Re: Various Items

On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 3:57 PM, Jo Anne <[email protected]> wrote:

> Odd.  I didn't get the original post from Mauro -- I get the digest and it
> didn't come through.  I did get one today, though, and am happy the list
> isn't completely dead.
>
> For me, Mauro's post got filtered in Gmail's spam box, along with Keith
Henson's.  I didn't know about either one until Damon's reply showed up.



> I can only comment on Cars 2 vs. the critics.  First off, I didn't know it
> was panned.  I enjoyed it, although it was a little heavy handed on the oil
> bad guys.  I loved Finn McMissile (an Aston-Martin, no less), but then
> Michael Cain is always good.  And what happened to Lightning's original GF?
> I was disappointed they didn't retire George Carlin's character as well as
> Paul Newman's.
>
>

I thought Cars 2 was enjoyable, but a step down from Pixar's usual
greatness.  Mater's character arc was to shallow for me to have much feel
for him beyond the comedy relief, and Lightning's "accept your friends as
they are" subplot really felt forced.  Not bad, but I didn't walk out with
anywhere near the same level of feelings I had for, say Wall-E, TS3, The
Incredibles, or even the original Cars.  I suspect the critics' negative
reaction is largely based on their high expectations for Pixar films being
disappointed - I don't think it was the spy/sci-fi elements.

About Lightning's original GF - I think she was still there.  Sally is
listed as played by Bonnie Hunt in both movies.  She just has a sadly small
role in the second one.  For George Carlin's character - maybe they felt if
they retired him as well as Doc, they'd have to acknowledge it in the story
and two deaths to be somber over would be too much downer?

-Bryon