Tow Mater: Average Intelligence

After the mammoth success of Toy Story 3, Pixar released Cars 2. I found this to be both baffling and unsurprising. Baffling because its predecessor Cars had the worst reviews in Pixar history (74% while the others are in the upper 90s). Also, the majority of the public place Cars in the bottom when they rank the Pixar movies. Unsurprising because Cars-related merchandise is very, very profitable for Disney. So, yeah, it kind of makes sense that they would want a repeat of those impressive toy sales. After all, would any kid want a stuffed toy rat for his/her birthday?

One of the great things about Pixar is that it appeals to all demographics. Adults and children both enjoy its special brand of humor. Its stories were grand fables with profound philosophies that are perfectly timeless.

Cars 2, however, is directly aimed at children with its simple-minded humor and bland Disney Channel Original Movie moral. I think it's fine for movies to appeal to children but I also think those movies don't have a long shelf life--do you think anyone is going to be watching Marmaduke or Alvin and the Chipmunks in 5 or 10 years? Probably not.

The plot of Cars 2 involves a whole lot of nonsense: international races, espionage, oil companies. It all sounds like a rejected James Bond outline with heavy inspiration from Hitchcock's "wrong man" films (especially North by Northwest--just replace Cary Grant with a truck voiced by Larry the Cable Guy). Even the musical score is Hitchcock-inspired though it's oddly more Psycho than North by Northwest.

The bloated, convoluted plot would have been somewhat forgivable if Lightning McQueen were the protagonist. But for some reason director John Lasseter decided to switch the focus from Lightning to Mater. In my opinion this was a huge HUGE mistake. Lightning is charming and funny; his dramatic arc in the first film was believable and endearing.

But Mater, a barely tolerable supporting character in Cars, doesn't have the depth to carry his own movie. To put it frankly, Mater is just too dumb to be the protagonist. It seems means to say that about a character in a kid's movie but it's true! He either misinterprets or completely ignores what people say and the results are obnoxiously (and tediously) disastrous. Not only that, but he's so sensitive that any criticism yields a mammoth mood drop. This leads to all characters catering to his feelings as if he were a child.

For example, when he makes a fool out of himself and Lightning McQueen in Tokyo, McQueen gets understandably upset. But he's the one who has to feel bad when they fight (you've been a very bad car...a very VERY bad BAD car, Lightning). This all leads to a boring "be yourself" message, which left a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe I'm a conformist, but I don't think people should be able to act however they want in inappropriate settings i.e. a ritzy party in a big city. Mater (and the kids who see themselves in him) should learn the rules of polite society. Mater's behavior at the party (and in the rest of the movie) is pretty obnoxious but he gets a free pass!

The supporting characters, including two British spies (Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer), are okay but they're all sidelined to make room for Mater's hijinks. The characters in Radiator Springs are all but forgotten. And that's too bad--they were such fun in the first movie.

I think the kids will enjoy this movie but I found it frustrating and ludicrous. The violence was unnecessarily brutal and I also don't think the movie made good use of its locations (Japan, France, Italy, England). If they just had to make a sequel, I wish they had made one just a tad closer to the heart of the original.

Cars 2: C

PS - sorry for the heavy Beyonce clips earlier in the blog...except I'm not really sorry at all.