I'm so ready for this!

Throw every sports cliche into a blender and you've got Cars 3. It's a good thing I'm a sucker for sports movies.

It's pretty affective as it's happening, but as soon as you step outside the theater door you'll forget most of it ever happened. What will be at least a little harder to forget (still cookie cutter) is Cristela Alonzo's Cruz Ramirez who, for whatever reason, isn't getting mentioned AT ALL in the marketing. I don't know why Disney wouldn't want to hi those demographics.

It's Pixar's worst (Cars 2 at least had a personality), but as has been said a little more and more recently, Pixar's worst is still at least (for now) good.

B

Still haven't seen The Good Dinosaur.

Armie Hammer is as bland behind a microphone as he is in front of a camera. Granted, the movie gives him nothing to do, but still.

Armie Hammer is awesome in Free Fire. Absolutely riveting and hilarious as an effete, eloquent gunrunner. He just needs superior roles.

Oh cool, I had no idea he was in that. Ben Wheatley makes me a little hesitant, but I like the cast, even Hammer who, admittedly, is good in the right role.

It is Wheatley's most accessible film by far. Still very quirky by multiplex standards, sure, but more in a Tarantino/early Ritchie type of way; it doesn't go down any impenetrable LSD rabbit holes the way, say, A Field in England does. It was a relief for me because I dig him as a stylist, but I thought he vanished too far up his own ass with the insufferable High-Rise.

Don't bother.

Not bad. Felt really close to the original Cars in terms of tone. But this is the first to really focus on the racing aspect of the Cars world after small town hijinks in the first and spy stuff in the second. Cruz Ramirez was a great addition to the world of Cars. I did not see the twist with her at the end coming. Overall it was nice to see characters from the first come back after being absent from the second. Really a pleasant film to watch. And it definitely has topped The Good Dinosaur in terms of how realistic they can make the background look.

B+

Surprisingly great. I think if this was Cars 1 and not Cars 3 it would ranked among the Pixar titans. And I say that not just because it is uncool to like the Cars franchise. The catching up with the gang parts that take up most of the first act, while important in the grand scheme, were a slog to get through at the time. I didn’t connect with the movie until the beach scene, where it first reveals itself to be more than “Cars 3 - How Lightning Got His Groove Back ... Again!” The bond with him and Crews, and eventual payoff, elevates not only this film but the entire franchise as it also deepends the bond between Lightning and Doc. And while I was pretty sure Lightning would do the right thing and let Crews take his place, there was no way to be sure. It would have been easy for the characters and writers to let him win the big race then go out on his own terms.

You can see exactly where it's going as soon as Cruz saying she dreamt of being a racer, but the old racer who has to pass the torch to a new racer sports story works and Cristelo Alonzo does great voicing her. Several sequences are fun from the demolition derby to training with the old sports to the final race. Jackson Storm as a villain is refreshingly not as much evil as just an asshole, making him more sexist would've taken it to another level though (though do cars even acknowledge male/female genders?) This is better than Ford vs Ferrari.

Absolutely underrated Pixar film, for me is a much better sequel than Monsters University, Finding Dory and even Toy Story 4.

A

Yeah same. I'm a motor racing nut and I didn't warm to the first two films.

But Cars 3 is fantastic.