Another tired retread: Cars 2 - Trailer 2

This is one of those that you almost hate to bash: its antecedent was a huge but loveable cornball of romance, rural-urban shift and of course, racing action (and who could resist Tony Shaloub as tire dealer Guido?).

Naturally, John Lasseter and his gang at Pixar, who have very rarely mis-stepped, figured that an update had to go beyond the folksy rubric of the first film. So they've gone to the opposite extreme, concocting a barely credible hodgepodge encompassing everything from alternative fuel sources to the bonds of friendship to the culture clash between Americans (and rural-based Americans especially) and the rest of the world (Europeans especially).

So a race for world bragging rights, with hero Lightning McQueen (voiced tepidly by Owen Wilson) and "Italian stallion" Francesco Bernoulli devovles into a worldwide spy game with the rusty tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy, giving it his usual 110%) inadvertently co-opted into an operation led by  Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer (respectively cast as "Finn McMissile" and "Holly Shiftwell" - are you kidding me?).

The technical crew has stepped their game up: the animation, both in terms of the characters and the scenery, is among the very best Pixar has done, and that's saying something. But that excellence is really in service of  a  blatantly by-the-numbers story delivered and executed in a largely self-satisfied manner by the director and most of the cast.

Two car chases book-end this movie: the opener is a James Bond rip-off (homage?) that has some amount of zip to it; the latter is an overdone "Bullitt" rip-off (homage?) that makes one even more anxious for the summary and closing. Nothing else about this narrative is in anyway remarkable, in the way that Wall-E or even the Incredibles were.

Sorry guys, you could almost call me a fanboy, but this one needs a red flag.

It's Been 25 Years Already?

http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2011/03/29/tracing-pixars-history-from-toy-story-to-ratatouille/

Yes, that desk lamp's been shining for 25 years now. The wall Street Journal traces the history and highlights of the animation titan.

Pixar gets "Brave"

In many ways, Pixar’s 13th feature-length movie Brave (out June 22, 2012) ventures into new territory for the animation studio: The Scotland-set adventure film will be Pixar’s first fairy tale, its first picture starring a female protagonist, and its first film co-directed by a woman. EW.com has the first look at some of the concept art for the project, and we can also confirm that Reese Witherspoon will no longer voice the movie’s heroine, a tomboyish princess named Merida, due to scheduling issues. Instead, the character will be played by the (appropriately) Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men, Boardwalk Empire).

Image Credit: Disney-Pixar

Brave is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Merida is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

Its Dark Out There! : Mars Needs Moms - Official Trailer [HD]

And the moral of the story is....Disney NEEDS Pixar. Not to knock veteran Robert Zemeckis and his Image Movers Digital Group, but this mostly lifeless and near colour-less bit of family reaffirmation (we suspect Mars needs Dads too ,but clearly that doesn't have the same ring to it).

The film begins auspiciously enough, with young Milo (initially voiced by Seth Green, but later re-done) in rebellion against his Mom (the excellent Joan Cusack) while Dad's away on the umpteenth extended business trip. Little do the know that they're both being watched - and not by Child Services. On the neighbouring Red Planet, earth mothers are being recruited to raise Martian children, especially girls, while the boys are chucked down to the waste zone (Mars apparently has the same waste management problems we do).

Pretty soon, Mom is zapped up in the tractor beam, and Milo, suddenly convinced of her absolute necessity in his life ("she feeds me1" she washes my clothes!") follows as a stowaway on board the Martian rocket. he lands on the planet and in short order meets Gribble, a grown man who, as a boy,  suffered the same fate that Milo has, nad has worked his way into the Martian underground, amusing himself with video games and revelling in arrested development.  The only other compelling character is of course, the villain, in this case a shrew of supervisor, a kind of female Ghaddafi - but without the smarmy charm of the Libyan colonel.

You can pretty much fill in the rest of the blanks. The bleakness of the monochrome must have become apparent to the producers as they introduce, late in the proceedings, a kind of paintbox splash of vibrance. Not that we're advocating brightness for its own sake, but a movie that's ostensibly about family needn't be as dark as squid ink just to portray alienation.

Mars Needs Moms has already proven outstanding in one respect: with its meagre returns on a massive outlay (near US$200m, we understand) it is gunning for biggest flop in recent history - and certainly the least successful Disney movie of the last ten years.

Maybe that'll teach 'em.