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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Topic: Cars 2 (2011)
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Monte L Fullmer
Film God
Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted 06-23-2011 12:04 PM
Animation was totally excellent! PIXAR knows how to do CGA films without a problem (and a 25yr dedication at the beginning for Pixar on the film itself).
Some of the critics that have already seen this film have already bashed it against the wall pretty good.
Maybe what got me is that there wasn't a balance between all of the characters, but true: they got away from Radiator Springs and off to other parts of the world to create a completely different story.
Just a lot focued on Mater which turned the others into just background characters with little chance to expose their personality.
Maybe they should have named this "Cars 2: To Mater, with Love"
Oh, I know that the 3D version would be also good, but just tired of the whole 3D thing. I just wanted to see a regular movie.
Sorry on this, but comparing this to the original disappointed me a bit, but in a whole, it will do great guns in the boxoffice for the young ones.
EDIT: the Toy Story short, "Hawaiian Vacation", at the beginning was great though.
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Jonathan Goeldner
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1360
From: Washington, District of Columbia
Registered: Jun 2008
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posted 06-23-2011 03:11 PM
quote: Kurt Zupin
If you didn't watch this in 3D Monte then how can you say the 3D was bad or it wasn't worth it. This movie is geared towards kids more then any other PIXAR film, also PIXAR knows how to use 3D and make it look good. The past two go's at it have been excellent.
However, from the start I've said this film isn't going to be good. The trailers just depicted a boring movie, sad cause I loved the first film.
surprisingly no they haven't, Pixar's 3D films are no where as good as say the Kung Fu Panda 2, Despicable Me, Coraline. (sans one scene the hang-glider scene, Toy Story 3 was rather pointless in 3D)
Dory from 'Finding Nemo' may have been dumb, but she's nowhere as dumb AND annoying as Mater ('Cars 1' favourite character ??? ![[puke]](graemlins/puke.gif) ) even Owen Wilson's voicing was dull and utterly one dimensional - let alone a trite paint by numbers predictable script - in my mind, 'Cars' is bottom barrel for Pixar (I thought Lisa's jab at 'Cars' on the Oscar 'Angry Dad' episode of The Simpsons was golden ![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup.gif) )
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Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 593
From: London, UK
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 06-23-2011 06:26 PM
I actually really enjoyed this.
The first Cars passed me by. I don't like NASCAR, I don't like F1, and I don't drive and was too busy to catch it at work at the time. The bits I saw from upstairs in the projection box didn't interest me either. So when I saw the opening scene half-animated in November last year at a Disney slate presentation and it looked good I was intrigued. Got the chance to watch the film last week and as I wasn't working until later that day I went along to the screening with moderate hopes.
This film is an action spy adventure, with the obligatory kids film messages. The voice cast is great, I liked Michael Caine and Larry The Cable Guy in particular. The animation is outstanding, full of little gags from other Pixar films and so lush and detailed. They have gone and animated three new distinct locations with different styles (and revisited two from other Pixar films), you really get taken on a world tour with the film.
For me the 3D makes the craft of the whole thing so much more vivid. The race scenes are particularly fun. The film is quite bright so will avoid criticism like Pirates 4 did. It must sound awesome in IMAX.
Some of the reviews seem to criticise the number of plots going on. The film does have a lot of tangents, but it is quite easy to keep up with, and provides a lot of opportunity for gags and for action set-pieces. All the humour and action is very well executed. I particularly like how they adapt all the spy film conventions and gadgets for the car and non-car characters.
Cars 2 didn't have me almost in tears like Up or Toy Story 3, it didn't make me smile and marvel as much as Ratatouille or Wall-E, but it was a great fun film.
I hope that Pixar don't end up in a situation like Studio Ghibili where everyone in the press compares their latest release to Spirited Away and can't accept a more fun and commercial film every once in a while. There's nothing wrong with switching off for two hours for some noise and colours and laughs, and Pixar have proved they can do that kind of film far better than most in Hollywood. We'd get more people through the door if everyone else's "worst film so far" was a solid 7/10.
Also, the Toy Story short is great.
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Monte L Fullmer
Film God
Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted 06-24-2011 08:57 PM
The big thing I have to both laugh and shake my fist at was the usage of the "lemon"cars in this movie...
...namely, the mid 70's AMC line and the late 80's Yugo.
My family were Rambler/AMC owners. My dad, when I was born, bought a 1951 NASH Statesman and it ran like a top with no problems.
Then in 1955, he went all the way with the NASH Ambassador Pina Faria Edition, which has the continental kit and full luxury inside. Even the front bench seat can lay down flat to the back seat and you have a bed for the weary traveller-didn't have to hit the motel. That car ran forever until it could run no more...in 1979.
Mom needed her own car so in 1963, they got a Rambler American 440H, 2dr HD with the manual twin stick overdrive. I inherited this car when I began to drive in 1968. Drove it until 1972 and got my own new car.. a green with black striped AMC Gremlin X with the 304CID V8 and three speed on the floor.
