So it's nice to see him get some sugar from Barbie, even if Mr. Graham eats his heart out. The shift from make-believe tropics to actual winter brings to mind that old standard, "If ever I would leave you," from CAMELOT. It's almost enough to start changing Barbie's basic image from a gold-digger to a girl with a heart of gold. Not every outfit can cram 17 characters into a short less than six minutes long, but the Pixar folks seem up to most challenges. No doubt they went to extra lengths to balance the pretty big stretches of imagination CARS 2 requires of little kids not versed in James Bond and the whole spy movie genre with something a little more down to earth thrown in as an appetizer before the much longer feature. Perhaps the thinking was that by the time the ads, the previews, the PSAs, and HAWAIIAN VACATION rolled by, half the parents would be standing in line for potty breaks with the wee ones during much of CARS 2's running time. P.S.--Don't forget that MONSTERS UNIVERSITY is one of the 5 flicks recommended by IMDb for fans of CARS 2, so rent it tonight (since 1,156,674 people "like" IMDb on Facebook as of today, a stampede of at least 150,000 or so is rushing to rent MONSTERS UNIVERSITY right now!!) Oops!!! With 243,788 COMPLETED features in its data base to select from for "recommendations," IMDb is listing TWO movies a year away from the big house (BRAVE, & 1906) and another TWO YEARS AWAY from theaters (MONSTERS UNIVERSITY) as 60 per cent of what fans of a big main stream movie should rent tonight. Or maybe IMDb believes people think like WALL-E, and a passing recommendation now will be on the top of our minds in 2013 (or some news fragment from 2009 is fresh in our minds NOW). Well, IMDb, no matter how much the producers of MONSTERS UNIVERSITY bribed you to start beating the drums two years prematurely, it's money down the drain. Only RAINMAN has a chance of remembering this small plug in two years (if he's still alive!). So in the future, do not WASTE my sight lines with promos for movies barely in pre-production (unless you'd like to shill my upcoming remake of BIRTH OF A NATION, now in production for release Memorial Day weekend, 2525).
