Day after Huwbot gives us the Maersk ship, he gives us this. Hearing the call of the sea, Huwbot?

I have to admit, I don’t really remember Cars 2 at all. Like, AT ALL. Every time I think I recall something, it’s from the third one.

But while we’re talking about Pixar movies, how about some love for Up? I also liked the Good Dinosaur, but realize I’m in the minority there.

@CarolinaOnMyMind said:
"I have to admit, I don’t really remember Cars 2 at all. Like, AT ALL. Every time I think I recall something, it’s from the third one.

But while we’re talking about Pixar movies, how about some love for Up? I also liked the Good Dinosaur, but realize I’m in the minority there. "

Yeah, Up is such an amazing movie! I was so disappointed that ideas set never got approved.

Like yesterday’s set, boat does not actually float.

Neither does Finn.

(Ahem.)

Lore?

@Mr__Thrawn said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"Cars 2, the best movie EVER! Pixar should have just quit after making this gem, it's been downhill ever since."

Roger Ebert gave it three and a half out of four stars"
So?
What's your point? And who on Earth is Roger Ebert?

@LegoDavid said:
"Wow, I am so glad to see fellow fans of Cars 2! Personally it is hands down one of my favorite Pixar movies, I love the action in it so much. I must have seen it more than 10 times by this point.
But I thought I was alone on that, since everyone seems to hate it. If you check some of the reviews on YouTube, it is filled with people ranting how it destroyed Pixar's reputation and other stupid stuff like that.

I really hated Cars 3 for completely ignoring to existence of Cars 2 and it's characters which I had hoped to see return.

@iwybs As for the Lore, this particular set is based of the opening scene of the movie, in which Finn McMissle, basically the Cars version of James Bond, has to infiltrate into a Oil Rig run by a Professor Z and his henchmen, who have a secret plan to sabotage the upcoming World Grand Prix racing event with a weapon disguised as a camera, that can make the racers explode by creating an electro-magnetic pulse to the oil type they use.
I know it sounds kind of silly on paper, but trust me, the movie actually executes it very well, with a surprisingly serious tone that would fit right in a James Bond movie. But of course, we still got Mater in there to balance the seriousness with some of his charming fun and personality."

I’m assuming the boat is bigger in the actual film XD

Back when it came out, I loved Cars 2. Nowadays, sure, it might seem a bit too violent as a film for children (but then again, so do most of these). The sets were absolutely amazing! Still love thme so much.

I really liked the Cars sets, I have a load of them. Lego really made it work and the cars retain a lot of personality.

I remember this set from this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCg2poFGiMA

@Brickalili said:
" @LegoDavid said:
"Wow, I am so glad to see fellow fans of Cars 2! Personally it is hands down one of my favorite Pixar movies, I love the action in it so much. I must have seen it more than 10 times by this point.
But I thought I was alone on that, since everyone seems to hate it. If you check some of the reviews on YouTube, it is filled with people ranting how it destroyed Pixar's reputation and other stupid stuff like that.

I really hated Cars 3 for completely ignoring to existence of Cars 2 and it's characters which I had hoped to see return.

@iwybs As for the Lore, this particular set is based of the opening scene of the movie, in which Finn McMissle, basically the Cars version of James Bond, has to infiltrate into a Oil Rig run by a Professor Z and his henchmen, who have a secret plan to sabotage the upcoming World Grand Prix racing event with a weapon disguised as a camera, that can make the racers explode by creating an electro-magnetic pulse to the oil type they use.
I know it sounds kind of silly on paper, but trust me, the movie actually executes it very well, with a surprisingly serious tone that would fit right in a James Bond movie. But of course, we still got Mater in there to balance the seriousness with some of his charming fun and personality."

I’m assuming the boat is bigger in the actual film XD
"

Yes, in the actual film those boats are actually pretty huge (huge enough for a car to stay attached to its back without anyone noticing, as seen in the opening scene of the movie).
This set version is a pretty bad representation of their on-screen appearance.

Out of the 19 sets that year this would not be high on my cars list given the simple build and high price for 159 pieces. I understand large boat hulls are usually at a premium, but seems a step backwards when then the front of the box says that the boat does not float!

@LuvsLEGO_Cool_J said:
"My opinion is Cars 2 is the best of the three Cars movies. How about everyone else? "

3 is my favourite

@RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"Are there any other fans of Cars 2? I think it is one of Pixar’s weaker efforts, but it’s not bad overall."

