Movie Review: Cars 2

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The animation continues to flow from Pixar. Cars 2 is their 12th animated feature. When the movie started they flashed a title card showing that they were celebrating their 25th anniversary. One lady in front of me said "No, that can't be" and another said "Must be...look it's right there" as she pointed to the screen. It started with Luxo Jr. in 1986 so, it would be 25 years. Funny that it started with a Jr and the current movie is a two!

Cars is not considered one of Pixar's best films, in fact many rank it towards the bottom of the list, if not the bottom. While not gathering the most critical acclaim, it has been very popular for Pixar and its parent company Disney because of the money they have made from the merchandising bonanza that the characters have been. Approximately $10 billion has been made in sales and the movie only came out in 2006. Hence one of the driving forces for the sequel. Maybe this is one that should have gone directly to blu-ray.


Before the main event like all Pixar films, we were treated to a short. The Toy Story ohana showed up for a Hawaiian Vacation. Taking place at their new residence, the toys are excited for a break because their new owner, Bonnie, is going with her family to Hawaii.

When Ken and Barbie didn't successfully manage to sneak into Bonnie's luggage, the whole gang including new characters like Buttercup and Mr Prinklepants manages to treat Ken and Barbie to a Hawaiian vacation right there in the bedroom. Speaking of Mr Prinklepants, when I reviewed Toy Story 3 last year I mentioned about a Mr Prinklepants plush. It took the Disney store a while, but they finally got a plush and he now sits on my desk shelf overlooking me as I write and work on my computer. For the short, as a resident of Hawaii I found the jokes and stereotypes very funny. They only thing I think they missed was dropping a plug for the new Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa as the destination for Bonnie and her family which opens later this summer.

Into the meat and potatoes; Cars 2 reunites us with the gang in Radiator Springs. Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) is just waiting for Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) to come back from the Piston Cup circuit. The producers pay a little homage to Doc Hudson who was voiced by Paul Newman and passed away back in 2008. McQueen is ready to stay put until Mater unwittingly gets him entwined in a global race series to prove the worthiness of an alternative fuel. So Lightning plans to take Mater with him on the road to the countries of Japan, Italy and Great Britain for the World Grand Prix.

This is where the usual tight stories of Pixar started to unravel a bit. The movie instead of focusing on relationships got caught up in a spy story focusing on Mater. In Tokyo, blunder and mistake after lack of exposure to life outside of Radiator Springs results in a wrong place at the wrong time confusion with Finn McMissle (Michael Caine) and Holly Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) of British Intelligence thinking Mater is actually an American Spy. So much for "British Intelligence."

So you have the master villain, the evil scientist, the big henchmen,the grandiose plan, the suave spy, the novice spy and the clueless just being himself bystander. All the components are there for a great story, but they fall short for a feature Pixar story. After the total emotional sequences from Toy Story 3 in its rites of passage ending, Carl and Ellie's love story at the beginning of Up and the connection between the robots of Wall-E and Eve on a scorched Earth in Wall-E, there weren't any highly emotional moments that would make a man suddenly develop allergies...if you know what I mean. Pixar is known for drawing out the emotion and it just wasn't there for this go around.

The animation was top notch as always, although at times it was over stimulating to the senses. I could appreciate all the details for the locations. The bright neon signs in Tokyo, the Odaiba Ferris Wheel, the rainbow bridge, all icons of the location. One of the really fun parts of the Cars universe is how they took items that are found in our real world in real cities and modified them to exist in theirs. Cars going through airport security, finding a capsule hotel and using a Japanese style bathroom are a few examples of the anthromorphization of the mobile pieces of metal be it ship, crane, plane, train or automobile. But I found myself overwhelmed by all these details and trying to pay attention for any easter eggs that may have been placed with the nooks and crannies of the movie knowing that there were over 60 hidden in Toy Story 3.

The visuals are complex, the story is a bit weak for a feature release; this is probably the first Pixar release that will only hit a single and not go beyond a double. The short ran for five minutes and 113 minutes for the main feature. There is no easter egg at the end of the movie but the credits are fun to watch. Kids will love the movie for the action of the spy genre and humor of Mater. Adults will go ho hum without the strong emotional hook. I have a feeling that Pixar in order to boost the numbers for the film will do like they did with A Bug's Life and release another version of the film in a few weeks that will contain bonus scenes, maybe scrapbook photos of our heroes in the different locations. Oh, the movie is rated G for general audiences.

The Movie Monkey
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Movie Review: Hall Pass

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To continue with last weeks weather analogy, we got hit by a big arctic cold front passing through. Was hoping for better but....no such luck. Previews for Drive Angry and just the name alone didn't seem appealing. So, maybe the Farrelly brothers' film Hall Pass would be OK and I might see a glimpse of scenes from back home in New England as they base a lot of their works out of Rhode Island. There works are not known as the thinking mans film, but hopefully good for a few laughs. A few laughs is right...very few laughs.

