Cars 2 Review & Giveaway!!

June 23, 2011 By
Do YOU have a Disney-Pixar Cars fan in your house? We do! “Car-cars”, as he’s called it since his early talk­ing days, was Big Brother’s first fea­ture length movie (on DVD at just shy of 2 years old!). Prior to hav­ing kids (and then, a boy no less), Mr. Mom Endeav­ors and I didn’t really care for the movie much. But, when see­ing the excite­ment on our lit­tle guy’s face while watch­ing it for the first time, we had a new-found appre­ci­a­tion. He loved it and we loved watch­ing it with him! Since then, we’ve watched it at least 2.5 mil­lion times and all still enjoy it! 
So, the excite­ment has been build­ing the last few months as all the Cars 2 stuff has been rolling out into stores. Ear­lier this month, we even braved a hot Phoenix after­noon to have the chance to meet some of our favorite char­ac­ters dur­ing the “Agents on a Mis­sion” Tour! 
Need­less to say then, we were beyond thrilled to be invited to an advance screen­ing of the film. We turned it in to an extra spe­cial surprise–a spe­cial out­ing with Mommy and Daddy just for Big Brother. Then, a new shirt and two new “Car-cars” really topped it off! Pure joy!
 

With those in hand, we headed into the­ater, donned our 3D glasses, and waited with antic­i­pa­tion for our favorite char­ac­ters to race on to the screen!

About the movie:

Star race­car Light­ning McQueen (voice of Owen Wil­son) and the incom­pa­ra­ble tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friend­ship to excit­ing new places in “Cars 2” when they head over­seas to com­pete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to deter­mine the world’s fastest car.  But the road to the cham­pi­onship is filled with plenty of pot­holes, detours and hilar­i­ous sur­prises when Mater gets caught up in an intrigu­ing adven­ture of his own: inter­na­tional espi­onage.  Mater finds him­self torn between assist­ing Light­ning McQueen in the high-profile race and tow­ing the line in a top-secret mis­sion orches­trated by mas­ter British super spy Finn McMis­sile (voice of Michael Caine) and the stun­ning rookie field spy Hol­ley Shiftwell (voice of Emily Mor­timer).  Mater’s action-packed jour­ney leads him on an explo­sive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world.  The fast-paced fun includes a col­or­ful new all-car cast, com­plete with men­ac­ing vil­lains and inter­na­tional rac­ing com­peti­tors. 

Our thoughts:
Say good­bye to Radi­a­tor Springs and hello to James Bond, Cars-style! For bet­ter or worse, Cars 2 seems almost the antithe­sis of the orig­i­nal. The inno­cent charm and seren­ity of the sleepy lit­tle town is replaced with action, adven­ture, spy gad­gets, weapons, shoot­ings, and explo­sions! If you haven’t seen it yet, this trailer gives a good cap­ture of the over­all feel:

What could have been improved:

 - Less vio­lence and James Bond-style adult innuendo
 - More rac­ing scenes 
 - More with the orig­i­nal char­ac­ters in Radi­a­tor Springs
 - A lit­tle more Light­ning and a lit­tle less Mater
What we liked:
 - In true Disney-Pixar fash­ion, the ani­ma­tion was FANTASTIC!!
 - Great scenery and awe­some depic­tions of cities around the world  
 - Some fun new char­ac­ters (We got a chuckle at ‘Brent Mus­tang­burger’ and I loved the Royal Fam­ily, like ‘Prince Wheeliam’)
 - Good mes­sage about friend­ship and being who you are (though, it might be lost amid all the explosions)
Over­all:
The movie is action-packed with a good spy plot-line, inter­est­ing enough to even keep adults intrigued. While I did miss the quiet charm of the first movie, I did love the inter­na­tional travel! See­ing some of my favorite Euro­pean sites ani­mated so well was def­i­nitely fun! And, Big Brother of course, loved it! He did a great job dur­ing the movie, fol­lowed the plot line bet­ter than I expected, and can’t stop talk­ing about Finn! That said though, I per­son­ally think the vio­lence is too much for his age group. Not hav­ing any kids older than 4, I’m not cer­tain, but I’d say Cars 2 is prob­a­bly best-suited for an above 7 or 8 crowd. 
No doubt though, as Cars 2 races into the­aters this Fri­day, June 24th, car fanat­ics will be thrilled to see Light­ning & Mater on the big screen! 
GIVEAWAY (now closed)!  
Win­ner: 
 
Con­grats to lucky com­ment #18! Gretchen hope you’re lit­tle guy LOVES this awe­some Cars prize pack! 
Do YOU have a lit­tle Cars fan that would love some new gear? To cel­e­brate the release of Cars 2, Dis­ney is giv­ing one lucky Mom Endeav­ors reader a prize pack per­fect for your favorite lit­tle racer!! 
1. Sim­ply leave a com­ment telling me if you plan on see­ing the movie (or, if you’ve seen it already, share what you thought of it)!
Get extra entries (leave a sep­a­rate com­ment for each):
2. Sub­scribe to Mom Endeav­ors on Google Friend Con­nect (see wid­get on the left side bar)
3. Fol­low Mom Endeav­ors on face­book and/or twit­ter (and share about the give­away if you’re so inclined)
4. Like Cars on face­book
if you’re already fol­low­ing, thank you, just make sure you leave a com­ment & let me know!!