With a little tweaking, I was beating "Heavy Chevy's" with it...in stock form,
That Gremlin was my last US built vehicle. Went over to Japanese with Toyotas, Datsuns, Suzuki's and now with S.Korea's KIA's.
All of these Rambler/AMC vehicles that we owned NEVER gave us any problems .. and they call them "lemons" ....
Course, they didn't pick on the Big 3 and the "lemons" that they had: Chevy with their VEGA, the FORD with the PINTO and Dodge with the ASPEN, but Pixar couldn't due to the Big 3 are still in biz and AMC and YUGO are defunct companies.
My Gremlin, in 1972 was at the $2735 price whereas the Vega and Pinto were a bit over $3100 new .. and I had the more powerful motor and size, so go figure.
The AMC Pacer was a neat car to drive - "an EGG with Windows", and total room inside being so wide. But, AMC got jipped when GM dropped the plans for making a wankel motor that AMC was going to use in the Pacer. Thus, AMC got stuck dropping their straight 6 motors in them-which became a mechanic's nightmare to work on.
The Yugo CV - should have stayed in the Eastern Bloc, but Mr Bricklin (remember the Bricklin car of 1975?) convinced the US to allow the makers of the Yugo to export the vehicles to this country. Motor was just too small for the USA demands for the highway, but good for town driving, in which it was really designed for. Sadly, being labeled as a "disposable car" it was treated a such-nobody took care of them, where as Yugo owners testify if regular oil changes were done, these were pretty stout little vehicles.
The Gremlins in the movie were '74 and '75, esp the purple and gold Gremlin, being their deluxe model which usually carried the V8. The Pacers, of the 1975 and '76 years only had the 258CID straight 6 in them.
-Monte
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 06-24-2011 09:07 PM
Haters of the original Cars should give this one a chance, unless you really hate Larry the Cable Guy. He's the star of this movie and there's a lot of him.
Having said that -- this is a better show than the first one. Pixar seems to be the only company around that can make sequels that are better than the originals. The movie is action-packed, and contains almost none of the sentimental teary-eyed stuff that the first one did. There's not a "nostalgic" feel about this at all. It has a totally different mood than the original. Pretty rare for a sequel.
The story has almost nothing to do with the first movie, which is why I think the haters should give it a chance. Visually, it's a feast. You could watch it a dozen times and still not see everything. In fact, if you really hate Larry the Cable Guy, watch the movie while listening to an iPod or something and just enjoy the visuals.
The racing scenes in 3D are a lot of fun but the racing isn't a "major" part of the movie the way it was in the original. The various locations are fun too and add to the exceptional imagery. There are a few nods to previous Pixar films -- I spotted the restaurant from "Ratatouille" in the Paris sequence.
The story is a bit confusing at first -- I think mainly because going into a G-rated Disney film, your expectations are for a simplistic story. The story here is many-layered and demands attention from Frame #1. So once it kicks into high gear, it's a great ride.
The only real downer for me was the fact that George Carlin couldn't be there to do the voice of Fillmore. I was surprised that they didn't retire that character, or make him non-speaking. The guy who does the character does a fairly bad Carlin imitation.
The Toy Story short at the beginning is nothing short of amazing. Not so much for the story and the animation -- which are top-notch -- but for the fact that they got virtually the entire cast of the Toy Story movies back for this short. Normally in something like this, they pick one character (or invent a new one) and run with that. The story and concept were a lot of fun too, and the ending was hilarious. It's the best Pixar short in quite a while.
Overall, I'll give the whole show a 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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Kurt Zupin
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 989
From: Maricopa, Arizona
Registered: Oct 2004
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posted 06-24-2011 09:50 PM
quote: Joe Redifer
With this kind of logic, all movies need to be watched in 3D just to see if it is worth it to watch them in 3D or not.
Anyway, disliked the original Cars. Refuse to see this one. What is "Mater"? Is that one of the characters? Which one? None of them were memorable.
No Joe, all I'm simply saying is you really can't bash 3D in a film if you havn't seen it to know if its good or bad. Just hating 3D to hate 3D is just dumb. I'm not a fan of 3D and only see movies in 3D when I show them in IMAX. I can think of two movies in the past year that I actually watched in 3D that were not in IMAX, but to say that oh its in 3D it must suck just annoys me.
quote: Jonathan Goeldner
surprisingly no they haven't, Pixar's 3D films are no where as good as say the Kung Fu Panda 2, Despicable Me, Coraline. (sans one scene the hang-glider scene, Toy Story 3 was rather pointless in 3D)
I have to disagree, I saw Toy Story 3 probably 30-40 times in IMAX and it was one of the better 3D animated films I've seen. UP had some great shots in it as well. They may not be mind blowing effects in them but they add to the movie more then they take away from it.
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