I forgot what the movie was about

@RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"Are there any other fans of Cars 2? I think it is one of Pixar’s weaker efforts, but it’s not bad overall."

I happen to really enjoy Cars 2. I know a lot of people don’t like it, but I love James Bond and all the little nods to spy films just really make that movie fun for me.

We have a TON of these sets because my kids pretty much never stopped watching Cars and Cars 2. They are pretty fun sets.

I never purchased any, but I always liked the Cars LEGO sets. They were generally executed well for what they are.

Also, Cars > Cars 2 > Cars 3.

@TheRightP_art said:
"Hmmm how do you not know?"
Gosh. Yeah, how could I not know every person who ever lived on this planet?* How dare I?

As he apparently rated the movie I guess he is some movie critic?
Guess what, I don't care what movie critics say. Their opinion is not worth any more than my own. I like to think that I am able to judge for myself whether I like a movie or not. I don't need some self proclaimed know it all to tell me what movie I have to like.

By the way, my personal opinion is that Cars is my favorite, followed by Cars 2. Never really thought much of Cars 3. It was okay for me, but nothing that would have gotten me to want to re-watch it.

*side note: I know Roger Taylor, Roger Whittaker, Roger Newton, Roger Murtaugh, the Jolly Roger pub, and (if anybody has heard of "The Thin Blue Line") our friend Roger Ring - and how damn good he is ;-)

Honestly good choice for today given that Michael Caine says he intends to retire and finn is like.. the one representing Caine character lego has made

@Mr__Thrawn: thanks for the heads up. I really didn't know as I had never heard of him. Must admit I have never heard of Gene Siskel either, nor have I seen a show by the two of them. Don't think it was broadcast in Germany.
You have to remember, not everything that is well known in the US is well known elsewhere too.

@MCLegoboy:
Mater is what Jar-Jar tried to be. Young kids would be entranced by him, but with age there was a sharp, steep dropoff, with adults rarely even tolerating him. Mater featured humor that was more accessible to adults, and heartfelt moments that actually worked. However, whether or not you could take a Mater film depends on how well that all resonates with you. I suspect that’s where a lot of the division comes from regarding Cars 2 as one of Pixar’s better or worst films. If you liked it, you might like the Cars Toons. If you didn’t, it’s probably best to steer clear of them, or at least space them out over several days.

@CarolinaOnMyMind:
Cars 2 has Lightning entering an international Grand Prix that takes place in multiple cities around the world, to promote a new synthetic fuel. Mater tags along and gets caught up in a bit of international subterfuge after being mistaken for the top American spy.

Up is widely regarded as one of Pixar’s better films, but The Good Dinosaur is generally ranked at or near the bottom, except when people forget to include it at all. If it’s one of your favorite Pixar films, I’m guessing Westerns from the John Ford era are one of your favorite genres.

@MeisterDad:
Finn is a submarine in this set, so...

@LegoDavid:
Not only did Cars 3 exclude even any mention of Cars 2 characters (you’d think there’d at least be some tie-in regarding Holley Shiftwell), but the original Cars characters, aside from Lightning, might as well have been painted on a wall for how much they factored into the plot. They got more screen time by far in Cars 2. It’s a bit on the nose, considering the awkward message of the third film.

@AustinPowers:
Of Siskel & Ebert, only the most famous pair of movie critics to ever live. For several years before Siskel’s death, they even had a TV series where all they did was review movies, with a Top 10 and Worst 10 list from each annually. This also made them the only movie critics at the time (that I knew of, at least) who could present movie clips with their reviews. In a pre-internet age, that was notable.

@Brickalili:
It is, but it might still be scaled down from its real-life counterpart. However, these sets had to be practical, so really large vehicles, like this ship or the airplane from 8638, were rather runty in their presentation.

@AustinPowers:
I know Elizabeth Taylor, Forrest Whitaker, Sid Isaac Newton, Riggs & Murtaugh, the Jolly Roger flag, and (if anyone has heard of the band with the most 1 singles of all time) Ringo Starr. Never heard of any of those Rogers.

@Samsonite_Bricks:
Don’t give up hope. There’s still a chance for him to get a minifig. If they keep making Dark Knight Trilogy sets, we might get see his Alfred Pennyworth, and Morgan Freeman’s Lucius Fox.

@PurpleDave said:
"If it’s one of your favorite Pixar films, I’m guessing Westerns from the John Ford era are one of your favorite genres."

