Review of Cars 3 (2017) by Clark H — 22 Feb 2018

I saw the Cars 3 Blu-ray at Target and considered buying it. It was 20 bucks and because it was a movie I had not seen, it would have been a 20 dollar gamble. So I opted out and walked away but I did want to see it.

Earlier this week I saw it was an offering on Netflix and had 2 simultaneous thoughts. 1. I was glad I didn't buy it and 2. I was excited to see it. I enjoyed the first two Cars and, to be honest, I enjoyed every Pixar film I have seen to date. They are consistently good at telling stories. So I came in with high hopes. I made it through the first half and decided to pause it and go about some other tasks. I did this not because it was horrible but rather because it wasn't holding my interest. SPOILER ALERT...It seemed like a rehash of one of the themes of the first Cars film. Lightning McQueen is a race car. He wants to win. Winning is the goal. Glory has value and meaning for his life. Competing and winning what makes him happy and complete. This is where he was at the beginning of the first film. But this time around his happiness is threatened when a group of newer, faster, more technologically advanced cars enter the scene. He just cannot compete.

It kinda lost me there. At least it detached my interest so I walked away for the night and went about my day.

I felt like I would probably enjoy this story. Im sure Lightning McQueen is going to train and then figure out a way to beat the faster younger cars and in the end he will regain his lost glory. But if it went that route it would just take him back to the beginning of Cars one. It would be a film in the Karate Kid or Rocky genre and that has a certain entertainment value to it. Or maybe he will retire and learn that you do not need to win races to be happy and complete. Maybe he will go through some other related struggle that will show him how much more valuable friends or relationships are. If it took that route it would be better but perhaps a bit anti climactic?

So it took a couple of days before I returned to Cars 3 to watch the last hour. McQueen goes to his sponsors who have sold their rights to a wealthy fan named Sterling who decides to train him using the most modern technology. McQueen is given a young trainer and everyone treats him like he is old and delicate. I think it was at this point that this film began to resonate with me. I am in my late 40s now and I work with a much younger crowd that will occasionally drop in subtle unintentional remarks about my age. Little innocent things like if I say something funny, the will call what I said a "dad joke". Or someone will bring up their parents age and reveal that the parents are younger than I am. I do not FEEL old. I am in good shape. I work out. I have a lot of energy but once in a while life will remind me that I am not who I used to be. And this is what McQueen goes through. He doesn't feel old but is consistently being reminded that a younger, more aerodynamic, faster crowd has made him obsolete as a racecar. He tries to train like the younger cars but fails. He just wasn't made to be fast enough to beat them. He becomes increasingly frustrated... as does his sponsor and his young trainer and it reaches a head. He agrees to retire and be the object of merchandising if he loses the next race. But if he wins he has the final say on his own retirement.

He seeks out the advice of older racecars. Cars that were personal friends with and have driven alongside his mentor, Doc Hudson. He has been profoundly influenced by Hudson and wishes he could seek out his advice but Hudson has since passed away. At the same time he is growing a strange relationship with his trainer Cruz Ramirez. Ramirez dreamt of being a racecar her whole life but settled on becoming a trainer when she felt intimidated by the other racers during her first race. As she tries to keep up with McQueen to track his speed she inadvertently is being trained by him just as McQueen is inadvertently becoming a mentor and trainer to her. When they meet Hudson's friends and ask for their help, McQueen discovers that Hudson actually NEEDED McQueen. McQueen fulfilled a part of Hudson that McQueen is now discovering in himself. He hasn't come to that full realization until the final act of the film though so his training continues using the wisdom and techniques of this older generation racer. But despite making significant gains he still cannot beat Ramirez.

So he enters the final race with a sense of worry and doubt. But as he gets comfortable he begins to find himself moving ahead of all the other racers. As Ramirez is being pushed off the track by Sterling, McQueen's head begins to echo with all the things she told him about wanting so badly to be a racer and he realizes that he needs to be her Doc Hudson. He has been training her all along and she is more than ready and McQueen decides to let Ramirez finish this race. It is more important to give her what she deserves than to regain his lost glory.

This is a very adult move. It's telling of a growth that I love. It isn't just an altruistic act or an act of love for his friend but its an expression of understanding of Doc Hudson's heart and motivation. He connects and grows with Hudson in a more deep and profound way. After she wins the race McQueen even has himself repainted in Hudsons former color and anoints Ramirez with Hudson's race number. This is all powerful to me especially because both Doc Hudson and the late Paul Newman were echoing sentiments from the grave. And as an aside I loved hearing the Car Talk guys voice McQueen's former sponsors. Those guys are such fun and I miss the late Tom Magliozzi whose voice was also added by means of former recordings.

The movie starts out a bit slow and didn't really hold my interest but I think the payoff was worth waiting for. I enjoyed this movie very much although I do not think it was as good as the previous Cars films and certainly didn't reach the heights of Up or the Incredibles but it was a fun time! I recommend it.