Cars 2

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This afternoon we caught a matinee showing of Pixar’s latest film, “Cars 2.”

My random thoughts (as usual, no spoilers):

  • there were some great “cameos” like Sig Hansen and the Northwestern from “Deadliest Catch” as Crabby, and Bruce Campbell as American spy-car Rod “Torque” Redline (an obvious nod to Campbell’s character Sam Axe on “Burn Notice“).
  • in Radiator Springs, the movie playing at the drive-in is “The Incrediblemobiles”
  • I noticed one of the advertisements along the racetrack was for “Lassityre” (presumably a reference to Pixar’s Chief Creative Office, John Lasseter)
  • in Paris, I though I saw the restaurant from Ratatouille

Of course, there are a ton of easter eggs that I missed … those are just the ones I noticed and remembered.

As for the movie itself? Well … it was okay. It hasn’t been getting great reviews and I can kinda understand why. Unlike the Toy Story sequels, “Cars 2” doesn’t feel, well … original, and lacks the emotional power of Pixar’s previous films (think about the incinerator scene in “Toy Story 3” or the first 10 minutes of “Up” for example). It’s just a James Bond/Jason Bourne spy-thriller story with the Cars characters. There’s also way too much of Mater and probably more guns and explosions than “The Incredibles.”

Don’t get me wrong … I enjoyed it. The car references and jokes were funny, and there was certainly a lot of action. It was a good movie, but I expect great movies from Pixar. Even the new Toy Story short before the film didn’t seem to have that Pixar magic that the shorts usually posses. I guess it just seems like it’s now too easy for them to just crank out “new” stuff by re-using their “old” stuff.

I saw a poster for “Brave” (the next film) in the theater … hopefully that one re-captures the spirit of Pixar’s previous works when it comes out next year.

 

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