A.BAD.PIXAR.FILM ?

[adamshinoda]

Can anyone believe it ? It's Cars 2. This is one of my must-see movie this summer but I still don't have time to go watch it yet. I surf the web to find some reviews and this is what I get on Wikipedia:

"The film opened to mixed/average reviews from critics, and is Pixar's worst reviewed feature film to date."

" Cars 2 has received generally MIXED to NEGATIVE reviews from film critics. As of June 2011, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 33% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 139 reviews, with an average score of 5.4/10."

Seriously, WTF is happening with Pixar ??

 

[tijntje_7]

Blasphemy. Every pixar movie is good. Even though I haven't seen this one ;p

 

[AlanJohn]

Pixar you [censored]!
Where is Monsters Inc. 2?

 

[granville]

I saw it. It's not terrible, but it's not very good either. Definitely Pixar's worst movie thus far and the only one i'd not consider at least good. I wouldn't say it's worthy of anything less than a 5/10, but it's not worthy of anything past a 6-7 either. I'd probably give it a 6/10. It's just mediocre. I didn't hate it. It had some funny and cool scenes and i've definitely seen infinitely worse animated movies (some of which got praised way too much imo).

Worst issues i have is that the dialog is bland for the most part besides from some jokes here and there. The story is disjointed and feels hastily smashed together. Multiple plotlines, all of which feel underdeveloped. There was a lot of potential for a spy car theme or even a world grand prix race. None of it felt well written or developed. Characters too were bland and uninteresting. They also tried to tack on an obnoxious environmental theme. I hated that, this coming from an enviro-hippy of sorts myself. It was done RIGHT in Wall E (one of the few environmental statement movies that did it right), dead wrong here. The one thing i really enjoyed in the movie was Mater. And considering he's widely hated by many people, i'm sure i'm in a minority.

But shit happens. If anything i'd say that an animation studio having 11/12 movies that are at the very least what i'd consider GOOD (yes even Cars 1) is a good sign. No movie studios is perfect and will inevitably make a movie that isn't so good. If the next two Pixar movies in a row are bleh, i'll definitely say something is up, but they've fluctuated in quality before. As i recall, Cars 1 wasn't very well received either (not bad, just average to decent review, i liked it personally). But then the 4 Pixar movies afterwards were incredibly well received, all garnering Oscar nominations (a couple even being nominated for best picture).

@AlanJohn-

Pixar is working on a Monsters Inc prequel entitled (working title anyways) Monsters University. Apparently showing how Mike and Sully became friends and graduated from college or some shit- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsters_University#Prequel

I'm more interested in next year's Pixar movie, Brave. Original fairy tale, looks interesting and a nice change of pace from Pixar's usual stuff.

 

[nando]

the first cars wasn't that good imo and owen wilson turns anything to shit with his voice. so this was expected.


cars is one of pixars weakest properties and i'm sure cars 2 only got made because it's lasseter's baby.

 

[granville]

the first cars wasn't that good imo and owen wilson turns anything to shit with his voice. so this was expected.


cars is one of pixars weakest properties and i'm sure cars 2 only got made because it's lasseter's baby.

It should be noted that Lightning McQueen isn't even really the main character. He's actually downplayed in favor of making Mater more or less the main hero. Heck, i'd say Owen Wilson doesn't even have much of a speaking role. Cars was a lot better than this movie, regardless of its inherent quality. It's a while lot different as well. I wouldn't say the concept is inherently bad either, just badly written in general.

I might get a lot of hate for this, but my least favorite Pixar movie besides Cars 2 is probably Finding Nemo. For every part i love, there's another part that i hate and annoys me immensely. But even then, i still enjoy it a lot. It's just really hard to hate a Pixar movie for me. Even Cars 2 isn't a hate IMO (just meh).

 

[Hadrian]

Seriously, WTF is happening with Pixar ??

Apart from Cars films they generally get amazing reviews. Disney wanted them to make another film so that they can sell more toys so Pixar do it so Disney don't get another company to make it.

They did the same with Toy Story 3, only like the first two films it was good.

People said the same thing after the first one and then they did a load of films where every one of them were critically acclaimed and won awards.

No worse than Dreamworks who have made one good Shrek film and one great ...Dragon film.

 

[Tonitonichopchop]

I seriously hope Lasseter stops making these Cars films. I wasn't a big fan of the first, and hearing that the second is worse almost makes me not want to see it.

 

[nando]

Seriously, WTF is happening with Pixar ??

Apart from Cars films they generally get amazing reviews. Disney wanted them to make another film so that they can sell more toys so Pixar do it so Disney don't get another company to make it.

i think it has more to do with Cars Land theme park opening up. and pixar is still in control of their movies.