The basic premise is this: What would two couples do in one week's time when one spouse gives the other a "hall pass" from their marriage. Do what ever you want and there will be no consequences. The first pass is given by Maggie (Jenna Fischer) to her husband Rick (Owen Wilson). The other pass is wanted by and then given to Fred(Jason Sudeikis) by Grace (Christina Applegate). The couples are long time best friends. The ladies are upset with their husbands for looking at other women and the constant need the guys have. The idea is given to the wives by their psychologist friend Dr Lucy (Joy Behar) who says it will give the guys a way to clear up the "what if" in their lives. "What if" they didn't have wives, would they still be able to be the chick magnets they think they are? Sort of a variation of It's a Wonderful Life where everyone still knows who everyone else is but without Christmas, cold snow or crotchety old Mr Potter.

You know right off the bat they are not going to be getting as much as they thought they would. The guys and their friends debate which would be a better place to pick up women, Applebee's or Olive Garden. Really, Applelee's or Olive Garden? I wonder how much those restaurants paid for movie product placement. As a side note, neither of these restaurants have locations in Hawaii. As each day passes, the Law and Order card sting written by Mike Post, you know the sound, the doink doink, is used as a segue to clue us in that time has passed.

At the end of the week what do we get? We have all the usual suspects of a Farrelly movie. We have language, we have odd sexual innuendos, fetishes, both male and female frontal nudity, off color jokes and tons of embarrassing situations. Unfortunately this did not live up to the level of a There's Something About Mary or Dumb and Dumber. The set up for some of the jokes seemed high and ambitious but were left flopping around on the floor like Jell-o after falling off the kitchen table. Not a pretty sight.

Maybe the reason for the problems is while being set in the Northeast it was actually Georgia posing as New England and couldn't quite pull it off. The movie was rated R for crude and sexual humor throughout, language, some graphic nudity and drug use and ran for 105 minutes. If you go, stay to the end of the credits for some extra scenes.

The Movie Monkey

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Movie Review: Little Fockers

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It has been ten years since we originally met male nurse Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) when he wanted to marry Pam Byrnes(Teri Polo) and had to get past the meeting of the families in 2000's Meet the Parents and 2004's Meet the Fockers. At this time we're on good grounds of knowing who the characters are and their relationships. With a name for the latest installment of Little Fockers you'd think that the focus of the story would be the children of Greg and Pam, but you'd be wrong. The focus is still on the relationship between Greg and his nosey ex-CIA agent and head strong father-in-law Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro).

Part of the humor of the series has been just how controlling and tightly wound Jack is. Putting a future son-in-law on a lie detector or trying to help raise a grand son by wearing devices allowing a normal situation that should take place between a mother and son is over the top. Now approximately six years into Greg and Pam's marriage and family rearing, Jack has become worried about who will run the Byrnes clan once his time is up and he gets deactivated from the big CIA operative list in the sky.

Another ingredient in the series humor recipe is the reaction and relationships between the hodge-podge of adult family members. Pam shows her love for her mom Dina (Blythe Danner) who somehow has managed to find the right balance between raising the family and keeping Jack on keel. Or what about the more hippyish, free love and very free spirit Focker,s Rozalin and Bernie (Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman), coming up against the straight laced Byrnes. Throw in the dash of craziness added by one of Pam's former boy friends Kevin (Owen Wilson) to keep situations interesting and people on their toes.

But when you come down to it, the vast majority of the humor comes from the embarrassment of Greg Focker. If it wasn't for the positions that Greg finds himself, sometimes of his own doing, sometimes not, there wouldn't be much humor in the series. Misunderstandings, miscommunications, missed cues or botched actions provide the type of laughter that generates the PG-13 rating for mature sexual humor throughout, language and some drug content. While the scenarios aren't meant to be malicious, many are cringe worthy. Inside you think, "just tell them the truth, don't hide it! If you do that you'll save yourself in the long run!" But then again, if that actually happened, you wouldn't have a comedy movie now would you?

Greg seems to have struck a balance with Jack. But with Jack considering his own mortality the balance is thrown out of whack. Putting extra pressure on Greg ends up being a germination point which sprouts forth with the aforementioned cringe moments. Having some money issues due to remodeling a home leads Greg to become a paid advocate for Sustengo, the equivalent of a little blue pill but is safe for heart patients. The company rep is Andi Garcia played by Jessica Alba. So of course, what writer could pass up the opportunity to play around with erectile dysfunction medication and the looks of Jessica Alba? Obviously, not returning series writer John Hamburg.

The film is produced by Tribeca Productions, a company that is partially owned by De Niro. You look at this and wonder why they would produce something like this? At the heart of the film, it's about family love. Even with as ludicrous as events become between the parties involved, each in their own crazy mixed up way tries to show what love for one another is about. All 98 minutes showcase that love as awkward and unbalanced as it can sometimes get.

When the movie is over, don't leave right away. There is some added levity and a huge missed opportunity during the credits. Once the credits take up the full width of the screen you can leave without a gnawing feeling that there will be more funny to be delivered. Where they missed out is during the last laughs of the movie Jack goes online to do research. Instead of creating the actual material so that you and I at home could Google and get the same search results, they let the results languish as just props created for the movie. It could have been so much fun to see the result on our own computer! They made it for the film, it wouldn't have taken a whole lot more to move it onto the internet!

The Movie Monkey

To subscribe to the audio podcast of the reviews via iTunes click here. Audio versions are released the following Wednesday.