Cars 2

I have a feeling that the conception of this movie revolved around how many more toys Disney would be able to sell. This movie plays like an amazing looking two hour toy commercial. It was entertaining, to be sure, but it lacked much of the heart of the original, and continues to illustrate what can fall short at time in Pixar films. Now, before everyone comes screaming at me with knives for saying that every Pixar film is nothing but total genius, I want to say I like Pixar movies. I have begun to like them even more now that I have kids, and I can see them through their eyes. But here also lies the problem...kids cannot possibly comprehend the Pixar movies totally, since they are riddled with inside jokes and double entendres. The innocence of other Disney movies can be lost in that. That doesn't mean these films don't work well for what they are, but it does mean that some of them fall short of classic story telling. "Finding Nemo" succeeded, "Wall-E" showed a Chaplinesque brilliance, and "Toy Story 3" worked well for adults, since it is mainly about a child growing up. But "Cars 2" is simply ordinary. That's hard to do, because the animation here is amazing, and the visual imagination continues to impress me. But the story is flat. My kids had almost no interaction with the movie (Corrie wept when she first saw "Nemo", and I heard nothing from her during this one).
Such as it is, this movie's plot revolves around Lightning McQueen taking part in an international Grand Prix, and how Tow-Mater gets caught up in a James Bondesque international intrigue. There is the obligatory shot at big oil, and then we are off on an international spy caper. McQueen shows little sensitivity to Mater, and somehow they have to patch up their friendship. All this gives the animators the chance to showcase some truly brilliant visuals of Tokyo, the Italian Riviera, Paris, and London.
What the Pixar movies sometimes do very well is evoke emotion and heart ("Up" did this very well). The original "Cars" also did this effectively by showing us the bygone era of Route 66 and making it universal by making its audience remember places in all of our hearts that have gone away. This movie does not try to evoke much emotion. In so doing, it loses the texture of storytelling. Also, as a parent, one of the things that always is slightly off putting with Pixar films is just how geared toward grownups these films really are. Before "Cars 2", we saw a trailer for the new "Winnie the Pooh" film, and both Steph and I saw a movie we know our kids will love. That trailer elicited more of a response in minutes from the kids than "Cars 2" did in hours. The Pooh movies are able to entertain adults by chiefly appealing to the inner child in adults rather than to them as adults. Steph and I aren't as interested in all the bells and whistles as much as we are interested in simple storytelling for our kids. Having said that, our kids have seen nearly all of the Pixar movies, and we will continue to watch them. Further, some of the films do indeed have traits of classic storytelling. This movie lacks childlike storytelling, but has all the bells and whistles to keep the kids entertained. The hatred of the critics that I have seen directed toward this movie sort of baffles me. Since Pixar films are such darlings of the critics, this one is getting roasted since it doesn't measure up. Folks, this is a fun movie with very little depth that is amazing to look at. If you're up for an entertaining, somewhat forgettable 2 hours, see the movie. If you want a deeper emotional experience as well, I suggest you rent "Finding Nemo".