Review of Cars 3 (2017) by Kyle M — 30 Jul 2017

In their second threequel and third attempt to complete an original story of theirs, Pixar continues the "Cars" story that goes back to the first film after the sort-of action-packed predecessor that just been confirmed, with an arguably agreement of understanding, as a Mater's Tall Tale. "Cars 3" goes back to the original roots as a more direct sequel fashioned as a circle-back threequel to remind the progress of the story since the first, which is the usual narrative for a third film. What's also usual in the position of a third film is the ranking to be either tied or above the first film based on the connection between the two.

In the third and presumably final lap, as Lightning McQueen and his fellow racers continuing racing in glory, a new generation of racers started beating them to the finish line as faster improvements. As the times in racing he knows comes to an end, Lightning then met a similar end of two certain greats at the moment he got pushed out of the sport he loves, but he choose to not give up into retirement and went into training to get himself back into the game. Accompanying him with helpful motivation is an eager young race technician Cruz Ramirez, with her own dreams to soon re-pursue.

The storyline for "Cars 3" as a true successor to the first "Cars", when going back to the sports genre that Pixar tackled for the first time eleven years ago, is similar to the "Rocky" films being all cars with Pixar's heartening charms and emotionally expressive methods. The presented insight of newer generation pushing off the previous was done with genuine poignancy, as well on the other end when trying to get in on the track without determined confidence, despite the individual capability.

As the poignant vibe goes in this film, it has in a couple occasions to be accompanied by warmth from nostalgic reminiscent based on the connection between this and the first film on how much has grown over the years (eleven in our theatrical time). The spirit from the emphasis of the score towards the emotions and uplifts furthers that said warmth with the returned composer Randy Newman as the original soundtrack is one of the couple highlights of the first film. It's taken storyboard artist Brian Fee to make his directorial debut to return that direction from his experience of the previous films, which could be considered a relying asset since plot-wise it teaches Lightning something that opens his eyes as a boost for the story's intention.

Furthermore, another highlight of the original in spirit is the character Doc Hudson, voiced by late-Paul Newman, who surprisingly posthumously returned in this film. As the characters are the car versions of the voice actors, Newman's Doc is the true inspirational motivator for Lightning McQueen thanks to the actor's charisma, and the pleasant joy of that relationship returns as Lightning looks back at Doc's glory days as a racer. The usage of unused, archived recordings of Newman during the production of the first film were used to great effect, giving his passed spirit a chance to live on further throughout the film. With that being discussed, this film is properly in both honor and memory of Paul Newman.

Aside from the original qualities, including the voice casting and the energy they bring with drama and comic, the film is slightly at the same level to the first film, while obviously better than the second, non-canon film. What makes it that way is two things: 1.) creativity credibility on the conflicted purposefulness; and 2.) the end result of the post-climax. As it was mentioned in the critical consensus for the first theatrical spin-off for "Cars", "Planes", it was a ploy for expanding the franchise's diecast toy line. What "Cars 3" has to do with that is the designs and attractive paint jobs for the characters that turned out to be favorable, but soon to be conflicted on whether it was solely for the story like how the first film focused before the toy line's huge success. Then for the other flaw during the aftermath of the climax is going for the too-easy/rushed route on how things started to unfold in wake on what just occurred in given sentiments.

"Cars 3" ranks as another of Pixar's originality into completion with an improved entertainment value over the feature-length Mater's Tall Tale as a predecessor, while also obviously not as great as Pixar's certain previous threequel (which is hard to beat). It takes the original's 4-star glory further with realistic topics and effective production values behind the animation, even though its own downfall by a bit made its standing conflicted. Nonetheless, it's worthwhile and a supposable fine end. (B+).