I haven’t seen Cars 2 yet, but I have to. Not in the omigod I have to see it way, but in the I have to shoot Ol’ Yeller in the head because he has rabies way. I’ve gone this far with Pixar.
It came out about four days ago, which is just enough time for me to cycle through the five stages of grief. It’s currently low 30’s on the aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes. That’s bad. Mr. Poppers Penguins got 47%.
Mr. Popper’s Penguins.
That being said, as admirable as they were to go back to their weakest franchise, there are fundamental problems with the premise. Most are obvious, but the one really gets me, and one that no one ever seems to mention, is that the Car society is a rigid caste system of genetic determinism.
Does anyone realize that that cute, French tire-changer car is inescapably bound to a life of mundane, obscure servitude? Does this bother anyone else?
Sorry, schoolbus. You’ll never be anything more than a hapless vessel for other cars. Children of wealthy sportscars, licking your windows, scratching cuss words into your seats. Not that you need an education.
Not that it matters anyway. See, in the real world, certain factions can gain the upper-hand with weapons. In Cars world, certain factions are the weapons.
That attractive Lamborghini convertible may be a shrewd in business, but that M1 Abrams has a damn cannon for a head.
Of course, Cars 2 is better than Popper’s Penguins. I haven’t seen either movie and I know this. I bet if Dreamworks or any other studio was responsible for the franchise, it would have scored in the 70’s. Pixar is at a bit of a disadvantage when every one of its other franchises are, like, masterpieces.
People used to talk about the first Cars as Pixar’s “one bad movie.” They would talk about how much they adored every Pixar movie except Cars, and then throw the word “bad” around. Somehow “bad” came out of “not astoundingly good.” Cars wasn’t bad, folks. It just wasn’t a friking masterpiece.
Edit: Just saw the movie. I’m…gonna need to recover from that.
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