Cars 2 Review

As of 2011, Cars 2 is Pixar's lowest rated film to date, receiving a “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a average score of 57 on metacritic, however is it as bad as what people say?

To begin with Cars 2 is the sequel to Cars; a film of which didn't really strike the cords and connections with many people as previous films of Pixar have done. Cars 2, being the sequel has lots of convincing to do; especially if it follows Toy Story 3, a film which is often considered among the best films of 2010.

Cars 2, like Cars, does share the same problem, and that problem is the intended audience. Generally the subject of Cars is more male oriented, and by having a movie about talking Cars and racing, animated as well would easily be enough to narrow the audience down. It isn't a fault of the characters or the story as those aspects were strong to begin with. What is funny is that if these very same characters took form of a human or an animal, the overall reception would differ dramatically.

Now like other Pixar movies, of which feature great story, great animation, and great voice acting to list a few. Cars 2 follows that trend and is no different. These characters featured are loveable, funny and easy to root for. The story is entertaining, paying homages to many spy flicks of the past generations. The animation speaks for itself. And the humour found is plenty, enough to please those of all ages.

But for all the good, there are some negatives for this film. The most notable being that I felt the final third act was rush and poorly put together. But other than that, there was little to fault and complain about.

I saw Cars 2 in 3D and I found it very enjoyable and while it isn't the best Pixar has to offer, it is at least worth a watch.

My Rating

3.5/5

Harry Potter 7-2 Review

I am somewhat glad Harry Potter film series is finally over (unless JK Rowling writes another instalment). But is the final out the best of the series (as one reviewer mentions in the film's TV promo)...?

Few things to note; I have not read the books by Rowling and I haven't seen every single HP movie. (I saw the first three and the final three including this film) This means this review is solely based off the film I saw.

To begin with the good, the film was entertaining with a good balance of positive material and darker material. The film had also great special effects. Finally, the film was (almost) acted beautifully. The stand out moment of the movie overall was (SPOILER) Severus Snape's death. The pure emotions given from actor Alan Rickman was easily the highlight of the film, and the only scene which I remember the strongest. 

Now onto the negatives. The biggest problem this film had came from the narrative. A small percentage of the film was given to characters of which I was unfamiliar with, placed into a moment of danger and expected me care. Another problem I had was that, that small percentage of the film given to the other characters scenes distracted me from what was happening to the three main characters, mood and thematic wise. If HP 7-2's narrative was limited only to the strict few (i.e Potter, Weasely, Granger and the villains), the film would be shorter but stronger.  

Another problem I had with HP 7-2 was in the epilogue, the three leading actors did not make convincing 40 year olds. While they may of looked the part with make up and all, the voice made it clearly obvious that these actors were not 40 at all. 

Overall a good film but hardly perfect due to its flaws.

My Rating

3.5/5

My next review will be Pixar's Cars 2