If Cars 2 taught me one thing, it's that apparently, Lightning McQueen's tagline is "Ka-Chow!" because "KaChing!" is a little too obvious. I mean a little too obvious in the same way Lady Gaga must say, "Hey, let's stop the eyeliner here, because any more would be a little too obvious." It was visually amazing, but its obvious that the guiding principle behind the Toy Story sequels, namely, "we won't make a movie until we have a great story to tell, no matter how long that takes," is not in play in this franchise.
I'll be honest, I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of Cars the first time around. I mean, I got what they were going for, but I really didn't care for the plot at all. Yes, I feel bad for the little town that got left behind when the highway was built--sort of. I also feel bad for all the corset makers, and blacksmith shops that had to close when their products became obsolete, but I'm not about to go back to using wagons or wearing corsets so they can feel needed again because they refused to relocate or learn a new trade. Sometimes it's noble to not want to leave your home town, even if it's fading...I suppose...but you just have to acknowledge that you'll be staying behind in a sleepy small town and it won't return to it's former glory. Okay, as you can see, I'm still having a hard time getting there, but I tried. You can't have your cake and eat it too, either move out of the stupid little town, or stop griping about how no one comes there anymore! I feel better letting that out.
Still, I'm always willing to give Pixar a chance, and I have a three year old, so I thought it'd be fun to take her to Cars 2. I was worried that she might not be able to follow it because she doesn't really remember much about Cars, but I needn't have worried. This movie felt like it was written nearly in it's entirety as an action flick, and after the fact, someone at Pixar said "Hey, let's have the cars act this one out! We'll toss in some racing, we can get them out of Radiator Springs at the beginning somehow, and Larry the Cable Guy is funny, let's base the whole movie on that."
This is basically a James Bond movie with beloved Cars characters (who I bet have products on sale at a store near you!). Here's the trouble with James Bond movies--they're totally inapporpriate for children! So, not only are they overly violent, but since (hopefully) kids haven't seen them, they didn't get the joke and weren't in on the homage. I'm all for a few nods to the 'rents in the audience who shelled out the bucks and drove the cars to get the target demographic there, but this was too big a nod to go over kids' heads. To them, it was just a violent movie. Now, I know a lot of people felt The Incredibles was too violent, but here's the difference I saw between the two. First, I expect fighting and battles in a superhero movie, so I was prepared to see kids in peril, weapons, etc. Even though knew it was a "spy" theme, I did not expect to see the "Cars" whipping out guns and blowing each other up. Secondly, The Incredibles never showed any dead, dying, blown up people, but I sure saw a lot of blown up cars and their pieces.
Before you jump on me that well, cars aren't people, think about the fact that Pixar has spent the first movie (and nearly all non-battle parts of the second movie) trying to show us that cars are just like people! They make lasting friendships, that are tested throughout the movies, have feelings, get embarrassed, and even have eyebrows that show their expressions! At one point, a secret agent is shown the remains of his friend and fellow agent, crushed into a cube. That's pretty darn sick to show to kids while presuming to teach them what happens when they carelessly hurt a friends feelings with mean words. Seriously, kids, use mean words on me all you want if the alternative is crushing me into a cube! Another car is tortured to death and they only cut away a moment before they kill him. We do see the explosion. Yes, he was killed--as he never comes back. Yet another car dives into the water and releases tires (on the axles) that bubble to the surface to make the bad guys think he's dead. A brilliant move for a person driving in a car, but if you are a car, aren't those severed body parts you're releasing? Am I putting too much thought into this? Maybe. Would my kid who is very observant and understands things presented to her in only a literal way also think it was part of a living car--most definetly.
*Spoiler alert* Finally, I really didn't like the message of the movie overall. I know in kid/teen movies, the idea that friendship should trump all, including reason and reality, is sacrosanct in the Disney universe. According to High School Musical 2, I shouldn't even have applied to a college or gotten a job without a guarantee that I could bring any and all of my friends with me regardless of their qualifications. I'm sure that would have made me oh so desirable to potential schools and employers--go ahead kids, try it! In Cars 2, however, I thought this theme was taken to an even unhealthier level. Most of the movie is about Tow Mater bumbling around the world acting like a fish out of water. "That's funny right there!" At the end of the movie, Lightning McQueen apologizes for yelling at him (when Mater's behavior while acting as a member of McQueen's pit crew interrupts a formal event and later costs him a race) and realizes he should have accepted his behavior as it was because he was being himself. In fact, he says "You were just being yourself, and if people laugh at you for that, they are the ones with a problem." Sounds beautiful on paper, right? It would be one thing if the other cars were mocking Mater for, say, the color of his rust, or his accent, or even his unfortunate teeth--in other words, differences that are out of his control and add to this wonderful diversity that it our world. But in the movie, Mater is bumbling around behaving totally inappropriately. He is in other countries without learning about their customs, mocking them to their faces (albeit unintentionally), and being the quintessential "ugly American abroad." I'm sorry, but that's not okay. It's not "being yourself." It's being a self-centered jerk. Someone should be taken aside and told their behavior is unacceptable if it is in fact unacceptable. Unless I missed the part of the movie where they explain that Mater has some sort of medical disorder that makes proper behavior impossible, that whole idea of "whatever you do is okay by me" is totally insane. As a mom trying to teach her kids to be decent human beings, I hate that message with a passion. The Me generation at it's worst.
As I shushed my daughter's loud talking towards the end of the movie, I wouldn't have been at all surprised if she turned to me and said "I'm being myself, Mom. If you don't like it, you're the one with the problem." Luckily for me, however, she had totally stopped paying attention by then. Cars 2 does not have any princesses in it.
1 comment:
Cars 2 is definitely not a girls movie. It is also not a little kids movie. We took our whole family and Gregory (who is 8 and has deemed himself "too old" for Disney cartoons) really liked it. I think Pixar was aiming to attract the older boy market which they have largely ignored up to this point. They've got almost all girls up to age 8 with princesses, little boys with cars and toy story, and now older boys with Cars 2. Unfortunately for parents who are used to these movies being appropriate for young children, this was a bit of a disappointment for the preschool crowd. Seth was quite bored with this movie, and he loved the first cars movie.
Post a Comment