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Cars 3 review


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Cars 3

Disney/Pixar

G. 109 min

 

 

Youve heard me complain often about the fact that the summer is a terrible place for really good films. Kids are out of school and studios realize that not only do they have to appeal to them to make a dent in the Summer movie sweepstakes but they are also hard pressed to release something original. Why is that? Well as we all know repeats reruns and reboots are familiar to audiences who dont see that many films and will attract some attention right off the bat. Kind of like Y brown-eyed girl is the most requested song in the world. I apologize in advance for dishing up two servings of leftovers for this issue. The first, proving the three is not necessarily the charm, is number 3 in the Cars series a mildly entertaining computer Graphics spectacular featuring a group of animated race cars. As with so many films that outlive their usefulness CARS 3 loses a great deal because, well, weve seen it before. Yes, the animation is top-notch coming from the geniuses over at Pixar but weve already seen it. We also already know that the basics of the film or going to be our hero facing big odds and doing what it takes to achieve a positive resolution. Fair enough.

Our hero little red car Lightning McQueen voiced by Owen Wilson is finding himself at odds with the modern-day. Yes, like most people or vehicles time has taken its toll and poor little lightning is no longer the talk of the racing world. Theres a new kid on the Block, hes big hes fast hes mean hes modern and most of all hes kind of an A-hole.

His name is Jackson Storm, voiced by Armie Hammer and owes a lot of his character to the evil Russian played by Dolph Lundgren in ROCKY 4, not the accent but the arrogance. He fully expects the upcoming race to put the legend of Lightning McQueen in the history books once and for all. Like Rocky, McQueen has started to doubt himself and doesnt feel like he can do it anymore when the old race cars take him under their wing and train him like they did in the old days just like Apollo Creed taking Rocky back to the hood to regain the eye of the tiger.

Its all Cookie Cutter for mostof the film and many of our old favorite characters are back especially the Beloved Tow Mater voiced by Larry the Cable Guy and that helps to hold the audience attention at least somewhat. But there is a Twist friends, in todays overheated political climate and knowing which way Hollywood leans we see here, as a few other current movies, the tendency to try to make a statement. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with little girls getting the idea they can do anything, mostly because they can. Still the lesson the producers want to make clear is a little bit ham-hands regardless of anybodys opinion. It seemed they felt it was more important to make the statement then to search for an exciting ending. Maybe they thought they were doing both, who knows? But now since its the third time out theres probably not a whole lot of new material they could think of to freshen up the franchise so it is what it is. It is entertaining enough even though there is a long stretch of slow roads before the climax starts to kick in. And the climax itself is more likely to elicit a shrug of the shoulders then a fist in the air. The Pixar Animation is, as always, spectacular and the colors are bright which should keep the attention of some of the younger ones on the screen. In the final lap cars three is just about exactly what you might expect from the third installment of a series, and never really gets out of 3rd gear.

C

WSS

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