Review of Cars 2 (2011) by Ryan B — 21 Nov 2018

Okay where do I start.

The entire premise of making a film that is revolving around a side character usually doesn't work, and this film is no exception. Mater is a dumb tow-truck used for comic-relief and nothing in the first film even hints at anything more than that, and this film makes it seem as if mater is some sort of hero, when he is not.

When you want to make a sequel of a film, a good way to do that is to answer a frequently asked question about the film's universe and solve it by making the film. For example, Toy Story's universe sought the question "What happens to toys when they are abandoned?" and made a sequel out of it. I don't think anyone in their right mind would watch Cars and think "I wonder where the spy cars are?" It is such a stupid and unnecessary way to expand the universe.

The plot makes absolutely zero sense. The villains are oil diggers, and make prophet from cars buying oil. Their evil plan was to make Allinal (Alternative fuel) look bad by blowing up cars so that the public will stick to oil. However the creator of Allinal is in on the evil cars' plan. So they basically created alternative fuel just to make it look bad so people can stop using it, and use oil, EVEN THOUGH EVERYONE WAS ALREADY USING OIL!

Mater somehow is the one to figure out who the bad guy is. If you watch the scene where he figures it out, it's just so hilariously bad that it hurts. Somehow, Mater was able to figure out Axlerod's plan even though it was so idiotic that even the Spy cars right next to him couldn't figure it out, because it just wouldn't make sense for it to happen. Cars 1 made Mater to be an unintelligent side character, but he is somehow able to solve a mystery that Spy cars who are trained in this field couldn't figure out.

I don't usually poke at movies for being convenient, since just about every film is at least slightly convenient, but this film takes it to another level. For this film to work, you have to have the evil cars come up with an idiotic plan that makes no sense. The intelligent spy cars must be dumb enough to believe that Mater is the American Spy. You also have to have lightning McQueen be dumb enough to believe Mater is talking to him during the first race. Then you have to have Lightning go against literally everything he learned in the first film just so Mater can get sad and try to leave on a plane. Finally you need Mater to figure out the stupid evil plan that the spy cars couldn't even figure out.

Everything that this film does is something way off of what the first film created. I am all for the expanding of a universe if done good, and it isn't done good in this film. The only slightly interesting and accurate- to-the-universe plot in this film is quickly abandoned at the end with no real conclusion.

Every little detail in this film seems to be there just so they could make a prophet on it from Toys. For example, the rocket jets, giant cars (that show up for a good 5 seconds in the actual film) and even the freaking wannabe race cars that the film never even explored.

From 1995-2010 Pixar made nothing but spectacular, intriguing, heartwarming films. This was the first Pixar film that wasn't good, and it was also their first non-Toy Story Sequel. Like I said, From 1995-2010 all of Pixar's films were great, and from 2011-2018 (Present) There are only 3 films (out of the 9 they made) that I believe live up to the standards of the 2000s Pixar Films. What I'm trying to say, is that this film was the beginning of Pixar's downfall.

And that is why this film is one of my least favorite films of all time.