A couple of days ago, Pixar released the third official trailer for Cars 2 – which seems weird because I feel like I’m already seeing commercials and exclusive clips of it everywhere.

For your benefit, I’ve included it here:

The reaction among most of the online movie blogs was typical. People were licking their chops writing up their best disses.

“If Pixar is the standard by which we inevitably, unfairly measure all other cartoons,” wrote FilmDrunk “Cars is the franchise that proves they’re still human.”

“Eh, it’s Pixar,” opined Pajiba “You’ll see it eventually. What choice do you have?”

Look, I’m not blind. I know that Pixar capped this trailer with a bidet joke. If this were a Dreamworks movie, I’d be worried.

But Pixar just came off their best year ever with the largest-earning, best reviewed Academy Award-winning Toy Story 3. You really think they’re going to take a dump in the punchbowl now?

I get it. People don’t like Cars and they don’t understand why Pixar would line up for a sequel – especially when there are more deserving properties to explore like The Incredibles or Monsters, Inc. I’m with you. BELIEVE ME, I’m with you.

But frankly, this kind of snark is nothing new. People have been predicting Pixar’s downfall ever since they hit their stride. I know I’ve said this before, but I remember people bad-mouthing Finding Nemo when it’s trailers first hit the internet. Where are those critics now. Yeah. Shut up.

I freely admit to being a Pixar fanboy and drinking the Kool-Aid. But that’s only because all of these other critics are so damn intent on asserting themselves as being above-it-all. And should Cars 2 tank critically or financially?… They’ll be the first to say “I told you so!”

It’s really unfortunate because no one ever calls these guys out when they’re proven wrong. “Remember when you said that Wall-E looked like garbage on wheels?” There’s no accountability.

I’m guilty of the same cynicism. I won’t pretend like I’m not. I see a movie like Beastly or Red Riding Hood and my eyes roll so hard they nearly fall out of my head.

But there’s a difference between bargain-basement movie making and a studio with an artistic pedigree. To quote Star Wars (for no reason at all), “I find their lack of faith… disturbing.”