Review of Cars 2 (2011) by Kj P — 14 Jun 2017

Cars 2 is the worst film that Pixar has ever made and will probably ever make, plain and simple. I usually use the word arguably when making statements like that, but this film has been collectively know by fans of even the first Cars film to be the weakest. Personally, upon revisiting this instalment, I can't see an argument as to why this film even received the green light. Yes, the merchandising for the original went through the roof, but in terms of Pixar's incredible storytelling, Cars 2 should've been a much stronger film than it is. Kids may find a few scenes of pure enjoyment throughout this film, but I can only see that being from the spectacle. The premise of this film is thrown together just to make a quick buck at the box office and the end result painfully represents that.

I'm not trying to compare Cars to Star Wars, but this film is honestly as if they took a character like Jar Jar Binks and made him the front and centre storyline. No, Mater is not as annoying, but too much of him becomes a desperate venture for laughs. The premise of this film should've been as simple as Lightning, Mater, and their crew travelling to the World Grand Prix to compete for a new title, but instead this film devolves into an espionage mishmash of unfunny comedy and dumb slapstick. I'm a pretty big fan of the first film for the most part, but this is the complete opposite direction from what was presented in the original. The sad part is that the spy aspect about this film is tedious and doesn't even remotely intrigue the mature viewers.

This may seem like more of a rant than a review throughout my next statement, but I mean every word. The most interesting aspect about the first film was the character of Doc. Hudson, but he is completely thrown out of the picture here, leaving the most interesting portion to obviously be on Lightning McQueen, who is now turned into a side character in order to give Mater the spotlight. Not only that, but giving him an even dumber role into tricking him into be thought of as a spy, only to eventually give the lesson of true friendship in the end of the film. The pacing of this film is all over the place and the message throughout the final act has been done better in much stronger children's films. For this reason, Cars 2 warrants no replay value, unless you are a very young kid.

When it comes to animation, Pixar is usually the best in the business. Cars 2 is absolutely no exception to that notion, being one of their most beautifully animated films to date. It's too bad that this animation is wasted on a poor film, but nevertheless, the loads of action and cool race sequences do make this movie a little easier to handle. If it wasn't for that aspect, this film would honestly make my list of worst animated films of all time, which is a very narrow list to begin with. The main mistake this film made was being made for the sole purpose that the original sold a lot of toys. There is no way the story of this film was conjured up by the creators of the first, before the overwhelming pop culture sensation it became.

Each time I revisit or frankly think about this movie, the less I like it. I thought it was fine upon first viewing it in the theatre, but that was solely due to my thorough enjoyment of its predecessor. Cars 2 is sadly a pretty bad movie with some amazing animation and well-done action sequences. There was absolutely no reason this film had to happen, and that is very apparent in the final product. The face of Cars has always been Lightning McQueen, so making the side characters a much more prevalent plot was a horrible decision from the get-go. I can see how some kids will have fun watching this movie, but what I can't see is someone over the age of ten calling this a genuinely good movie. For kids it's okay at best, but even then I would just be inclined to repeatedly show them the original over this film any day. Aside from Cars 2, Pixar's track record is fantastic, as none of their films have been less than at least solid in my eyes, but Cars 2 is a straight up poor movie.