Early Warning Signs For PIXAR's Cars 2

[dland_lover]

Half the replies on this thread must be music to Michael Eisner's ears.

I wonder if we have already forgotten what the theory of profitable mediocrity did to Disney's reputation in the decade and half after 1992?

That being said, Pixar are entitled to one less-than-stellar film after so many triumphs, and I still have high hopes for "Brave."

Hmm.. that's funny, because I would rate "Wall-E" as Pixar's weakest film, with "a bug's life" following in second-to-last.

[Aladdin]

Well, lets stay with rotten tomatoes, BUT instead of these "professional movie critics" who really do often have bizarre notion of what a good movie is, let look at the rotten tomatoes rating of pixar movies, rated by regular, non professional movie critic people:

In case you were wondering, here's how Pixar's films rank according RT users' scores:
1. Toy Story 3 -- 91%
2. WALL-E -- 89%
3. Up -- 86%
4. Ratatouille -- 84%
5. Monsters, Inc -- 83%
6. Toy Story -- 81%
7. Finding Nemo -- 80%
8. Cars -- 80%
9. Toy Story 2 -- 72%
10. The Incredibles -- 67%
11. A Bug's Life -- 61%

And Cars 2 is currently at 66%.



And just for the fun of it, last November, we had a poll asking micechatters to rank all Pixar movies, up to the point in time. How did MiceChatters rank the movies? Well, after all the scoring, they came into 3 distinct groups

The highest rated Pixar Movies (in nearly a dead heat):
Toy Story
The Incredibles
Toy Story 3

Several points below those top 3 movies (again, nearly a dead heat):
Monsters Inc
Up
WALL-E
Finding Nemo
Ratatouille
Toy Story 2

Falling into the last group (again, nearly evenly rated)
A Bug's Life
Cars

[ALIASd]

CinemaScore polls thousands of opening weekend movie-goers who gave 'Cars 2' an A-, the same score received by 'The Hangover Part 2', now the biggest comedy of all time. Not unlike the 'Transformers' films (and many others) - despised by critics, loved by audiences.

Wall Street seems impressed as well:

NEW YORK - Several analysts on Monday expressed support for Walt Disney's stock, with some highlighting the better-than-expected box office performance of Cars 2.

"Walt Disney Co.’s Cars 2 release fared better than critics’ reviews would have suggested," said Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce who has a "buy" rating and short-term price target of $48 on the stock. "The CinemaScore audience reaction report at A- showed potentially much better legs for future box office receipts for the film."

Wunderlich Securities analyst Matthew Harrigan echoed Joyce's take on the Cars sequel. While it is still early, "Cars 2 [is] amazingly pacing slightly ahead of Toy Story 3 overseas," he said. On a comparable territory basis, Cars 2 is 4 percent ahead of last year's Toy Story 3.

http://micechat.com/forums/disney-bu...h-reports.html

[Coheteboy]

Haha not that audiences disagreed with critics when it came to Transformers 2. We just had to see it for ourselves. It's one of those kinds of movies. Critic proof.

[tasman]

I wouldn't say that this movie is "mediocre".

No, this movie isn't mediocre...I was just giving my 2 cents on previous comments regarding the relative importance of quality and profit.

I just saw Cars 2 and will say that it does not deserve the very low score it holds on Rotten Tomatoes. It does lack the emotional pull and strong narrative line typical of Pixar, but it certainly isn't a "bad" film that a 30-something score would imply.

[indianajack]

Haha not that audiences disagreed with critics when it came to Transformers 2. We just had to see it for ourselves. It's one of those kinds of movies. Critic proof.

Well, some of us resisted the temptation to see it.... but I guess we were a minority. It will be interesting to see how the third installment does.

[Baloo]

No, this movie isn't mediocre...I was just giving my 2 cents on previous comments regarding the relative importance of quality and profit.

I just saw Cars 2 and will say that it does not deserve the very low score it holds on Rotten Tomatoes. It does lack the emotional pull and strong narrative line typical of Pixar, but it certainly isn't a "bad" film that a 30-something score would imply.

this is exactly how i feel.

I think people are being a bit too hard on this movie just because it does not follow the same formula as previous Pixar movies

[Mr Wiggins]

I think people are being a bit too hard on this movie just because it does not follow the same formula as previous Pixar movies

Judging from that post and the majority opinion of this thread, I guess then that there's no valid reason for a movie critic or a movie patron to have a negative opinion of Cars2, huh?

