Mingle Media TV was excited to be on the Cars 2 red carpet premiere to talk to the celebs last Saturday night and to be honest, we were even more excited to be invited to the early screening of this film at the El Capitan Theatre last night. Here’s our review of “Cars 2” without spoilers…
We’ve been a big fan of Disney forever (this reporter will not admit the year but it is more than 20 years) and found Cars 2 to be even better than Cars. From the moment the movie opened with a very serious mood to the next scene where the mood is comedic to the detail in the animation, music, and realistic scenery surrounding each segment, we found “Cars 2” to be delightfully engaging. The detail in the characters and their personality, the landscapes and the overall story were captivating. Just imagine Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) traveling around the world and driving on the wrong side of the road in England or driving in Tokyo where the street signs are in Kanji lettering not English. There were lots of kids in the theatre with us last night and we could hear them watching with their eyes and being surprisingly quieter than the adults in the theatre who like us, were laughing out loud and enjoying the ride. In true Disney fashion, this is another movie that transcends age, gender and even geo-location and can be enjoyed by all on planet earth!
Sidebar: Although we enjoyed Cars when it came out, we have to say that Cars 2 is one sequel that will surpass it in so many ways. (Our prediction: it will be a smash hit and be Oscar nominated – and win!)
My son and I started going to movies together when he was really young and we started a tradition to talk about our favorite parts as we left the theatre. As he grew older, this changed up from favorite parts to did you see this or that nuance, that might have been missed and is related to the writer, director, studio, like Marvel movies having Stan Lee make a cameo. Well, here are some fun facts about the film that you can share with your family and friends before or after you see “Cars 2” that we found interesting about the movie:
- Lightning McQueen is voiced by Owen Wilson but is named in memory after Glenn McQueen a Pixar animator who worked on the original “Cars” movie
- Lightning McQueen’s “Lightyear” tires are a reference to another Disney Pixar character: Buzz Lightyear
- The #95 on Lightning McQueen’s car is in reference to the year “Toy Story” came out 1995 (wow)
- Mater is voiced by Larry the Cable Guy and the number A113 is a reference to the CalArts classroom where director John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton attended
- Finn McMissile is voiced by none other than Michael Caine and his small tailfins are inspired by the late 50’s British sports car called the Peerless GT
- Finn McMissile would have been in the first “Cars” movie but was cut out – only to be revived by Lasseter due to his love of spy movies
- Holly Shiftwell is voiced by Emily Mortimer and is equiped with all kinds of state-of-the-art gadgetry
- Believe it or not, Jeff Gorvette is voiced by and named after NASCAR racer Jeff Gordon
- The “Cars 2” character team built 145 new character models for the film with 781 variants making a total of 926 new characters
- The “Cars 2” film is an International adventure covering Tokyo, Paris, The Riveria, and London – pay attention to the integration of the landscapes, buildings and characters
- The PIT lane configuration is based on the Formula 1 track in the Kingdom of Bahrain
- If you are a car buff, you’ll also notice that the cars in all of the different locations around the globe match up to the country you find them in
Haven’t seen any trailers yet? Watch this clip to get a feel for the “spy genre” that was incorporated into this film:
We don’t want to spoil the story but can guarantee you won’t be disappointed one little bit…so we’re going to ask you to go out this Friday, June 24th, to a theatre near you and see Cars 2, in Disney Digital 3D or IMAX 3D. Don’t forget to be a FAN and LIKE the Cars 2 Facebook page: www.facebook.com/PixarCars.
If you want to see what the celebrities at the premiere had to say about their favorite Cars character watch this video clip:
Don’t forget to come back and tell us how you liked it… Vrrroooom Vrrooooom.
Mingle Media TV Network 