Movie Review - Cars 2 - Gloria Oliver

Starring: Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzards, John Turturro, and more…

Directed by: John Lasseter and Brad Lewis Screenplay by: Ben Queen Story by: John Lasseter, Brad Lewis, and Dan Fogelman Original Music by: Michael Giacchino

Premise: Mater inadvertently gets Lightning McQueen to enter the World Grand Prix. Except unbeknownst to them, the WGP will be the site of a nefarious plot! Mater gets thrown into the mix as he is in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets marked as a US spy.

Review: All the great characters from the original CARS are back and much fun is to be had. Just like the original CARS followed closely the plot of the movie Doc Hollywood, CARS 2 is a combination of James Bond epics and Bob Hope’s My Favorite Spy.

Anything that has CGI in it that comes out in IMAX pretty much must be SEEN in IMAX to be most thoroughly enjoyed. CARS 2 is well worth it. The amount of awesome detail the Pixar folks gave to each of the four countries our heroes travel in (Japan, France, Italy, England) and their customs and the look and feel of the real places, yet mutating them just slightly so they fit into the CARS universe was phenomenal! (And yes, there are some Japanese toilets that do seem that complicated!)

While a spy story with loads of great chases, mistaken identities, covert ops, secret plots, super cool gadgets and more, it still centers around the main theme of the friendship between McQueen and Mater. Also a big lesson that despite what you are given by life, you can choose to make more of it and never judge a book by its cover.

The story was solid, clues given along the way if you keep your eyes peeled. I did feel sorry for the lemons, though I will say from personal experience that Hugos were totally dependable cars and served me well, so not sure why they picked on them. 😛

Be on the look out for in-jokes or homage bits. Several places in other Pixar films show up (the restaurant in Ratatouille among them). The pre film short based on Toy Story was darling!

Overall it was a super fun film with loads of great sequences and will leave you with a happy heart when it ends. (No extra stuff after the credits, though the background stuff during the credits was most amusing and some of it totally neat.)

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby said it was Worth Full Price of Admission)

2 Comments

Tony on July 3, 2011 at 7:14 am

Cars 2 is a good movie, just not what I'd call a children's movie. The plot may be too complicated for most small children to follow well.

I agree with your assessment and your husband's. Few movies are worth full price but this and Larry Crowne are and yes, I did pay full price for Larry Crowne.

Thanks,

Gloria Oliver on July 4, 2011 at 8:07 am

You're right, most kids wouldn't get a lot of the jokes or possibly plot, but a lot of "kid" movies have always had stuff just for adults. I figure even with the more grown up content of this one, kids would still enjoy it with all the colors and moving parts. 😛

Larry Crowne looks fun to me. So will keep your recommendation in mind! (Didn't even realize it was already out – DOH!) Summer just has too many movies!!!! Oi!

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Tony on July 3, 2011 at 7:14 am

Cars 2 is a good movie, just not what I'd call a children's movie. The plot may be too complicated for most small children to follow well.

I agree with your assessment and your husband's. Few movies are worth full price but this and Larry Crowne are and yes, I did pay full price for Larry Crowne.

Thanks,
Gloria Oliver on July 4, 2011 at 8:07 am

You're right, most kids wouldn't get a lot of the jokes or possibly plot, but a lot of "kid" movies have always had stuff just for adults. I figure even with the more grown up content of this one, kids would still enjoy it with all the colors and moving parts. 😛

Larry Crowne looks fun to me. So will keep your recommendation in mind! (Didn't even realize it was already out – DOH!) Summer just has too many movies!!!! Oi!