Movie Night: Cars 2

Cast

	Larry the Cable Guy	...	Mater (voice)
	Owen Wilson	...	Lightning McQueen (voice)
	Michael Caine	...	Finn McMissile (voice)
	Emily Mortimer	...	Holley Shiftwell (voice)
	Eddie Izzard	...	Sir Miles Axlerod (voice)
	John Turturro	...	Francesco Bernoulli (voice)

I had read a blog or story once about Pixar, and how that of all their movies Cars was the one big disappointment. It was the authors opinion that all Pixar moves had a common theme. All their movies are at the core about humans encountering something non-human, or vise versa, and overcoming the prejudiced views both had to find a common ground. He also remarked Cars was the only Pixar movie to exist in a world without humans, or at the least to be set in a human world. I believe he also felt it was a bad movie as well. As for me, I liked Cars, I found it cute and entertaining.


Now we have Cars 2. The Cars hater who wrote that blog would be happy to know that ,at least in part, they have returned to their theme of exploring prejudices and overcoming them. But still there are no humans nor is it even a human world. To be honest I enjoy the movie as much or more then the first. It's cute, witty, good for kids and even has very mild adult themes in the background so the adults are not completely left out. But I have to report the wife couldn't really watch it at all. She likes Owen Wilson, but says she doesn't like him in these films. Once she pointed it out I had to agree, Owen is a strange casting choice, and once you start thinking about Lightning McQueen being Owen the character starts not fitting as well. It's funny how I didn't notice till  she pointed it out, and once she did I couldn't get over it for the rest of the movie.


The rest of the cast was great however, Larry the Cable Guy plays a perfect Mater. And Michael Caine does a perfect "James Bond" type British spy with Finn McMissile. Eddie Izzard however I still have a hard time seeing as anything but a cross-dressing stand-up comic. But even that aside it didn't bother me the way Owen Wilson did. Everything Eddie Izzard is in I always expect him to be in drag in the next scene, but I still think he's a fine actor and I enjoy his roles in all the movies and shows I've seen him in. I guess in all his roles there's a part of me who believes the character, whoever it is, must be a closet cross-dresser. I don't know how that works with a car, but there you go! LOL


I would just about agree with IMDB's raiting of 6.5 for this movie. It's ok, and if the kids like it, great. It's isn't bad enough to make it torture for any adult around either, and the story is good for kids, it has a solid moral. All in all it's a thumbs up.