Cars 3 Review

"You'll never be the racer you once were. You can't turn back the clock, kid. But you can wind it up again!"


Cars 3 is the latest instalment into the Disney Pixar Cars franchise. The latest film was directed by Brian Free and stars the likes of Owen Wilson, Cristela Alonzo, Chris Cooper, Nathan Fillion, Armie Hammer and of course Larry the Cable Guy. The third film in the franchise moves away from the world of spy's and returns to the core basics of racing that everyone loved in the original film, but this time Lightning McQueen struggles to keep up with a new generation of hi tech hybrid cars, and sets out to prove that he is still the fastest car in the world.

After the release of Cars 2 I was sceptical of how a third film in the franchise would play out, I mean the spy element of the second film certainly added a new fresh story line (who didn't enjoy seeing Mater as a spy!), but when the racing started the spy element still managed to take over the core values of the franchise which is its racing. Cars 3, on the other hand takes the franchise back to its core values and solely focuses on racing which is one of the films strongest elements. Having Lightning McQueen struggle to keep up with a new generation of racing cars was fun to watch and allowed for a complete circle, in terms of character development for McQueen and added an extra level of depth to the franchise with McQueen struggling to keep up with an ever changing racing world. This extra depth for me personally put this film up there with the original Cars film (it really did!) and allowed for a fun filled experience. I also thought the animation was extremely good and each Cars film looks better and better as the franchise goes on, each location had its own personality and the use of animation really worked to make each location stand out but also feel unique in the world of Cars (love the Florida stadium design). The animation on the Cars was also very good and every new character in the film was allowed enough time for their own unique personality to shine through, and are definitely good and interesting additions to the character roster in the Cars universe.

Whilst I certainly did enjoy the film there are certain elements that could of been explored more which in my opinion would of improved the film (well that's just my opinion anyway!). Personally I felt as if the film pushed the Radiator Springs group of characters to the sideline to highlight Lightning's story line. Whilst this allows for some good character development on Lightning McQueen's part, it did mean that we really did not get to see much from the Radiator Springs gang, and even important characters in the Cars Franchise such as Sally or Mater felt underused and really did not enhance or affect the narrative of the film in anyway. With these characters being so integral to the Cars Franchise I would of thought that the filmmakers would of given them a couple of more scenes together to really tie together their story lines, just like how McQueen's own character journey of discovery has been intertwined together with the gang from Radiator Springs. But whilst this does allow time to introduce new characters to the franchise, (which is definitely a good thing!) but neither any of the new characters really fill the charm that the original characters brought in the original film.

Overall I certainly enjoyed the film and would definitely say that it is up there with the original Cars film. The film has some excited races and some excellent animation that I am sure kids and parents will love, and if you are a fan of the original entries into the Cars franchise then I am certain you will not be disappointing with this film.

Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars