Cars 2: 2COOL4U?

Car races, car chases, spies, guns, bombs, killer ray gun, conspiracy, mayhem, death --Cars 2 owned the perfect formula for your testosterone-riddled young lad.
(I'm speaking as a mother of 2 boys.  If you have a cool, kickass daughter whose world doesn't just revolve around unicorns and rainbows, she'll like this, too.)

Cars 2.  The 'buddy movie' poster.

So I was a little irked when a review said Cars 2 was nothing more than just another buddy movie in crisp cartoon form.  Sure, there were the goodies expected of a children's movie.  Like friendship, forgiveness, trust, love.  But let's not ignore the fact that all these were in a tight bundle of action and adventure of unimaginable proportion!  Well, imaginable... to a child anyway.

Cars 2.  The ominous 'Oh my God!  This looks unkiddie!!!' movie poster.

In complete contrast, another review said that Cars 2 was just too violent for kids.  Cars exploded left and right, there was a lot of shooting, there was gang bullying, there was a torture scene, there was an intention to kill.
Really?  We're talking about automobiles, right?  And not real ones at that.  Lighten up.

As a mom, I'm giving Cars 2 5 stars.  For good, responsible, moral messaging in an exciting execution.  A good balance, in my book.  It's a fine sequel.  I didn't even expect myself to say that because the movie trailer kinda sucked for me.  But as they say, never judge a movie by its trailer.

Another surprising thing is that I actually liked Mater here.  That tow truck has seriously annoyed me in the past.  In Cars 2, he stole the limelight.  The story was all about him.  The comic relief back-up to Lighting McQueen, the funny guy who's only there for kicks and giggles, took the lead to play up yet another important message in the movie --self-confidence.

See?  If you look beyond the mushy, corny part and beyond the so-called violent part, you'll see Cars 2 as a complete, awesome package.  Miro and Kenji loved it!  Not just for the firepower, but for how it empowered.  Ka-chow!