding. This film was great. Can I have a job now?
