Month: August 2017

Cars 2 (2011) Review

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Trailer

WARNING: The following review may or may not contain spoilers from the film. If you haven’t seen the movie and you don’t want it ruined, I suggest watching the movie before continuing.

After seeing Cars 2 at Pixar’s headquarters, I remember loving it very much and considering it to be my favorite of 2011. I mean I didn’t think it was as good as the first Cars, but I loved how Cars 2 was action-packed, had tons of hilarious moments, and good twist ending, and I found it unique how the movie was about Mater rather than Lightning. Plus, I was a Cars fan and a James Bond fan, so I thought this was near perfection. However, recently, unlike Toy Story 3, which got better and better, I started to notice more flaws with Cars 2, and I now consider it to be the worst Pixar sequel. However, I still don’t think that is saying much at all, and I still am in the minority of those who liked Cars 2. Why is that, you ask? I’ll tell you after the plot. Lightning McQueen (voiced again by Owen Wilson) is scheduled to race in a World Grand Prix orchestrated by oil baron Sir Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard), who is presenting the race to promote his alternative fuel Allinol. You know, it’s kind of weird how this movie is about environmental awareness considering that the ozone layer should have ceased to exist by the first movie. Anyways, Lightning is racing in the World Grand Prix and is going up against the hilariously arrogant Francesco Bernoulli (John Tuturro). Seems fitting for a sequel to Cars, right? Actually, this is only a subplot. The real plot is about Lightning’s best friend Tow Mater (voiced again by Larry the Cable Guy), who travels with Lightning to help him race, but gets caught up in a secret mission. You see, the James Bond type British agent Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and his partner Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) are trying to stop an evil plot by mad German professor Zündapp (Thomas Kretschmann) and an unknown criminal mastermind to sabotage the race with an electromagnetic pulse disguised as a camera that will unleash a deadly explosion inside each of the race cars. Finn and Holley mistake Mater for an American agent and he thus gets caught in the spy story. I can definitely see why people consider this as the worst Pixar movie ever. First of all, I think that the story is rushed. The subplot about McQueen racing across the world against Francesco is a good enough plot, and I think that Pixar should have stuck with that. But nope, they decided to put a spy story in there and it’s up to Mater to stop an “eeeeeeevil” villain from an plan to get rich by “sabotaging the race and destroying the cars”. One of the things I really liked about the first Cars movie is about how simplistic it is. There were moments that were calm and heartwarming, and the closest thing that the first one got to action was the racing scene. Here, there’s a “spy story” involved, and I just think that the fact that this one is more action heavy than the first is just too much. The agents and the villains are stereotypical and are pretty much the same characters that you see in other spy movies. However, my biggest flaw is that as a result of the spy story, the race is just a subplot and McQueen is barely in the film, and as a result, he is underused. The Cars saga is supposed to be about McQueen’s journey, but now that he is barely in this movie to make room for Mater, his character is not fully developed aside from improving his friendship with Mater. The music is also noticeably different from the first film, composed this time by Michael Giacchino, playing some spy music instead of the down-to-earth music from Randy Newman. You know how Hollywood is full of sequels that are underwhelming. Well, this movie allows me to coin the phrase “overwhelming sequel.” However, I do not get the overwhelming hate for the film. So, let me spill out what I like. First of all, I think it is intriguing that the story is all about Mater. I know I said earlier that I didn’t like that Lightning was barely in it, but I think that Mater has the funniest moments and he has lots of character development. While I said that they were stereotypical, I think that Finn and Holley are likable new characters, and I think that (spoilers) it’s hilarious that Mater and Holley get together at the end. Speaking of hilarious moments, Cars 2 has a ton of them. There is a scene where Mater is in Japan and sees the forklift bartenders serving wasabi. Thinking that it is pistachio ice cream, Mater asks the waiter for a large scoop of “pistachio ice cream” and suffers the overwhelmingly spicy effects. After racing to the water fountain on stage to ease the pain, and in the process crashing Axlerod’s introduction to Lightning, Mater approaches the microphone and addresses the audience, “Whatever you do, do not eat the free pistachio ice cream! It has turned!” I just crack up to that scene all the time. Plus, I think the twist ending is surprising, and yes, prepare for spoilers. At the end, Mater actually manages to expose Sir Axlerod as the mastermind, and it’s surprising because Axlerod is literally not revealed to be a villain until that moment. Also, because it’s a Pixar movie, the animation is still just as good as the first film is. The locations, in particular, are great for me. As someone who travels the world a lot, the movie feels like a big trip around the world. Also, in terms of tone, the movie itself is a neat departure from the heartstring pulling Up and Toy Story 3. We just need a break from Carl from Up losing Ellie in the beginning and Andy giving away his toys in Toy Story 3 and laugh when Mater mistakes wasabi for pistachio ice cream in Japan. Overall, I still really enjoy Cars 2. Just not as much as I originally have. I think Mater is very well-developed, the characters are enjoyable, it is very entertaining and hilarious, and I like the twist ending. However, looking at it with a critical eye, the story is rushed, the spy plot is unnecessary, I don’t like that Lightning is barely in the film, and it’s just not as much of a masterpiece as I remember it to be. As I said earlier, I think it is the worst Pixar sequel ever, but then again, that’s not really saying much because I think the good stuff really outweigh the flaws. Kids will definitely love Cars 2 and I will admit, I can definitely watch it again. On its own, I think it’s a great movie and would get a 10/10, but it’s also a sequel to Cars, my all-time favorite movie, and it goes a bit downhill and is my least favorite of the Cars trilogy, so it’s just good. If this movie were called Mater’s Tall Tales: The Movie: From Mater with Love, I would have liked it a lot more.

