2017 | Dir. Brian Fee | 109 Minutes
"Don't fear failure. Be afraid of not having the chance."
Lightning McQueen faces the prospect of retirement when a new high-tech generation dominates the race track. Refusing to give up, McQueen struggles to find a way to keep up with the competition, reluctantly working with aspiring-racer-turned-trainer Cruz Ramierez, and searches for inspiration retracing the roots of his mentor Doc Hudson. With his racing career on the line, McQueen makes a surprising decision at the moment of truth to help his new friend realize her dream.
The third installment of Pixar's Cars series tells a conventional but inspiring story about legacy. Despite increasingly discouraging circumstances, McQueen is determined to control his own destiny, ultimately realizing Ramierez is the perfect racer to carry own his and Doc's legacy. While a far cry from the lauded animation studio's best work, the film is charmingly earnest and weaves a more compelling and poignant narrative than Cars and, without a doubt, Cars 2.
If nothing else, Cars 3 is stunningly animated, each frame of the picture sporting a level of detail that leaves the efforts of most other Hollywood animation studios in the dust. The racing sequences are simply gorgeous. Highlights include McQueen's season-ending crash at the top of the film, Doc Hudson's miraculous flip over a rival featured in a flashback scene, and the same heart-stopping maneuver reused by Ramierez against the smug next generation racer Jackson Storm. The very best sequence of the movie features McQueen and Ramirez fighting to survive in the anything-goes chaos of a demolition derby they unwittingly enter.
Owen Wilson returns as Lightning McQueen without missing a beat, but comedian Cristela Alonzo's positive energy and excellent timing steals the show as Cruz Ramirez. Nathan Fillion piles on the smarm as Sterling, the new owner of Rust-eze. In the role of Jackson Storm, Armie Hammer does a great job as a big irredeemable jerk. Lea DeLaria is absolutely brilliant as the demolition derby's resident monster school bus Miss Fritter. The cast also features veteran character actors Chris Cooper, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and Margo Martindale as Doc Hudson's friends from a past life. Larry the Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, Guido Quaroni, Paul Dooley, Lloyd Sherr, Cheech Marin, and Jenifer Lewis all return as McQueen's extended Radiator Springs family. Through crafty sound editing of previously recorded and unused material, the late screen legend Paul Newman is featured as Doc Hudson in flashback sequences.
Cars 3 is as middle-of-the-road as it gets for Pixar. With a whole lot of heart and the technological brilliance that comes standard with the animation studios' entire body of work, it's not a bad film (certainly better than the Mater-centric nonsensical spy thriller second installment of the series) but it does not live up to the artistic benchmarks set by classics like Toy Story and Inside Out that audiences have come to expect from the de facto pioneers of the medium.
POST CREDITS STINGER
Mater continues to ramble on the video phone long after Lightning had disconnected
JOHN RATZENBERGER AS...
- Mack
A113
- Sterling's office is in Room A113 at the Rust-eze Racing Center
PIXAR INTERCONNECTIVITY
- Though less of a plot point than it was in the first Cars film, Dinoco, the gasoline company first featured in Toy Story, is prominently featured as the coveted sponsor of the Piston Cup
- One of the racers trained by Ramierez pines for his village of Santa Cecilia, the setting of Coco
- An anthropomorphized version of the Pizza Planet delivery truck is a participant in the Thunder Hollow demolition derby
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Nathan Fillion (Kyln Inmate in Guardians of the Galaxy, Master Karja in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Headpool in Deadpool & Wolverine)
- Owen Wilson (Mobius M. Mobius in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania)
