Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Cars 2: Mater is not in Radiator Springs Anymore

From the opening scene to the closing credits Cars 2 is an action packed worldwide adventure that has Lightening and Mater far from Radiator Springs.

The first character we meet is Finn McMissile. Finn is the James Bond of the cars world. Finn in true Bond style does just fine with miles of water between him and any road. He is soon in the midst of the first of many chases, explosions, and close calls.

With Mater's unwitting help, Lightening is soon convinced to join a world wide race. Lightening takes Mater along for the ride, but it is soon Mater that takes center stage.

Their friendship is tested as is Mater's belief in himself as Mater is mistaken for a crack American spy.

Mater and Lightening narrowly avoid their final trip to the junkyard many times as they race, fly, and blast their way through stunningly realistic Cars versions of Tokyo, Rome, and London. The racing action and death defying near misses continue throughout the movie as Mater, Finn, and another British spy named Holly Shiftwell piece together and work to foil a sinister plot to take over the world.

Pixar did an impressive job on the graphics and the action and the movie was an enjoyable ride.

Despite the action and the whiz bang graphics the film felt more like a video game than a movie. At least two cars get killed in the movie. One gets smashed into a block and the other gets blown up in an interrogation and torture scene reminiscent of a gangster movie. I did not expect this in a G rated film.

Overall it is a decent movie and an impressive visual work but it felt more like a corporate marketing effort than the heartfelt and appealing stories I'm used to seeing from Pixar. Perhaps this is the Disney stamp on their now subsidiary Pixar.


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