Anyone else think Cars 2 is violent?!?

[Finally08]

I agree, it was pretty violent, but gosh, How could you not be happy for Mater? He ended up with a Hot Girlfriend. Hotter than Sally (Lightining's Girlfriend).

Just Sayin.....

I guess the town fool landing a hot chick didn't warm my heart a whole lot.

But keep in mind I saw Cars 2 the same day the rumors first broke that Flynn was being removed from WDW. So Disney was pretty much on my crap list from the start.

 

[Dayzy]

We've taken my 3.5 year old to see it twice now. He loved it that much and I had some groupons to use. Yes there were some kabooms and guns, but at the same time I grew up watching Daffy Duck drinking gasoline, nitroglycerin, uranium and a match. Or Elmer Fudd blowing his face off with a shotgun. And I don't remember too much of the Disney movies from growing up, but I know there was plenty of death in those also.

 

[sissy_ib]

My seven year old son was fine with it.

Now Transformers.........lol!

Honestly, Disney films are a lot more violent than you might gloss them over to be. All of the classics are filled with murder, cruelty, death, and some very scary things. Just look at Snow White, Pinnochio, The Lion King, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Tangled, Pirates of the Carribean, or insert just about any Disney film. I bet you could find a line of dialogue from most any of them where someone alluded to or directly intimated a desire to kill another character.

There's a lot violence and conflict in Disney's stories, we just largely overlook it because it seems so sanitized. I just understand going in that the bad is there for a discernment to be made between good and evil.

Well some of those movies are adult movies to begin with (Pirates). And Star Wars and Indiana Jones are not Disney movies at all, Disney just has attraction tie ins at the parks. Even Snow White and Pinnochio would have been considered for an older crowd when they were released.

 

[disneyshakeygirl]

My seven year old son was fine with it.

Now Transformers.........lol!

Honestly, Disney films are a lot more violent than you might gloss them over to be. All of the classics are filled with murder, cruelty, death, and some very scary things. Just look at Snow White, Pinnochio, The Lion King, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Tangled, Pirates of the Carribean, or insert just about any Disney film. I bet you could find a line of dialogue from most any of them where someone alluded to or directly intimated a desire to kill another character.

There's a lot violence and conflict in Disney's stories, we just largely overlook it because it seems so sanitized. I just understand going in that the bad is there for a discernment to be made between good and evil.

I'd just like to point out that Indiana Jones and Star Wars are not Disney films, although they both have attractions at Disney. The Indiana Jones series was created by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, and were all distributed by Paramount Studios. The Star Wars series was created by George Lucas, and distributed by 20th Century Fox.

The Lion King is based upon Hamlet. Enough said.

Also, Pirates is going to have some sort of violence (sword fighting etc). That's what pirates did in their time. I'd much rather have the movies be somewhat historically accurate than not at all. If people don't like it, don't go see it.

Disney's not perfect, nobody ever said it was. Without a little action, it'd be a little boring, don't you think? Don't overlook all the good parts, just because The Beast gets stabbed, then dies. However, he transforms and turns into the prince. Flynn Ryder comes back to life. Snow White survives, after the Huntsman spares her.

 

[RalphinSC]

Well some of those movies are adult movies to begin with (Pirates). And Star Wars and Indiana Jones are not Disney movies at all, Disney just has attraction tie ins at the parks. Even Snow White and Pinnochio would have been considered for an older crowd when they were released.

Are you willing to rationalize that for nearly every Disney movie released and/or franchise that is tied in with Disney? Because if you name the movie, I could likely find the scene of violence or adult content that would make people shiver if it was in the headlines today. Don't miss the forest for the trees just for the sake of being right. Disney movies and most "childrens" movies are fairly violent affairs; but they are largely glossed over and rationalized away. I'm not saying this is a bad thing at all, but a lot of the "golden age" films that we say were aimed at adults were based on popular fairy tales and were produced at a time when Walt's own children were just little ones. Disney films are aimed at everyone, and not really to the exclusion of adult or child.

