Film Review - Cars 3 (2017)

Cars 3 is the newest Pixar film and the third in the Cars series and sees Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) start to come up against a new generation of high tech racers one of which is Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer) because of this there is a lot of talk of him retiring or being retired but Lightning is not yet ready to bow out of the race just yet.

Cars 3 is an okay film but also a very middling Pixar film and while again it has professional animation and good voice work the story here feels very maudlin and sombre most of the time and in many ways is reminiscent of Rocky 3 where Rocky lost the eye of the tiger and had to get it back and while that is a strong undercurrent here it feels very under developed wanting to make way for new characters like Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo) who is not well written though her payoff becomes rewarding.

But there was another thing for me that came to mind while I was watching the film and that is how Lightning McQueens arc for the most part in a strange way mirrors the trajectory of Pixar as a Studio they were great champions that set new standards in their fields, they pushed themselves with each new entry but have now started to lose their way and though sparks of that former greatness still exist that's all they seem to be sparks that fizzle out quickly.

Now I really hope that Coco due later this year can do what Inside Out did in 2015 and still prove to audiences that the light still burns brightly in that famous Pixar lamp but with this, Finding Dory and the Good Dinosaur all of which came after Inside Out not really doing much for me personally as well as some others I have doubts as to whether it can deliver but Pixar always has a level of hope.

Lastly the short Lou plays before the film and I always like to see the newest Pixar short as it allows them to experiment a little like Night and Day from 2010 and last year's Piper but here it feels again maudlin and sombre and as a result I wasn't as into this as it felt very average.

And so that was Cars 3 a not very good Pixar entry that only continues to show the studio has hit the skids though hopefully Coco can win the day, 2 out of 5.