In Defense of 'Cars 2'

Remember back in the day when it was frowned upon to say a negative comment about Pixar? From 1995 to 2010 their movies were highly regarded by everyone—critics and audiences alike. It was “cool” to be a Pixar fan. All this changed in 2011 with the release of Cars 2. All of a sudden, many began to criticize Pixar because they made a “bad” movie. Most critics gave it a poor review, and its Rotten Tomatoes score is currently sitting at 39%. But there are still people who see the good in Cars 2, like the late Roger Ebert for example. He gave the film a positive review and said that it had “such complexity that even the cars sometimes have to pause and explain it to themselves.” Just because it’s “the worst” Pixar movie, doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie. I think “the worst” Pixar movie is in fact much better than the majority of mainstream movies seen in theaters and on home-video today. While I would not put Cars 2 near the top of my favorite Pixar movie ranking, I still believe it is a quality film that’s a worthy sequel to its predecessor. I also think it is Pixar’s most underrated movie.

One of the main reasons I find this movie so enjoyable is the fun-ness that is throughout the film. For example, the most entertaining scenes in spy movies are generally the car-chase sequences, which is pretty much every action scene in Cars 2. The opening to Cars 2 is one of the coolest action sequences of any Pixar movie, ever. It’s right up there with the 100 mile dash from The Incredibles. The gadgets and technology from the film is also really neat, and it’s neat to see how it all fits into this inventive car-infested world. I know Mater is thought of as annoying by many, but I completely disagree. I think Mater is extremely hilarious and is a well-deserving character to take center stage in the Cars sequel. His incompetent goofiness always cracks me up, and his quotes are, well, quotable (“No, no. Wasabi.” “Oh, same old, what’s up with you?”).

Why all the detestation for Cars 2? Maybe it’s because the expectation is that every Pixar movie will not only be an enjoyable experience, but also be extremely thought-provoking and even sentimental at times. After all, it’s safe to say that Pixar’s movies leading up to Cars 2 had these traits (Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, Toy Story 3). And then after these fantastic cluster of films rolls out Cars 2, which is not really thought-provoking, but mainly amusing entertainment. Not every Pixar movie will be as profound as Up; however, many people seem to believe believe that it should. The thing is, Cars 2 wasn’t meant to have the complexities as Up. It was mainly meant to be an entertaining fun-filled spy movie. I think Cars 2 perfectly fits this description, and that’s totally okay.