(up to 4 entries per per­son)
Lim­ited to US & Cana­dian res­i­dents only. Give­away will end on June 28th at 10pm PST. Win­ner with a valid entry will be selected at ran­dom using random.org. I will email the win­ner and post the win­ner on the blog. They will have 48 hours to claim their prize (make sure you leave your email address or that it is attached to your pro­file).


Dis­clo­sure: I saw this movie at a free press screen­ing at the invi­ta­tion of Dis­ney.  Thank you, Dis­ney! No com­pen­sa­tion was received.  All opin­ions and expe­ri­ences are my own and your opin­ion of the movie may dif­fer from mine.

26 Comments

Comments

  1. 1
    Christina says:
    June 23, 2011 at 5:12 am

    I fol­low you

    Reply
  2. 2
    Christina says:
    June 23, 2011 at 5:13 am

    We plan to see cars dur­ing the 4th of July week! Whoo HOO!

    Reply
  3. 3
    Mary says:
    June 23, 2011 at 6:23 am

    We definitly plan on see­ing it hope­fully this sat­ur­day first show­ing. Can’t wait. I am just as excited as my 8 year old son.
    Mary
    ladefly@aol dot com

    Reply
  4. 4
    barbafamily says:
    June 23, 2011 at 8:40 am

    I sub­scribe to Mom Endeav­ors :-)

    Reply
  5. 5
    barbafamily says:
    June 23, 2011 at 8:41 am

    I fol­low you on face­book :-)

    Reply
  6. 6
    barbafamily says:
    June 23, 2011 at 8:41 am

    I like Cars on face­book :-)

    Reply
  7. 7
    barbafamily says:
    June 23, 2011 at 8:42 am

    We are plan­ning to see Cars 2 on Mon­day — we can’t wait! Both my hus­band and I are just as excited as our two boys! Thanks for hav­ing this give­away :-)

    Reply
  8. 8
    Katrina says:
    June 23, 2011 at 10:12 am

    we can’t wait to see it in the­aters with my fam­ily!
    yka­t­rina at hot­mail dot com

    Reply
  9. 9
    Our Happy Family says:
    June 23, 2011 at 10:58 am

    We have huge cars hans in our house. We plan to go first thing open­ing morn­ing. Thanks for the giveaway!

    kris­ti­la­roo at yahoo dot com

    Reply
  10. 10
    Counting by 4 says:
    June 23, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    We have one boy and 3 girls! I’m hop­ing to take him to see it over the July 4th week­end! Give him some boy time in all the girl stuff he has to deal with!

    Reply
  11. 11
    Jessica says:
    June 23, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    Loved the first movie! Plan to see Cars 2 as well. My nephew would love the give­away pack, as he is a HUGE Cars fan :)

    Reply
  12. 12
    Jessica says:
    June 23, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    I fol­low on Face­book. Thanks!

    Reply
  13. 13
    Stephanie says:
    June 24, 2011 at 10:18 am

    I just pur­chased us 5 tick­ets to see Cars 2 in 3D for tomar­row (sat) can’t wait to see it!!
    srgrant05(at)ymail(dot)com

    Reply
  14. 14
    Stephanie says:
    June 24, 2011 at 10:19 am

    I fol­low via GFC (the­grants)
    srgrant05(at)ymail(dot)com

    Reply
  15. 15
    Stephanie says:
    June 24, 2011 at 10:20 am

    I “like” your blog on Face­book (Stephanie Petty-Grant)
    srgrant05(at)ymail(dot)com

    Reply
  16. 16
    Stephanie says:
    June 24, 2011 at 10:20 am

    I “like” Cars on Face­book (Stephanie Petty-Grant)
    srgrant05(at)ymail(dot)com

    Reply
  17. 17
    GretchenP says:
    June 26, 2011 at 9:49 pm

    i liked cars on facebook

    gretch31 (at) hotmail.com

    Reply
  18. 18
    GretchenP says:
    June 26, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    my son and hus­band saw the movie already but sounds like my son would be happy to see it again so i can go! thanks for the give­away! :)

    Reply
  19. 19
    GretchenP says:
    June 26, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    i fol­low you on face­book :)

    Reply
  20. 20
    GretchenP says:
    June 26, 2011 at 9:52 pm

    i’m a fol­lower of your blog! :)

    Reply
  21. 21
    A.M. says:
    June 27, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    we totally plan to see it. next week hope­fully. can’t wait! ann marie

    Reply
  22. 22
    A.M. says:
    June 27, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    i fol­low you on face­book, thanks! ann marie

    Reply
  23. 23
    A.M. says:
    June 27, 2011 at 8:50 pm

    i do the google con­nect thing. thanks, ann marie

    Reply
  24. 24
    kc says:
    June 27, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    How Fun! We saw it this week­end and I agree with the gun issue… Quinn is a bit young for it, but he really did enjoy it!

    Reply
  25. 25
    kc says:
    June 27, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    I fol­low you on twit­ter :-)

    Reply
  26. 26
    kc says:
    June 27, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    I like Cars on facebook!

    Reply

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