Cars 3
This is the most inexplicable franchise Pixar has made. Part of that is because it’s basically rooted in the financial windfall of the merchandising rather than an emotional story that needed told. The third film in the “Cars” franchise gets back to some of the same ideas I actually connected with in the first 2006 film, but it doesn’t seem to come from a personal place like that one did.
The film begins with Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) on top of the racing world, much like he was in the first film. He’s still based out of Radiator Springs, and racing for his long-time owners, but the sport has changed. He’s a bit older, as well, and a new crop of rookies are coming on to the circuit. The main challenger to him is Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer), who is sleeker, faster, and as cocky as Lightning was when he started out. It’s a blow to Lightning in more ways than one, especially when he flames out on the race track. Now, he has a long road back to the track, and everything around him is changing. His approach to rehabilitating himself has to change. We’ll see if a new trainer (Cristela Alonzo), and help from an old friend of Doc Hudson’s (Chris Cooper), can get him back on track.
It takes a lot of significant leaps of faith to really go with this world of nothing but cars; when Lightning is in his primer after his accident, is he naked? And does that make the 95 he still has on his body a tattoo? Maybe it’s not really about leaps of faith as it is just not asking questions about the sanity of this world. I will say this much for “Cars 3”- it makes a Hell of a lot more sense than “Cars 2,” which included a spy story with Larry the Cable Guy’s Mater for no discernible reason that I could tell. This film gets back to racing, and breaking down Lightning, and seeing how he reacts to adversity, and manages to get out of his head. This was what I really liked about the original “Cars,” and why I will always feel like it’s an underrated effort by Pixar. This third film, directed by Brian Fee, and animated with as much care for detail as any other Pixar movie, hits some of those same buttons once Lightning goes off the grid to train for the race that will determine his future. Alonzo’s Cruz Ramirez and Cooper’s Smokey are the linchpins of that part of Lightning’s arc, and the way the three bring depth to this narrative is what I liked so much about the first one. Missing is the gravity Paul Newman (as Doc), and personality of the citizens of Radiator Springs, that really crystallized things that first time out. By the end, “Cars 3” won me over, but that doesn’t mean this franchise makes any more sense when it has an emotional anchor.