Truffaut/Godard/Chabrol etc argued that, along with Hitchcock and Ray, Ford was one of the only classic Hollywood directors who could be classified as an auteur. The Searchers consistently ranks in Sight and Sound and AFI polls, and three John Ford films have been restored and released by the Criterion Collection. Not sure what you’re trying to insinuate here.

I never liked the Cars movies until my Nephews came along and I saw how much they loved them. Well, until Cars 3... when their hero McQueen gave up at the end so the female car could race (and win of course) - barf!

@PurpleDave: so you have heard of Riggs and Murtaugh, but not of Roger Murtaugh?
And you have never heard of the drummer of one of the most famous bands of all time (Queen)?
Riiiight....

@Mr__Thrawn:
My dad loves old westerns, and John Wayne is his favorite actor. He thinks it’s still a popular genre, even though I struggled to think of ten films that have been released in the last 30 years (and I don’t think he’d like over half of the ones I can come up with). As Toy Story suggests, the westerns of my generation were called sci-fi, and the cowboys were astronauts.

TGD was Pixar’s first box office bomb. Little kids who hadn’t yet grown out of their dinosaur phase probably loved the characters, but the story may have lost them with its slow pacing. Adults of my dad’s generation might have actually enjoyed the story, but many probably dismissed it as a typical kid’s film.

So what am I trying to insinuate? That if TGD is a favorite Pixar film, @CarolinaOnMyMind’s home video collection probably includes several classical westerns.

@thefirst:
Ebert died in 2013, but this set is based on Cars 2, which was released in 2011. Ebert had part of his lower jaw removed in 2006, due to cancer, so he stopped appearing on the show, which used guest hosts until he was permanently replaced in 2008, but he continued to write reviews right up until his death. While he did select a group of critics to continue writing reviews in his name, he wrote this one himself. Possibly as a result of having already started to reflect on his impending death no later than 2010, he gave Cars 2 the most positive review it received.

And for those outside the US who still question how famous he really was, he’s the first film critic to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and one of a very small number to receive an In Memoriam appearance during the Academy Awards broadcast following his death.

@AustinPowers:
I said I’d heard of Ringo Starr, didn’t I? Look, Queen had a couple songs that I liked, but I wouldn’t consider myself a fan. I know the names of all four Beatles, because they’re The Beatles, but that’s probably the only band I can say that about. Garbage is my favorite band, and I still only know 7/8ths of the band members’ names (I can never remember Duke’s last name without looking it up).

It’s the music I care about, not the musicians. If I really like the music, I’ll usually try to buy everything the band or musician has released. In the case of Queen, I think I have Bohemian Rhapsody in my list of YouTube bookmarks. Either way, I don’t generally try to memorize their names.

Regarding Riggs & Murtaugh, if that’s who Roger Murtaugh is, keep in mind that I haven’t watched a Lethal Weapon movie in probably at least two decades, and the two main characters always addressed each other by surname only. So surnames is how I remember them.

@Mr__Thrawn
@PurpleDave
I like westerns, in concept, but not many of the ones considered “classic western.” Never been a big fan of John Wayne. However, I do love me some Eastwood. Give me any western with him in it, spaghetti or otherwise, and I’m happy. The Outlaw Josey Wales or GB&U probably being my favorite. Big fan of Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid too.

For more recent stuff, I loved 3:10 to Yuma (the remake with Russel Crowe & Christian Bale). Really liked Tombstone. Django was just OK. “Godless” was one of my favorite miniseries and perhaps the best recent Western, in my opinion.

Don’t know why I liked the Good Dinosaur, but I did. If nothing else, I remember I appreciated the digital art & animation, which is always good with Pixar, but stood out to me in this film, especially the environments.

@PurpleDave : fair enough.
Just like you didn't know the Rogers I mentioned, even though most of them are well to very well known (over here), I didn't know this Roger Ebert, whom you knew so well. Different people, different experiences ;-)

@CarolinaOnMyMinds
Eastwood, huh? So I was probably close, generationally speaking. Anyways, I did read up on TGD, and one thing worth noting is how they created the landscapes. They combined satellite imagery and topographical maps to recreate real terrain from the SW US. They just never really cracked the story, which is why they replaced the director, all but one cast member, and basically started over.

But back to my dad’s belief that the western is still one of the most popular genres, I think I own all of seven western films, and one western series.

@AustinPowers:
Could have mentioned Roger Moore. He’s not in my top three, but he did play Bond for a bit.