My Way Matinee - Cars 2 - Review

We made it out of the movie without any screaming or even close to giving competition to those who WERE screaming.

But, we only saw 30 minutes of the movie.

Lesson learned: Arrive 30 minutes late to next movie. Then maybe we can see more of the actual movie, since I guess 60 minutes is AKA's limit for sitting, which surprised me--I thought it was more like 60 seconds. 30 minutes of previews is too much for children, or anyone. Good grief. And horror of horrors, they played some sort of Toy Story short film. Why Oh Why Oh Why....Why Toy Story? Of all the movie franchises, she hates Toy Story. Won't even allow a Toy Story smock for a haircut. She is actually terrified by Toy Story characters. I had to pep talk her through that one, assuring Cars is coming, Cars is coming, Cars is coming...

Then Cars did come. And man what a let down. It is way too advanced for her. They went a different direction on this one. They went for a spy theme. Why? Maybe trying to fill the void of James Bond? It starts all dark and murky with ominous music.  And within the first 3 minutes cars were shooting at each other and things were exploding, and everything remains pretty dark. She liked some brief scenes with Mater and McQueen doing fun stuff outside, but then became quickly tired and overwhelmed by the rest that takes place in a huge megatropolis (Tokyo?) with lots of espionage taking place under the cover of darkness.

Then she began chanting "time to go home" so we bailed.

Over all, the theater did a B- job at delivering a sensory friendly movie. First rule they broke was starting the movie over 5 minutes late, with nothing at all playing on the screen. I could sense the tension building with a room full of kids who I know don't do well waiting for anything. Then, the lights, which were supposed to be halfway on, were going on and off. For awhile they'd be on, then off, then on, then off, etc. Then they were just OFF in regular movie darkness for good, or at least up until we left. But, it was nice not to stress about what kind of scene AKA might pull, because no way she could top all the vocal stimming, the meltdowns, and the parade of flappers marching up and down the aisles. We were in good company!