Peter T. Chattaway
2011-06-23 15:52:36 UTC
I've been looking at Rotten Tomatoes the last few days to see how critics
are feeling about Cars 2 (which I have not yet seen).
And, um, wow.
A couple days ago, it was "rotten" with 59% among "All Critics", but it
still had a "fresh" rating of 74% from "Top Critics". Last I checked,
though, it was down to 44% among "All Critics" (based on 39 reviews) and
55% among "Top Critics" (based on 11 reviews).
So this is the first "rotten" film in Pixar's history.
Meanwhile, Fast Five -- the fifth installment of the Fast & Furious
franchise, and also a sequel that switches genre to some degree (Fast Five
is a heist movie, unlike the first four movies, while Cars 2 is a
spy-movie spoof, unlike the original Cars) -- has a "fresh" rating of 78%
from "All Critics" and an even better 82% from "Top Critics".
But the first four movies in the Fast & Furious franchise were all
considered "Rotten".
So... this year, for the first time ever, a Fast & Furious movie got love
from the critics... and, for the first time ever, a Pixar movie didn't.
(Even the original Cars, which I found kind of boring and even a little
offensively preachy in places, managed a "fresh" 74% from "All Critics"
and an almost equally "fresh" 73% from "Top Critics".)
So... what gives? Do critics genuinely believe that Fast Five is a better
movie than Cars 2? Or, are they judging each movie by the standards set
by their predecessors? Were the first four Fast & Furious films so bad
that Fast Five could not help but look good? Were the first eleven Pixar
films so good that Cars 2 could not help but look bad? Etc.
Oh, and for those who think critics don't matter and it's only audiences
that count, Fast Five has also made a heck of a lot more money worldwide
than the original Cars did. I wonder how it'll compare to the sequel.
Another interesting factoid: The two Cars movies are the *only* movies
that Pixar co-founder John Lasseter has directed since the 1990s. He
directed the first two Toy Storys as well as A Bug's Life, but after the
turn of the millennium, he let other people direct Pixar films (Pete
Docter directed Monsters Inc. and Up; Andrew Stanton directed Finding Nemo
and WALL-E; Brad Bird directed The Incredibles and Ratatouille; Lee
Unkrich directed Toy Story 3). When he returned to directing himself,
Lasseter's movies -- the two Cars movies -- were widely regarded as the
worst films that Pixar has ever made. With the original Cars, people
still tended to say, "But at least Pixar's worst is better than everyone
else's best." It doesn't sound like they're saying that for Cars 2,
though.
are feeling about Cars 2 (which I have not yet seen).
And, um, wow.
A couple days ago, it was "rotten" with 59% among "All Critics", but it
still had a "fresh" rating of 74% from "Top Critics". Last I checked,
though, it was down to 44% among "All Critics" (based on 39 reviews) and
55% among "Top Critics" (based on 11 reviews).
So this is the first "rotten" film in Pixar's history.
Meanwhile, Fast Five -- the fifth installment of the Fast & Furious
franchise, and also a sequel that switches genre to some degree (Fast Five
is a heist movie, unlike the first four movies, while Cars 2 is a
spy-movie spoof, unlike the original Cars) -- has a "fresh" rating of 78%
from "All Critics" and an even better 82% from "Top Critics".
But the first four movies in the Fast & Furious franchise were all
considered "Rotten".
So... this year, for the first time ever, a Fast & Furious movie got love
from the critics... and, for the first time ever, a Pixar movie didn't.
(Even the original Cars, which I found kind of boring and even a little
offensively preachy in places, managed a "fresh" 74% from "All Critics"
and an almost equally "fresh" 73% from "Top Critics".)
So... what gives? Do critics genuinely believe that Fast Five is a better
movie than Cars 2? Or, are they judging each movie by the standards set
by their predecessors? Were the first four Fast & Furious films so bad
that Fast Five could not help but look good? Were the first eleven Pixar
films so good that Cars 2 could not help but look bad? Etc.
Oh, and for those who think critics don't matter and it's only audiences
that count, Fast Five has also made a heck of a lot more money worldwide
than the original Cars did. I wonder how it'll compare to the sequel.
Another interesting factoid: The two Cars movies are the *only* movies
that Pixar co-founder John Lasseter has directed since the 1990s. He
directed the first two Toy Storys as well as A Bug's Life, but after the
turn of the millennium, he let other people direct Pixar films (Pete
Docter directed Monsters Inc. and Up; Andrew Stanton directed Finding Nemo
and WALL-E; Brad Bird directed The Incredibles and Ratatouille; Lee
Unkrich directed Toy Story 3). When he returned to directing himself,
Lasseter's movies -- the two Cars movies -- were widely regarded as the
worst films that Pixar has ever made. With the original Cars, people
still tended to say, "But at least Pixar's worst is better than everyone
else's best." It doesn't sound like they're saying that for Cars 2,
though.
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