Has Pixar fallen short finally?

A movie about fast running cars has already performed well on the box office in the form of Fast Five that has grossed about $600 million in worldwide revenues. But this weekend saw fast cars, in a different form altogether, light up the silver screen. These cars are brighter, more cheery, have no human intervention, and most importantly, talk! You got it spot on. I am talking about the much awaited Pixar release, Cars 2. Not surprisingly, Cars 2 opened at the top of the US box office this weekend earning $66 million in its first 3 days. While it is nowhere near the $110 opening weekend that Pixar's last movie, Toy Story 3, had seen (Toy Story franchise is a different class altogether!), it still pretty much matches up with the openings of other Pixar hits like Up, Wall-E and Cars. So Cars 2 seems very much destined to reach the $200 million mark at the US box office and keep the Pixar success story going. Or will it? While the revenues are strong, Cars 2 has had sub-par reviews, which is quite unlike a Pixar movie. And frankly, I got to admit that it does not deserve the kind of applause that the previous movies won. For a long time I wondered if Pixar could go ever wrong, and somewhere I feel that they did this time. Don't get me wrong. The animation is great, the story is well thought of, the characters are brilliant. But where Cars 2 seems to fall short is with that emotional bonding seen in the past, that can move the audience to tears. Be it with Wall-E calling out EVE's name in Wall-E, or Remy finally getting the chance to live his dream in Ratatouille, or even Doc Hudson grudgingly providing racing tips to McQueen in the original Cars, these were moments that so easily made you forget that you were in a cinema hall. They stirred your heart, made you feel for the characters, and made you root for them! In Cars 2, you hardly go that mile. This movie starts off as an adventure and remains that way... a lovely and fun-filled adventure, but not something that remains with you when you leave the theatre. It has its moments, trying to show the camaraderie between the so-different Lighting McQueen and Mater, but such moments are very few and far away. With Pixar you expect so much more. Apart from the Toy Story franchise, Pixar had never worked on sequels despite so many successful movies because they believed in creating something new each time around... and that is what I hope they will stick to. So are we to lose faith in Pixar? Of course not. Cars 2 is going to be another hit for them, the creative team still remains strong, and maybe they will bring back the magic formula of stirring your heart, from the next movie on! The release of Cars 2 also meant bad news for our green hero, Green Lantern that managed only $18 million in its second weekend, a sharp decline indeed! Makes you feel a bit sorry for Ryan Reynolds though I would pin the blame on the screenwriters who could not put together a strong enough story despite so much material around them. No sequels here, I am sure...