8/10

Toy Story 2 (1999) Review

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Trailer

WARNING: The following review may or may not contain spoilers from the film. If you haven’t seen the movie and you don’t want it ruined, I suggest watching the movie before continuing.

Toy Story 2 was supposed to be among the many, many straight-to-video sequels produced by Disney. However, Mr. Lasseter and Pixar ultimately decided to release it in the hundreds and thousands of movie theaters across the globe. Boy, it was worth it because Toy Story 2 is one of the very few times where the sequel is not worse than the original, but is at the very least on par with the original, if not even better. I mean, it has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL! Some even say it’s better, and I can certainly see why. Toy Story 2 is not a direct rehash of the original, but it’s a movie that continues the original story and expands upon it. How does it do that? Well, after opening with an awesome Buzz Lightyear opening sequence that is eventually revealed to be a video game, Andy (voiced again by John Morris) goes to summer camp. Unfortunately, he is unable to bring his favorite toy Woody (voiced again by Tom Hanks) with him after accidentally ripping his arm. While Andy is out, his mom holds a garage sale, and after Woody rescues a fellow broken toy penguin named Wheezy (the late Joe Ranft), he gets stolen by a greedy toy collector named Big Al (Wayne Knight), owner of the local toy store. So, Woody’s best friend Buzz Lightyear (voiced again by Tim Allen) and most of the other toys set out to rescue him, coming across a series of hilarious events. These include when Rex the pitiful dinosaur (voiced again by Wallace Shawn) is obsessed with the Buzz Lightyear video game from the opening finds a how-to guide, or when Buzz realizes how deluded he was from the first movie when he encounters another Buzz Lightyear action figure who also thinks he’s the real deal. Meanwhile, at Big Al’s apartment, Woody realizes that he was actually quite famous: he is a toy based on the star of a classic children’s television show called Woody’s Roundup, and he meets up with his “co-stars”, consisting of a wacky cowgirl named Jessie (Joan Cusack), a prospector named Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammer), and a dog-like horse named Bullseye (a horse or a puppy, I guess?). Big Al plans to send Woody and his gang into a Japanese toy museum, so Woody has to decide whether to go back to Andy or stay with his gang and last forever. What’s amazing is how the audience gets to both consider and more or less agree with both the “heads” and the “tails” of Woody’s conscience. If Woody stays with the gang and heads to the museum, he’ll be celebrated by so many people, but at the same time, he’ll never see Andy or his other friends again. On the other hand, if he chooses to go back with Andy, he’ll eventually have to face Andy maturing and going off to college and pursuing his own lifestyle, and eventually loneliness. That is a fantastic moment in not only a Pixar or Disney film, but in a family film in general. And Toy Story 2 is full of great dramatic and comedic moments that I believe were stronger than the original’s, and the original was already perfect. Another great scene is when Jessie reveals her past through flashback sequences and a tearjerking song by Sarah McLachlan. Like Woody, she used to have an owner, but was eventually abandoned, and yes, thrown into storage. Heartbreaking indeed. Speaking of Jessie, she is a beyond fantastic addition to the Toy Story franchise. I love the energy she has, but I also love the character development that she has, considering that she went through her heartbreaking past and still managed to have a cheerful, cowgirl attitude. Plus, like Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, I cannot imagine anybody but Joan Cusack for the voice. Stinky Pete (and yes I am giving spoilers) is a great Pixar villain. Maybe it’s because I love the “twist villain” trope, but I like the initial kindness that he seemed to have. Also, he was the one who made Woody realize that Andy may outgrow him, which I will say again is one of the best moments in the film. Big points to the fact that Woody develops in the same way that Buzz did in the first movie in that they discover more than what they think they are. While Buzz found out he was a toy after thinking he was the real deal, Woody basically found out that he was the real deal after thinking he was just a toy. Pixar’s first sequel also introduces Buzz’s arch-nemesis, the evil Emperor Zurg (Andrew Stanton), who is revealed to be a complete satire of science fiction villains like Flash Gordon’s Emperor Ming and especially Darth Vader. It’s also funny how he also believes that he is the real deal. Even Barbie appears in this film as a tour guide with the voice of Jodi Benson, which is interesting because Mattel did not allow the Barbie property to appear in the first film. Somehow they changed their mind for the second film, which is pretty awesome because that Tour Guide Barbie was hilarious. Once again, the animation is fantastic, and actually improves upon the predecessor (considering how the first one was released in 1995 and this was released in 1999). Yes, the toys and the locations look great, but the humans are the biggest improvement. Overall, Toy Story 2 is one of the best movie sequels of all-time (until Toy Story 3, which I’ll review later) with same “freshness” as the original, a great story, fantastic characters, improved animation, but most of all, the heart is back. Whether it’s better than the original or not, I’ll have to flip a coin on that because the original was already perfect, and to decide whether the first or the second Toy Story is better is like trying to decide which one of your children is your favorite because both stand out individually.

10/10