Wednesday 29 June 2011

Why I Liked... Cars 2 (2011)

(Dir. John Lasseter, Brad Lewis Starring: Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Cain, Eddie Izzard, Emily Mortimer)

Pixar remains awesome at animation.

Ok, so here’s an unpopular opinion of mine-I really, really enjoyed Cars. More so than The Incredibles, which most people boldly declare is one of Pixar’s best. Frankly, I just wasn’t a fan. Of The Incredibles, I mean. Cars, on the other hand, was charming, genre-following, well drawn, and well-executed.

Cars 2, however, was not.

The jokes fell flat, the characters felt stale, and for me it turned into a ‘who’s that voice, and how long can I go without checking it on IMDb?’ which for an animated film, is like death. And here’s the thing, we all love Pixar films-they’re great for adults and children alike, and are able to corner that tiny niche in the market of child friendly films that adults won’t want to kill themselves to suffer through.

In the original Cars, they did just that. Cars with human emotions and values, sight gags, slapstick, and to top it off, some car puns. It’s basically the same with all Pixar fare, and it normally works. Cars 2, it seems, has turned into the Larry the Cable Guy Show, and even though the genius’s at Pixar can make Tim Allen a star (ouch, sorry-Ricky Gervais remains awesome), they just...seemed to lose the plot with Larry the Cable Guy. I’m getting sick of typing out that whole title-but...

That was one helluva chilli con petro...?

In regards to Larry, I can only suppose that they put a little too much trust into his improvisational skills?  I have no idea. I can only hope they told him to go wild in the recording booth, and had to animate the best they could do around it...I mean, that’s the best excuse I could come up with. There are two different films in Cars 2-well, three, actually. One preaching a message about reusable fuels, one where Larry follows the script, and one where Larry...doesn’t.

Something I liked about Cars-the way they allowed the characters to use ‘normal’ things, but with wheels instead of hands (although, I’m somewhat curious-how do cars get...born? I assume they’re made in the factory, so there must not be any baby cars. So there can’t be too much point in romance, right? I got bored watching the film...). In Cars 2, it...just seemed a bit tired, really. How many times can you watch a bunch of cars use electronics? I suppose you could say the same about Toy Story and it’s subsequent sequels, but what helps those films is the life the characters have, the way we as an audience can relate whole-heartedly to toys. We (well, I) did the same in Cars, but Cars 2 just somehow doesn’t make it work.

Anyway. This is going to be short. But my question-if there’s a pope-mobile, why is there a Pope car IN the pope-mobile? It...doesn’t make much sense. Or any sense.

Just like this film.

Who builds these things?

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