Is Pixar's 'Cars 3' Any Good? Here's What The Reviews Say
The "Cars" series has always been held up by critics as the ultimate proof of Pixar's fallibility. After the first movie struggled to reach Pixar's then-stratospheric bar of quality, "Cars 2" alienated scores by having Larry the Cable Guy anchor an international spy movie… where all the characters are still talking cars. Can a more grown-up return to the racetrack lift up the series' reputation? Here's what the reviews say:
'Cars 3' Smartly Brings The Focus Back To Racing
The film opens on Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) back on the racing circuit, only to find his top-tier status challenged by newcomer Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer), who's got a sleeker chassis, a lower center of gravity, and all the attributes that leave Lightning and his generation of cars in the dustbin of history. One by one, Lightning's peers go into retirement as more and more of these new kids elbow them out of the way.
[The Wrap]
Anyway, Lightning McQueen accepts an offer to train at a highfalutin facility with the hope he can someday beat Jackson Storm. This is where he meets Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo), an intense trainer who has been told all her life that she's not a "racer." (Psst, she wants to be a racer.)
[UPROXX]
Director Brian Fee Does A Respectable Job Making You Care About Sentient Cars
Taking the wheel from John Lasseter, who directed the first two films, Brian Fee, who served as a storyboard artist on both, opts for a leisurely, unhurried approach to the pacing, which, while agreeably allowing emphasis on character over action, occasionally gets stuck in neutral.
Some of this is electric; some of this, as in the other Cars (and Disney's Planes knockoffs), is flat and baffling. The series still hasn't solved the problem of how to make compelling (or even non-ridiculous) scenes out of quiet conversations between big-eyed but inexpressive vehicles.
Whether Or Not You're A Car Person, 'Cars 3' Is Eye Candy
"Cars 3" often delights the eye — as cartoony as the car characters often are, first-time director (and veteran Pixar artist) Brian Fee places them in a recognizable world, where every chain-link fence, grain of sand and moonlit forest feels almost photo-realistic. (After the sleek spy shenanigans of "Cars 2," it's nice to have these characters back on dirt roads.)
[The Wrap]
Like its predecessors, the film is visually quite splendid and, especially for an animated feature, stirringly well lit, most notably in a racing sequence set along a photo-realistic beach during golden hour and another on a vividly moonlit night.
Above all else, "Cars 3" is a satisfying racing movie, one that opens with jarring images of vehicles veering across a narrow track, interspersed with abrupt cuts to black. There's an energizing quality to these sequences made all the more involving by the determined looks on the vehicles themselves. Earlier "Cars" lore hasn't explored what happens when chaos breaks out on the track; "Cars 3" answers that question by showing that it's just bad news all around.
Sorry Larry, But Lightning McQueen Is The Star Here
Lightning McQueen, voiced by Owen Wilson with his inimitable scratchy jocularity, is now past his prime — a celebrated stock-car racer who has been doing what he does for so long that he barely realizes the rest of the world has raced him by. The movie poignantly captures the paradox of the high-tech era: that you become ancient simply by staying the same.
[Variety]
Wilson, whose gentle vocal patterns make it sound like he's always on the verge of launch into an indie rock ballad, endows his character with a soulful quality that elevates the material above its occasional sillier indulgences.
Cristela Alonzo's Coupe Is A Welcome Cast Addition
Everything about her, from the pep she carries to her inability to quit, is charming, but it's the selflessness she possesses that makes her the best part of the film. While McQueen is dealing with his existential crisis', Cruz is trying to make the best out of life. She wants to push him to his full potential and wants to pursue her own dreams. Cruz fantasizes about the future she wants, but what separates her from McQueen and makes her so much more interesting to watch is the self-doubt she's flooded with.
[Polygon]
It turns out to be a girl-power movie: Cruz Ramirez is a trainer because she never believed in herself as a racer, and it's up to Lightning to set her straight. Yet even as I was moved by the story, with its gender paradigm shift, that didn't stop me from wishing that Cruz was a more idiosyncratic character; she should have been wilder and funnier, defined by something other than her self-doubt.
[Variety]
It's Surprisingly Grown-Up And Thoughtful At Points
From the pain of nostalgia at the root of "Toy Story" to the slapstick ingenuity of Tati that carries "Wall-E," the studio's finest entries show a profound reverence for sophisticated narrative traditions; the earlier "Cars" movies always slipped below that. But the latest entry cuts from a reliable cloth, mines for emotional depth and finds it — while unearthing a progressive vision in the process.
There's a hint of sadness that seems to be present throughout Cars 3 that gives it a little more weight than the previous installments.
[UPROXX]
While it's nowhere near as dystopian as Wall-e or emotional as Inside Out, Cars 3 rests on the concept of figuring out how to move from one stage of your life into the next — making it one of the more interesting installments of the franchise.
[Polygon]
TL;DR
"Cars 3" is a friendly, rollicking movie made with warmth and dash, and to the extent that it taps our primal affection for this series, it more than gets the job done. Yet in many ways it's the tasteful version of a straight-to-DVD (or streaming) sequel.
[Variety]
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