[flynnibus]

I'm hearing a lot of parents complaining about the gun and death violence in the film... a bit more 'die die die' vs simply 'the villian dies'. Complaints that the rating isn't appropriate for the youngins.. like 8 and under.

[Coheteboy]

I'm hearing a lot of parents complaining about the gun and death violence in the film... a bit more 'die die die' vs simply 'the villian dies'. Complaints that the rating isn't appropriate for the youngins.. like 8 and under.

Take that up with the MPAA then. I'm sure because the subject matter dealt with CARS and was animated, they gave it a pass. Plus there is no blood. Just car parts.

[loveberri87]

I just saw Cars 2 and it does NOT deserve all the backlash it's been getting (the original Cars doesn't either for that matter). There are definite flaws for sure, but it feels like there's an army fighting a crusade against anything and everything Cars related.

[Baloo]

Judging from that post and the majority opinion of this thread, I guess then that there's no valid reason for a movie critic or a movie patron to have a negative opinion of Cars2, huh?

No everyone has the right to their opinion but if you read some of the reviews from critics they do mention that cars storyline lacks the emotion that their other movies have brought to the screen.

I do not blame pixar for trying something different just like they did with incredibles. That movie also received criticism for being more of an action super hero movie without all the sensitivity of the other movies they have done.


It is also my opinion that several of those same critics and even some movie going people have a bias against pixar. All you have to do is see the trend of some of the critics on rotten tomato and see that they have generally gone against pixar features to get attention and yet have given oddball crappy movies that die the same day that they are released higher rating

It's also no surprise that critics are reacting this way after toy story 3 was praised for its emotional storyline

---------- Post added 06-28-2011 at 10:15 PM ----------

I'm hearing a lot of parents complaining about the gun and death violence in the film... a bit more 'die die die' vs simply 'the villian dies'. Complaints that the rating isn't appropriate for the youngins.. like 8 and under.

I think those parents are over reacting. The couple of scenes that show a car dying is either done off camera or just show car parts. Saturday cartoons are much more violent than that and many of those have human characters

[Coheteboy]

Another reason to not trust Rotten Tomatoes, Home on the Range is coasting it easy in the 55% percentile. It's as if critics were being super nice to Disney's very last traditional animated film. Quest for Camelot, 36%. Road to El Dorado, 40%. All films that are so much worse than Cars 2.

it's definitely clear that they're out to bash Pixar on this one. Sure it lacks the punch and pizzaz of other films but you can't keep comparing them. That should be a minor foot note, not a crusade to get people to hate a movie.

[Mr Wiggins]

it's definitely clear that they're out to bash Pixar on this one. Sure it lacks the punch and pizzaz of other films but you can't keep comparing them. That should be a minor foot note, not a crusade to get people to hate a movie.

I think the idea that Rotten Tomatoes is a) an organization of critics, b) an organization of critics with an agenda, c) an organization of critics whose agenda is bashing Cars2, and d) an organization of Cars2-bashing critics who are on a crusade to get people to hate Cars2, is more than a little far-fetched.

The reality is that's not how Rotten Tomatoes works, and it's not how the 150 individual critics who reviewed Cars2 work. This country's film critics don't call each other, consult with each other, sit around waiting for a Pixar movie that isn't perfect, conspire to bash Pixar, or crusade to get people to hate Cars2.

In fact, "They" (there's that conspiratorial anti-Pixar group label again) don't engage as a group in any of the premeditated behavior that so many pro-Pixar and pro-Cars2 fans in this thread have (without any evidence other than bad reviews for Cars2) implied, insinuated and outright accused them of.

They give their opinions. Period.

[kirbilicious]

Do some critics have it out for Pixar? Probably. But considering every previous Pixar movie (of course with Cars being the exception) has been virtually universally praised, I don't think you can claim there's a conspiracy against Pixar, especially it's last movie gets a 99% fresh rating, won the Academy Award for best Animated Feature and was only the 3rd animated film nominated for best Picture. With Cars 2, Pixar just screwed up.

Call me crazy, but reviews do matter for me. Cars was always my least favorite Pixar film but I still really enjoyed it. I was fully prepared to see it in theaters until I saw the reviews. Now I think I'll just wait for it on dvd.

I also think it's a little sad the movie didn't gross more. Considering inflation and 3D surcharges, just about the same if not less people saw Cars 2 in the first weekend compared to Cars, especially since the concept is a much easier sell than most recent Pixar efforts.