Cars 2: Review and Giveaway

As I mentioned last week, my girls and I had a pretty excellent time at the Disney 3D Bluray Cars 2 screening at the Medina Grand penthouse on 8 December.

The food was a-MAZ-ing, and so was the venue. The kids enjoyed everything, from the activities to the eating to the running amuck to the eating to the view to the eating... I enjoyed less eating, but more atmospherics, and I learned a lot about Bluray and 3D. (I hadn't realised that 3D movies have to be presented on Bluray simply because DVDs aren't big enough to hold them, for instance, nor that 8% of Australian households already have a 3D TV, and that it's growing by 300% a month.)

For all the excitement, one thing we didn't actually do, any of us, on the day was watch the entire movie, start to finish. I watched barely any of it, to be totally honest, engaged as I was in keeping tabs on the three kids (who, naturally, scattered to the furthest corners of the penthouse from each other as if magnetically repelled) and chatting to people. C watched snippets, but was more interested in colouring in and general mayhem. E watched two large chunks before being inescapably diverted by ice-cream and dumplings. A, the 8 year old, probably watched the most, tucked up in a luxury bed, but even she lost the last 40 minutes when toddler shenanigans took over her viewing room.

So when we all sat down to watch Cars 2 (*not* in 3D!) on our home projector / screen last night, it was something of a novelty for all of us.

A, G and I had seen Cars when it came out, and A had liked, but not loved, it. She watched it maybe two or three times but then never asked for it again. My reaction was similar; it was enjoyable enough, I liked it, but it didn't completely captivate me as an adult viewer.

Based on our reactions to Cars 2 last night, I think it's safe to say that in our view at least, Cars 2 is several steps up from the first movie. Other than a slightly slowish start (quite ironic in a movie about racing cars!), the pacing, story and visuals of this film were impeccable. I loved that it was a story about friendship but also about valuing difference, and not judging people's worth on their surface behaviour. Square pegs everywhere should rejoice in Mater's triumph in this film.

My three girls all really, really liked it, too. The 6 year old was probably the most besotted, particularly enjoying the Italian sequence (that was also my favourite part. 6 year old wants us to go to Italy for hols next year now ... ahhhh, no, my love). The 2 year old wandered in and out - at just shy of 2 hours, it's not quite toddler-length - but she was very taken with the final half-hour - in fact we all were, even G.

So this isn't just a collection of my thoughts about a kids' movie (thank goodness, do I hear you say)? There's a prize on offer too!

Disney has provided me with ONE ultimate Cars 2 prize pack to offer to readers of this blog (valued at $177.95)

The Cars 2 pack includes:
- Cars 2 Blu-ray and DVD
- Invisible Pen with UV Light set
- Cars 2 watch
- Credit Card Sized USB Flash Drive
- Mini Car toolkit
- Spy Ear Phone

If you would like to be in the running to win the pack, just leave a comment by 5pm AEDT on Friday 25th November with your favourite Disney film of the last decade and why. I'll draw a winner with random.org and announce it on Sunday 27th November. The winner then has 3 days to provide me with mailing details or I will draw another winning. Only Australian addressees are eligible for this one - sorry!

Disclosure: I received complimentary tickets to the Disney 3d Bluray event in Melbourne and a Cars 2 gift pack, which included the Cars 2 DVD / Bluray, courtesy of Porter Novelli and Disney. No financial payment was offered nor accepted for this post, nor was a review of the movie required. All opinions expressed are purely my own.

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. 19 down, 11 to go!