Cars 3

If you don’t care much for any of the Cars films up until this point, it might be best you avoid this one.

Feeling more like a made for TV film that somehow got its big shot at the theater, Cars 3 sees our series protagonist Lighting McQueen (Owen Wilson) still doing what he does best: putting pedal to the metal and burning hot rubber on the racetrack. As usual, McQueen is at the top of his game, competing in every race he can in order to prove to himself – and everyone that surrounds him – that he’s still got it after all his years in the sport. Enter Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer), a young blood racer that uses high tech training equipment and pure science to get the most out of his racing, who, naturally, has an ego that rivals McQueen’s, the only difference being that he can back up his talk, effortlessly leaving Lightning in the dust at every turn. But when Lightning pushes himself too hard to try and catch Storm in the final race of the season, he suffers a terrible crash that leaves him in recovery mode for months afterwards. Now, with the help of a new sponsor and a trainer named Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo), it’s time for Lightning to decide whether racing is still in his blood, whether it’s physically and mentally possible to compete with these new and improved cars on the racetrack, and most importantly, whether or not it’s finally time for Lightning to retire from racing forever.

For a franchise that I personally think is the weak link in the Pixar film chain, Cars 3 tries its hardest to be better than what has come before, but doesn’t do much other than solidify the fact that this franchise is running on low gas. Granted, this three-quel is more in line thematically with the personal dilemmas Lightning faced in the original, but it’s far off from the inherent fun of the second film’s spy-caper angle, so in the end, this is a perfectly okay film that seems to be let down more so by the general idea of this franchise than anything else. Luckily, this being a Pixar film, there’s still a lot to love.

At its core, this film – much like Toy Story 3 – is about moving on and realizing that certain things don’t last forever. When the script focuses on the very real idea of Lightning finally being too old and slow to compete at the level that these new cars baseline at, the film soars. Pixar always has a knack for the emotional side of things, so when we see the pain and anguish bubbling up inside of Lightning as he starts to realize that his racing days may be over, we can relate and feel for this guy (car?) as he gives it his last shot with everything he has. Mix in a new character in the form of Cruz Ramirez that has her own unfulfilled desire to race but has been regulated to training the elite newbies, and you have a nice little conflict to hang the majority of the film on.

Unfortunately, this through line isn’t enough to keep the film moving at a pace that satisfies. One of the biggest travesties is that fan-favorite character Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) is barely in the film, thus leaving a huge hole where any real comedy should be. Granted, Mater’s jokes and quips are usually of the low hanging joke variety, but his optimism and fun filled nature is sorely missed, especially when the rest of the film isn’t exactly leaving the audience in stitches.

As always, the animation and overall visual quality of this film is a sight to behold, even if, again, the idea of this franchise as a whole doesn’t lend itself to having the most detailed scenes or crazy, extravagant set pieces to show off with. Either way, you’re still seeing a Pixar film, so there’s plenty of sight gags and cool shots to keep you entertained for a portion of the film, even if this one was never destined to be anything more than another cash grab sequel to sell more toys.

At the end of the day, even a mediocre Pixar movie is still leaps and bounds better than any other animated film coming out nowadays, but now with this franchise producing three for three just okay films, I think it’s time for Lightning McQueen and friends to hit the road for good. See it if you like the franchise, skip it if you could care less, but in either instance, find a way to see the short film proceeding the feature cuz that shit was great!