Cars 2 (2011)

We decided it was time to bring our oldest to his first movie in the theaters.  Since one of his favorite films of all time is Cars, we decided it would be amazing to bring him to Cars 2.  Thus, wala here is the review on opening weekend!  Lead cast Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen and Larry the Cable Guy as Mater return in this sequel to the uberpopular Pixar smash hit Cars.

Where to start with this one...hmm...well it was either lazyness or cockyness that resulted in this film from Pixar.  Pixar has delivered smash hit after hit after hit.  Cars 2 did not have the same luster.  One of my favorite things about most Pixar movies is the hidden messages buried in the films, which Cars 2 was lacking.  Pixar also always has unique story lines, another thing which Cars 2 was lacking.

Don't get me wrong here, Cars 2 was a great movie, and it had a good story line.  What I am saying is that it did not measure up to previous Pixar movies, and especially the original Cars.

Cars 2 did have some amazing things going for it however, don't think its all bad.  Also, bad is a relative term as this movie did still kick as and is still better than a lot of other movies out there.  The animation in this film was absolutely astonishing.  Pixar has kicked it up a notch once again and has become a leader in the animation field in a whole new level.  Character animation, background animation, sound quality and realistic cause and effect were at all new levels.  Cars 2 has to be one of the best animation quality films I have ever seen.  One scene in particular that didn't have much action but had amazing animation was when Mater and McQueen leave the states on the airplane and begin the flight and head out over the ocean.  It was breathtaking and so realistic you would hardly believe it was animated.

There were new characters added to the film, along with bringing almost all the original characters back. There were references made to Doc Hudson, but I thought they were to short and subtle and were not explained well.  Acting was extremely well, as you would expect from any Pixar film.  I thought that all 5 main characters did exceptionally well.  I was very impressed with John Turturro in particular.

References from the original Cars, as well as other Pixar films were hidden throughout.  This was fun for huge Pixar fans such as my wife and I as we got a chuckle out of them when we found them.

There were more racing scenes and more action scenes in this sequel as well.  This gave the film a more fun and adult feeling to it.  It had more pop and pizzaz.  It also had some insanely funny parts as well.  My favorite in particular is in the beginning when McQueen comes back from racing season and Mater takes him out for an afternoon of fun.  This more adult themed film does not come without drawbacks however.

Now, another thing I did not like in this film is that it was more intellectually advanced.  Our oldest loves the original Cars because he understands pretty much the entire film.  This was different.  There was so much adult material, and the script was very deep and way to hard for a young kid to follow.  There were intricate developments throughout that you had to understand to continue to follow the film.

As with the first Cars, Pixar confused us with the previews, trailers and teasers also.  There were a few things in them, such as making you think there was going to be a drifting section of the film in Tokyo, that were not in the final film.

Pixar also did another first in their films by leaving multiple holes in the script.  My wife and I did a recap after the show and counted 4 or 5 things that didn't make sense, or were never answered at all.  This is something we have never found in any other Pixar movie.

It feels as if Pixar is just using the popularity of the original Cars to help float the sequel out and make it popular.  You know what; I'm sure that will work too.  This film will most likely break box office records and receive multiple awards.  Don't get me wrong here either, I believe it should do these things.  My problem is as said above, when measured to the original or other Pixar films, Cars 2 leaves too much on the table and under delivers greatly.

Should you see this film?  Absolutely you should!  It is worth seeing in the theaters.  We saw it in 3D and it was absolutely amazing.  My wife and I both feel that too many movies are put into 3D today that really don't need to be.  Cars 2 was worth the 3D and I do believe it added to the overall enjoyment of the film.  I am giving Cars 2 a 4 star rating, mostly because it didn't live up to what Pixar has built up as its reputation.  Ciao for now, and let me know when you go see it what you think!