Cars 2: THE WORST CAR WRECK EVER

Okay so in the last post I briefly talked about why Cars 2 is the worst movie in Pixar's lineup, but I wasn't able to go into everything that made it turn out as awful as it did. Besides, the events that led to it getting made are the only thing that will make it obvious why the guys at Pixar have been struggling so much for the past decade up to now.

It may not be the worst animated movie of all time, it's not even that bad on its own, but where it came from and how it impacted the history of animation still made it one of the top 10. So to understand how this happened, we actually need to revisit the first movie.

Cars 1 Was “Okay”

Cars 1 isn't technically that bad either, back when it first came out it had mostly decent reviews and made pretty good money at the box office thanks to the merchandise sales, in fact, there's actually a lot more passion and effort put into it than you might've expected.

John Lasseter directed this and was originally basing the story on a road trip he went on across the country with his family, but sometime during the production, his close friend and co-director Joe Ranft was killed in a car accident.

The movie was then rewritten to be a tribute to Ranft who was also a huge car fan and even has a short little acknowledgment of him during the credits.

As is, the movie is just a wholesome and simple story of learning to be more accepting of living the simple life and that rich people aren't above everyone.

That's the whole point of Lightning's arc, he won too often and therefore needed a reality check.

Plus this was one of Paul Newman's last projects before he passed away, and his performance as Doc really enhances the emotional core of the movie.

With that said, what makes it not so good compared to the other movies that came before it is that it felt like it wasn't trying as hard to make adults happy as kids like The Incredibles, and you could tell the story with humans driving cars without it having much of a difference.

Once Cars 1 got the reception it did John and the gang took what was said about the movie and decided to up their game with the next few movies, making things everyone can watch and enjoy by making more movies that focus on humans instead of objects.

They even got Brad Bird to direct Ratatouille after how good of a job he did when directing The Incredibles.

Toy Story 3 ended up being the peak of their success and could even be a great series finale for their career if it ended up being the last movie they made. But once that did as well as it did and the money started pouring in, Disney decided they could leech off the success.

What Happens When You’ve Made Too Much Money/The Problem With Mater

Disney ordered Pixar to make Cars 2 because of how much money the toy sales made.

You know, AFTER they decided they shouldn’t make anything else like it again.

So this ended up being the first movie that Pixar DIDN’T want to make, which meant there wasn't any passion put in, it was just a dumb assignment they were given.

A dumb assignment with toilet jokes for that matter, seriously they’ve never done toilet jokes before, only Dreamworks and Sony would do that.

The first movie was about Lightning growing to be more humble and to think of other people more often, so NATURALLY, it would only make sense to have the sequel center on MATER BECOMING A SPY even though the first movie didn't have anything to do with spies right?

Speaking of Mater, what made him likable in the first movie was that he didn't have a major role, he's supposed to give you a break from the main story. If he "is the main story," spending so much of the movie listening to him act like a loud hillbilly gets old, FAST, and the second movie, failed to understand that.

It happens with a lot of unfunny comic relief characters like Jar Jar Binks or James Corden.

Actually no, it's not that it didn't understand, it just didn't care.

He's surprisingly not even the dumbest character in the movie, that title goes to the spies that recruit him because their thinking he's just pretending to confuse the villains will make you wonder how they even got the job in the first place.

Being What Broke The Consistent Quality

Of course, I saved the worst part for last.

The fact that the movie expects you to feel bad for Mater after he publicly embarrasses Lightning and causes him to lose the race is when you'll know the movie hates you. Now kids are gonna feel like they don't have a say whenever they're getting bullied or made to feel uncomfortable by other kids.

How do you do that Pixar? HOW DO YOU SAY SOMETHING THAT'S ON THE SAME LEVEL AS "METH IS COOL?" You managed to go 16 years without saying stuff like that!

I'll tell you how, IT'S DISNEY!

The House Of Mouse Is TOO POWERFUL!!!!!!!!

They don’t need to try anymore! All they've had to do was make a bunch of mediocre follow-ups to what we grew up with and buy the rights to other franchises and ended up making 21.5 BILLION dollars in revenue up to this point!

As for the guys at Pixar, it took them 4 years to win us over again with Inside Out, but then made more average movies than good ones, nowadays the quality just varies.

They're still capable of making good movies once in a while, but let it be known...

NOBODY IS SAFE FROM THAT 3-CIRCLED HEAD!

So there you go, Cars 2 isn't that bad on its own, but compared to the other Pixar movies, it stuck out like a sore thumb the most. After literally almost 2 DECADES of the best movies they’ve made!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to drop something off at the junkyard where it rightfully belongs.

(Just pretend it's Mater getting smashed instead of Lightning)