 

[granville]

Cars is definitely a hot marketable item for Disney and Pixar. Regardless of the actual reviews, parents are still going to take their kids to see this film and the kiddies will eat it up. And they'll all buy the infinite amount of toys on the shelves as well.

The Cars theme park thing is an expansion of the Disneyland sister park California Adventure. I'm sure the movie has something to do with promoting it, but it's more focused on the first movie's setting and elements than the sequel. It'll open in 2012 and have some major new rides for the park. I'd definitely have to say that the revenue gotten from the film itself and the toys is more of a focus than the actual land being promoted by the movie.

Brave has a teaser up. I can't really say if it looks like the story will be decent (the narration seems generic, but way too early to tell). Really nice animation though-
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2995231769/

 

[Jax]

This is what happens when Disney pushes Pixar into making a movie just to sell toys.

 

[adamshinoda]

The Hangover part II was met with negative review, and now Cars 2 is.
Even worse than that, Harry Potter 7.2 will possilbly not be shown in my country with unknown reason at the time.

 

[granville]

This is what happens when Disney pushes Pixar into making a movie just to sell toys.

No need to hide the truth- Pixar is just as much at fault here as Disney. Cars is John Lasseter's most loved franchise. He's made some incredible movies, but this one just isn't one of them. If anything, Pixar can definitely make an awesome sequel. It's not Disney's fault that Pixar dropped the ball on this one and didn't create a good story.

 

[cwstjdenobs]

Everyone forgetting the nauseating cash in that was Toy Story 3?

 

[8BitWalugi]

Everyone forgetting the nauseating cash in that was Toy Story 3?

Fuck off. I cried at the end of that shit.

First and only film I'll cry at.

 

[Tonitonichopchop]

Everyone forgetting the nauseating cash in that was Toy Story 3?

Actually Toy Story 3 was still pretty good. I won't say it was up to the standard of the first or second, but it was good.

 

[KingdomBlade]

Cars 2 was undoubtedly well made and nicely animated, but the writing fell flat on its face. I love Pixar and all of their movies besides this one (and Bugs Life.. a little bit), but really, this was great from a marketing standpoint, but it was pretty average critically.

Hopefully Brave is going to be good. It looks pretty good for now. There's also the Monsters University. Really though, when are they going to make a fucking Incredibles 2? It's a superhero movie, it's the most sequel ready one of them all.

I find that personally, my fave Pixar creation was WALL-E, and second was Ratatouille. Third is Toy Story.

 

[Master Mo]

Everyone forgetting the nauseating cash in that was Toy Story 3?

Actually Toy Story 3 was still pretty good. I won't say it was up to the standard of the first or second, but it was good.

I would even say that the third one was even better then the second one. Definitely an amazing movie. But to call it nauseating is imo just disgraceful...

I for one already thought the the first Cars, even though very enjoyable, was one of their weakest movies. But in PIXAR-standards weak is still pretty good, since I still found it very entertaining as I said! That`s why I`ll just label this sequel as a marketing-sequel so I don`t have high hopes in the first place but I don`t think it will be bad per se as the thread-header wants to indicate...

I also think people should give PIXAR a break. They did 7 incredible original movies (including my favorite Wall-E) in a row before they did these two sequels and people already start saying that all they do is profit through their older IPs... I mean they already showed the trailer for their upcoming new original IP Brave, which looks great as well.

I cannot wait for Monster University, since it seems they are taking their time with it and I actually don`t mind them do some more sequels, if they`re going to be as good as TS2 or 3 and actually make sense as sequels!

 

[spinal_cord]

Everyone forgetting the nauseating cash in that was Toy Story 3?

Actually Toy Story 3 was still pretty good. I won't say it was up to the standard of the first or second, but it was good.

I would even say that the third one was even better then the second one. Definitely an amazing movie. But to call it nauseating is imo just disgraceful...

Agreed. TS3 is one of the best squeals I have seen, I would even say it would be good as an original movie (if the first two were never made). I would say TS2 wasn't very good and 3 was as good as the first.

 

[cwstjdenobs]

Everyone forgetting the nauseating cash in that was Toy Story 3?
Fuck off. I cried at the end of that shit.

First and only film I'll cry at.


I cried at the end too. I was so happy it had finished. But really, come on, you liked it fair enough. I didn't.

QUOTE(spinal_cord @ Jun 30 2011, 01:23 PM)

Agreed. TS3 is one of the best squeals I have seen, I would even say it would be good as an original movie (if the first two were never made). I would say TS2 wasn't very good and 3 was as good as the first.

Really? To me 2 seemed like a cash in, this one really seemed like a desperate "quick, we need to hook a new generation of kids before everyone forgets about this so we can carry on selling Buzz Lightyears.". But whatever, if we all liked the same things nothing new would ever get made. We'd just be on Steamboat Willie 4000 by now.