In Defense of Cars 2...

Yes, it is essentially a Larry the Cable Guy vehicle. Pun only partially intended.

I never thought I'd see the day a Michael Bay gets a higher Tomatometer rating than Pixar. That could mean one of three things.


1. Michael Bay finally made a movie critics are willing to admit they like.
2. Pixar made a bad movie.
3. This whole situation is a big huge Tomatometer FAIL.

Sadly, this falls under category #3. Cars 2 was NOT a bad movie at all. It was merely a good one. Unfortunately, critics spent most of their reviews reflecting on how great the movie WASN’T, as opposed to how good it WAS. I think part of the problem is Pixar spoiled us. They did. When they can make a movie about toys that brings its audience to tears, I mean… that shit’s just showing off. But they followed that up with a fun, silly, Pink Panther-esque spy comedy that does NOT provoke thought or tug at the heartstrings. Cars 2 was unfairly judged.

It's kind of like comparing anything else Orson Welles has done to Citizen Kane.

Consider Kung Fu Panda 2. That film was very good. But it’s not a better movie than Cars 2. It was just a way freakin’ better movie than Shrek Forever After. That’s the difference between Pixar and DreamWorks. We’ll accept the DreamWorks cash grab, because they’ve been doing it for years. When your last movie was Shrek Forever After, it’s not gonna take much to have a film that’s a breath of fresh air from that. But when your last FOUR movies have been Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up and Toy Story 3… that same quality, unfortunately, is gonna look meager by comparison. Cars 2 is the B+ from a studio that generally only churns out A+ movies. When we are dealing with Pixar, apparently, such imperfection cannot be tolerated.

Pictured left to right: Pixar, film critics.

As a Pixar movie, of course Cars 2 is sub par. Heck, the FIRST Cars was sub-par. But both films are actually very good, and what these critics failed to realize is that low-grade Pixar is still better than most things that are out there. So instead of judging its failure at being the Oscar-nominated triumphs that preceded it, why not champion it for the lovable, clever, funny and heartwarming movie that it is?

I didn’t mean to put down on Michael Bay. That’s a different article for a different time. Dark of the Moon was a very fun, exciting motion picture (which, of course, critics will NEVER admit that they like). But it’s not better than Cars 2. And I’m sure all the critics who insisted on marking their review “rotten” in spite of their own admission that Cars 2 was good are feeling very silly right now.

"I beat Pixar, bitch. What up?"