Cars 2

[Gareth]

I was planning on seeing it until I read the reviews, does anyone who’s seen it have any thoughts? I liked the original, though critics were divided, but they pretty much agree that Cars 2 is sadly Pixar’s first clunker.

[JackFetch]

Never saw the original, and when I heard the terrible reviews for this one I figured they just went back to a well that was dried up.

[Venneh]

Cars was a fairly standard kids' film, not anything brilliant on the level of say, Up or Toy Story 3 or Wall-E. If they were looking for that going into the sequel, then yeah, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't find it up to snuff.

Put it this way; Cars is their only real franchise film in the sense that they can sell the shit out of merchandise with it. Their other films? Not so much.

[Gareth]

Cars certainly wasn't as good as some Pixar films but I enjoyed it. I liked it better than A Bug's Life and Monsters, Inc.

[JackFetch]

Don't be hating on Monsters Inc. That movie is brilliant.

[Molly]

Monsters Inc. is getting a milking too, with it's upcoming prequel.

I saw the original, it was fine enough. This one won't get me to lift my Larry the Cable Guy embargo, though.

[Venneh]

Cars isn't my favorite of the Pixar movies, though that may be because the little boy I was babysitting decided he would try and choke his baby sister, and then me, out for fun during it.

[Dan]

Cars is, far and away, my least favorite Pixar movie. It's not horrible, but it's entirely uninspired.

[dc20willsave]

I almost want to see this just because it has the Popemobile driving around a Popecar. Among other things, this just raises further questions about this world such as who built these cars, is the the world after Maximum Overdrive, and if there's a Popecar, does this mean they worship Jesus Chrysler?

[Stavros]

Cars is fine, just not up to their usual standard. I really hope Cars 2 has at least some redeeming features.

Monsters Inc is da bomb.

[Aaron Robinson]

Put it this way; Cars is their only real franchise film in the sense that they can sell the shit out of merchandise with it. Their other films? Not so much.

Man, surely Toy Story sells a ton of... well toys. And other stuff. I'm sure there are Toy Story lunch boxes and backpacks that sold well too.

[Stavros]

Put it this way; Cars is their only real franchise film in the sense that they can sell the shit out of merchandise with it. Their other films? Not so much.

Man, surely Toy Story sells a ton of... well toys. And other stuff. I'm sure there are Toy Story lunch boxes and backpacks that sold well too.

I've heard that the Cars stuff sold extremely well, I don't see why personally but apparently it was very marketable, especially when adapting it to existing products or as part of cross-promotions. I guess because Cars are very accessible toys. They probably sell a greater variety of products to a wider audience than say Ratatouille, Up or Finding Nemo. Yes I'm guessing others like Toy Story or Monsters Inc are marketable, but they both got sequels as well.

[Aaron Robinson]

Oh yeah, I've heard that Cars was very profitable on that front. It may well be their most profitable in terms of merchandise. I just don't believe it's the only film they can "sell the shit out of merchandise" with. Hell, I'm sure all the Pixar films actually did pretty well with the toys and stuff they created for them, even if Cars did the best.

[Venneh]

I mean yeah, Toy Story definitely sold pretty well at first, but I don't think they did so much with the sequels, not that I can remember, at least. Cars just seems to be this full on merchandising blitz that I've never seen before iwth them. I mean sure, Finding Nemo and Wall-E had some exclusive stuff at Disney World/Land/etc like mugs and figures, but I don't see any of their other films selling bedspreads, clothes, toys, tie in books, etc quite on the level that Cars does.

[Aaron Robinson]

With a bit of research, it looks like Cars made about 5 billion in merchandise, while Toy Story 3 made around 2.4 billion. So yeah, Cars is definitely the top dog in terms of merchandise, and that would easily make it Pixar's most profitable film. But 2.4 billion is still pretty amazing.

[slothian]

The upcoming CR dealing with Priest, X-Men First Class & Green Lantern has a distinct "judge for yourself, not what others say" theme (which is arguably self-defeating!), but I like the fact this thread has resulted in an appraisal of Pixar. On my part, I haven't seen a Pixar film since The Incredibles for one reason or another, but I haven't seen a bad one yet. And I will fight people that hate A Bug's Life.

[dc20willsave]

The upcoming CR dealing with Priest, X-Men First Class & Green Lantern has a distinct "judge for yourself, not what others say" theme (which is arguably self-defeating!), but I like the fact this thread has resulted in an appraisal of Pixar. On my part, I haven't seen a Pixar film since The Incredibles for one reason or another, but I haven't seen a bad one yet. And I will fight people that hate A Bug's Life.

And I will back you up. A Bug's Life is probably in my top 5 as far as the Disney/Pixar films go.

[Venneh]

It's cute, but I still like stuff like Up, Wall-E, and TS3 better.

[KnightWing]

I love A Bug's Life.

The upcoming CR dealing with Priest, X-Men First Class & Green Lantern has a distinct "judge for yourself, not what others say" theme (which is arguably self-defeating!)

I think this summer really has been bizarre in that so many films' quality is subjective.

[Koete]

There's such a thing as looking at a film both subjectively and objectively.

[You Know Who]

On that note, am I the only one out there who doesn't like Finding Nemo or The Incredibles? I recognize them as competently-crafted films but they don't really do it for me.

[KnightWing]

Yes, but there's a ton of films out now that are such a jumble of positive and negative that they can be objectively judged either way, leaving only subjective opinion to tip the scales.

[Stavros]

Personally I think they're both brilliant but I'm not going to be down on people who disagree unless they're actually ragging on the skill and imagination it took to make them.

[slothian]

On that note, am I the only one out there who doesn't like Finding Nemo or The Incredibles? I recognize them as competently-crafted films but they don't really do it for me.

I think that Finding Nemo is hugely overrated, but it still isn't a bad film. The Incredibles is best comic book movie that isn't a CBM. It's great stuff.

[Stavros]

On that note, am I the only one out there who doesn't like Finding Nemo or The Incredibles? I recognize them as competently-crafted films but they don't really do it for me.

I think that Finding Nemo is hugely overrated, but it still isn't a bad film. The Incredibles is best comic book movie that isn't a CBM. It's great stuff.

No. Told you many times, watch Unbreakable. That's the best non-comic comic-book movie.

Also I saw Finding Nemo three times in cinemas and got a little misty-eyed every time. Pixar only managed to surpass that again with the end of Toy Story 3 which I also sat through three times fighting back the tears with a massive lump in my throat.