10 Downright Ridiculous Excuses For Terrible Movies
4. Cars 2 - It's Just For Kids
The Excuse: I typically dont read the reviews. I make movies for that little boy who loves the characters so much that he wants to pack his clothes in a Lightning McQueen suitcase" - John Lasseter
I am a massive, massive Pixar fan, and when I initially saw Cars 2, I was willing to ignore the hate it had attracted from everywhere else, and enjoy it for its merits, instead of lambasting it for not being quite up to the usual Pixar standard. But I've seen it a number of times since then, and it's just not very good at all. There's too much going on, it's vision is too grand and worst of all for a Pixar film, it has no really discernible message, unlike almost every other of its stable-mate movies. And it's no excuse to say the property has a lower demographic than other Pixar properties - and that adults would never really get it, as Lasseter suggested in the quote above - because kids movies can be some of the most beloved movies of all time. And Pixar had never aimed at the kiddy dollar before, so it seemed odd they'd do so at the expense of critical reception for any of their projects. Cars 2 was little more than a marketing exercise, and Lasseter unwittingly confirmed as much in his defence of the movie when asked by The New York Times about the critical response to the film. He might not have intended to make a film only to sell merchandise, but you have to suspect that someone at Disney recognised the enduring pulling power of Cars merch in comparison to other Disney and Pixar lines. But then, neither the audience nor any marketing intentions should be an excuse for making a bad movie, especially not from a company of Pixar's standing. It's still not a flat-out terrible movie, but even only in terms of its effect on the company's unblemished reputation it certainly deserves to be classed as terrible.