 

[chirogrrl]

We saw it this past weekend and my DS (age 7) loved it. I thought it was a lot of fun, but not nearly as good as the original

I definitely agree with previous posters who talk about the violence in other Disney films. Really, in most of them, at least one parent of a main character dies! I don't think it was any more violent, I just think it had a lot more action than other Disney movies. I liked it.

Since I am a big action movie fan, maybe I don't have the most un-biased opinion??

 

[RalphinSC]

I'd just like to point out that Indiana Jones and Star Wars are not Disney films, although they both have attractions at Disney. The Indiana Jones series was created by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, and were all distributed by Paramount Studios. The Star Wars series was created by George Lucas, and distributed by 20th Century Fox.

The Lion King is based upon Hamlet. Enough said.

Also, Pirates is going to have some sort of violence (sword fighting etc). That's what pirates did in their time. I'd much rather have the movies be somewhat historically accurate than not at all. If people don't like it, don't go see it.

Disney's not perfect, nobody ever said it was. Without a little action, it'd be a little boring, don't you think? Don't overlook all the good parts, just because The Beast gets stabbed, then dies. However, he transforms and turns into the prince. Flynn Ryder comes back to life. Snow White survives, after the Huntsman spares her.

Agree with you completely. And woe to me for not being clear enough of the Disney associations instead of actual intellectual property for some of the titles I mentioned. I was just using the examples above to point out to the OP that there really shouldn't be an expectation of a violence free movie. That's aprt of life, and Walt's movies were never ever intended to ignore or sanitize that aspect, but to use them to teach and inspire. Good overcomes evil. Wrong is righted. etal, just like you said. Good points, perhaps I should of been clearer since it was the second correction my original post prompted.

I'm not criticizing Disney violence at all, just stating that it isn't a rarity by any stretch and is very much a part of what you should expect when watchign a Disney movie. Villains does villanous things after all......

 

[Princesca]

Last I checked Rotten Tomatoes, Cars 2 wasn't doing very well in terms of ratings, so perhaps Disney will re-evaluate the franchise and the direction it's taken.

 

[disneyshakeygirl]

Agree with you completely. And woe to me for not being clear enough of the Disney associations instead of actual intellectual property for some of the titles I mentioned. I was just using the examples above to point out to the OP that there really shouldn't be an expectation of a violence free movie. That's aprt of life, and Walt's movies were never ever intended to ignore or sanitize that aspect, but to use them to teach and inspire. Good overcomes evil. Wrong is righted. etal, just like you said. Good points, perhaps I should of been clearer since it was the second correction my original post prompted.

I'm not criticizing Disney violence at all, just stating that it isn't a rarity by any stretch and is very much a part of what you should expect when watchign a Disney movie. Villains does villanous things after all......

Agreed We all word things differently

 

[disney_bob]

Violent? No. Terrible? Absolutely.

 

[martyshoney]

I definitely agree it was too violent for young children! My DS is 5 and when we got home he told his sister that she would be way too scared to see it b/c they kill cars and he didn't even know you could kill a car. That disturbed me when he said that. I don't think we will be buying this DVD when it comes out!

 

[Belleandtinker]

Yes, it was too violent. MY DS5 enjoyed the movie, but was worried several times about the American Agent. My DH and I couldn't believe the works "kill" and "die" several times in the movie. Yes, Bambi's mother dies - I get that, but really - torching/torture? Was it really needed.

I have friends that left the moview before it ended because of the voilence.

My thought - was the voilence necessary.

 

[jenrose66]

Okay...so to preface this...I am not one of those people to overanalyze...and LOVE EVERYTHING Disney...so this came to a shock to me as well. Took my 8-year-old boys to see Cars 2 last night. Didn't even think to read reviews as we loved the first Cars...and come on...not only is it Disney...it's animated.

