Review of Cars 3 (2017) by Matt G — 22 Jun 2017

With Fate of the Furious, Pirates 5, Wonder Woman and Logan, 2017 may go down in cinematic history as "the year of the franchise fix", and Cars 3 would certainly fit in that group. In what is easily Pixar's worst franchise, they have finally turned the curved corner from the mediocre original and the downright unbearable second. A film of simple plotting, stunning animated visuals, and tons of big childish fun, Cars 3 works as distraction until Pixar's next true masterpiece comes along.

In 3, Lightning McQueen is far from the cocky car we first met. No longer the freshest wheels on the track, he spends the film doing everything he can to keep up with the rookies, with their new technologies and upgraded engines. The predictability comes off as a little empty sometimes, but there are some interesting u-turns taken. The training montages are great, the voice acting is improved, there's way less Mater and the final race is easily the best of the series. Specifically, the thematic parallels to Pixar are unique; pioneers in the ubiquitous CG-animation field who refuse to give up their mantel at the top of the heap no matter how long-in-the-tooth they get.

Unfortunately, when the movie slows down to (over-)explore these things, we start noticing how little we actually care about these decade-old characters. For every decent joke, there are three lame ones. The villain is a two-dimensional missed-opportunity. Logically, there is a lot to overlook in order to fully enjoy Cars 3 as a thinking adult. Luckily, I was able to do just that, with Pixar providing just enough style, fun and introspection to cross the finish line.