To make a long story short, did we really need another Cars sequel? Who was yearning for one? After its dismal predecessor with Mater in the spotlight, the franchise has become forgettable in the Pixar pantheon. However, business never sleeps as its merchandise keeps selling to the families who have little children and that is what its product are aiming for. And, it did enough to garner another movie. Now, I did not have much expectations going into this movie because the second movie was nearly awful. Even though I was dazzled by the crisp animation, the screenwriters try too hard to incorporate another movie series into another series and it becomes more familiar and it keeps going on in circles in addition to a twist that is coming miles away.
An arrogant racer by the name of Jackson Storm (voiced by Armie Hammer) is the standout among the new generation cars with the latest technology to boost their performance. As more and more next generation cars are coming into the fray, the older racers are either retiring or are fired from their sponsors. For Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), he wants to keep racing to get people entertained and to keep busy because he loves it. During the final race of the season, Lightning tries to pass Storm, but loses control and suffers a terrible crash.
Lightning is recovering in Radiator Springs as he watches footage of his old mentor, Doc Hudson (voiced by the late Paul Newman as Pixar used some leftover recordings), crashing in his last race. He is looking to regain his competitive edge. He meets with the owners of Rust-eze and learns that they sold the company to Sterling (voiced by Nathan Fillion). He assigns Lightning to trainer, Cruz Ramirez (voiced by Cristela Alonzo), with whom he gets impatient with her training methods. Sterling gives him one more chance because he is convinced that Lightning does not have the drive to win another race. Lighting tells Sterling if he does not the win the first race of the season, he will immediately retire.
If Cars is Doc Hollywood (both of them are good movies), Cars 2 is a combination between James Bond and a hint of The Godfather, then what is Cars 3? I can tell you immediately that this is animated rip-off of Rocky III, Rocky V and a bit of Creed. The main problem is you can pinpoint exactly where each scene will transition to the next scene or to the subplot. There is a subplot involving the trainer that is supposed to be more about female empowerment than about having a chance to race with other cars. The attempt is fine but the problem was that is again it is utterly predictable and also, it is basically a marketing ploy to attract younger female viewers. Plus, I do not think she is that memorable a character in the Pixar universe like Merida from Brave.
The animation is as crisp and as luscious than the first two Cars movies because the racing sequences are fantastic and it looks like they went through a lot more effort in those scenes than in the story. Even when the story comes to an end, the screenwriters try too hard to add in another surprising element with another character and it did not work because it was badly executed. There is also a poignant tribute to Doc Hudson that was nice as he is training with Doc's friends but it was too little, too late for me. This is probably one of the few Pixar movies that I have not liked in addition to Cars 2 and I have seen Brave recently, the first half is one of the best Pixar movies but the second half is one of the worst Pixar movies and the movie gets a bit worse. If they had put more effort in crafting and structuring the story and the characters' motivations, the movie could prove to be as memorable as the second movie and even the first movie. This movie is basically is like an apology to its fans for making a bad sequel by producing an OK third movie. It is, without doubt, the most predictable Pixar movie ever made.
**1/2
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