I found myself a bit disturbed with the opening seen....something out of an adult action movie ending in gun fire and "Kill Him" more than once in the movie. Really?!? Let's also not forget I believe most of the Cars 1 fans are older toddlers....they just love Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen. So not only was the violence inappropriate for kids under 10 I believe, but so was the story which went way over their heads and at time was a bit too much for me to digest. I won't go on and on. I'm sure this will get heated up and many will disagree...not my intention and I'm fine with all opinions. I just found myself surprised, and a bit dissapointed for the first time with Disney

I found it violent too. I took my two sons to see it, and they did ok. Actually they really enjoyed it. My 2 and a half year old is asking to go see it again.

My first reaction to the violence was "hey that's kind of funny" what with the tires flying and the explosions....but I DO NOT like gun violence and there was a lot of that.

I guess if you look at lots of other cartoons, like Tom and Jerry and a lot of the Loony Toons those were pretty violent.

Lets just say this wouldn't have been my first choice for the plot of the movie, but my kids love Cars as much as I love Disney World so I guess they can do no wrong.

 

[Mama Who]

I haven't seen it myself but I have heard complaints about a "torture" scene and a car dying. I think I'd be cautious with letting younger kids see this one. Of course mine are 13 and 1, so one can see it and one doesn't care.

 

[::danielle::]

I don't remember thinking it was too violent but I was chasing a toddler around the theater. My DS loved it but DH and I thought it was terrible. Lots of action but no plot development. I kept expecting Tom Cruise or Will Smith to show up!

 

[Bunnyfeather]

The plot was thin, it was high action. I thought the first Cars had a lot more charm.

But violent? I went to see Bambi when I was 4 and I climbed under the seat and sobbed in fear when the fire consumed the entire forest home of all the animals. I also had a hard time following the plot, as the mother's death is done so subtley. Neither of my kids (3 and 5) were alarmed by Cars 2 at all, nor was I.

And confusing? My 3-year-old, who loves to re-cap EVERYTHING and functions as my running commentary on life, was walking out of the theater explaining most of the plot to me. The only thing he didn't understand was the big villain reveal, as he couldn't follow the details of automotive history or the concept of "profit" there at the end. But I was able to clear it up in 2 sentences for him. So I would guess an kid old enough to care to follow the plot would be able to follow the broad-brush plot and any kid too young to follow the plot at all would be satisfied with the constant action and slapstick.

Plenty of kids movies have nuances that the younger crowd misses, those layers are a value, IMO. I mean, when I watch one of the Tinkerbell movies with my DD, I yearn for nuance and there is none

 

[angierae]

I didn't like the car being killed, I didn't like the other cars screaming "I"M GOING TO KILL YOU!", I didn't like the machine guns. We took my 2.5 year old grand-niece and I really regret it.

I would have walked out if it had been my small child, but my niece didn't seem to mind her chid seeing it.

I thought it was ridiculously violent for a movie aimed at preschoolers. Machine guns? Really?!

 

[GinnyEmma]

Lol, violence in Disney films. I'll take cars2, roadrunner violence over nemo, and the lion king deaths. I skip those every time.

 

[BrightMorningStar]

You know, I can't recall what scene it was.. but it was somewhere near the start of the movie and it is indicated that a car dies from something. I do remember both DH and I looking at eachother kind of like "Well that was a bit much". Obviously I wasn't too upset as I can't recall the details but I do remember the distinct impression that one of the scenes was unnecessary.

It was about Doc. The movie DID NOT say that he died. They did indicate that he passed on. Paul Newman, who was the voice of Doc in the original Cars movie, passed away in 2008. Disney did not want to leave him out of the 2nd movie completely and wanted to pay tribute to his memory. Disney chose to remember him without saying that he died. They did not want to disrespect his talent for the first movie by replacing him with somebody else.

Source: I read it in my husband's car magazine

 

[BrightMorningStar]

I didn't like the car being killed, I didn't like the other cars screaming "I"M GOING TO KILL YOU!", I didn't like the machine guns. We took my 2.5 year old grand-niece and I really regret it.

I would have walked out if it had been my small child, but my niece didn't seem to mind her chid seeing it.

I thought it was ridiculously violent for a movie aimed at preschoolers. Machine guns? Really?!

This was my biggest issue with the movie.