Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Cars 3
November 5, 2017
Cars 3 - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4k Ultra HD Combo Pack
Cars is inarguably the weak link in the Pixar canon. Cars was the first Pixar film that I didn’t think was an instant classic, while Cars 2 is still the only Pixar movie that earned bad reviews. Can Cars 3 break this streak? Or is it still the weak link?
We start right in the action with Lightning McQueen psyching himself up, while getting ready for his next race. He and his rivals, Cal Weathers and Bobby Swift, trade wins, and pranks, while generally having a fun-time at the top of their sport. That changes one race when Jackson Storm scores an upset. Jackson Storm is a new breed of racing car that uses science to create the optimum race strategy. This is his first win, soon not only is he dominating the racing world, but other racers, copying his technique, are quickly putting old-time racers out of business. Cal and Bobby are replaced, but Lightning is determined not to be replaced so easily, so he pushes himself. He pushes himself too hard and crashes as a result.
It takes months before Lightning fully heals from his injuries, but he fears the same thing that happened to Doc. When Doc crashed, he was forced to retire. He wasn’t given a chance to show he could still race. This leaves him in a funk, but a pep talk from Sally gives him the motivation he needs to get started. In order to beat Jackson Storm, he’s going to need to train like Jackson and that means new modern facilities.
His current sponsors, Dusty and Rusty, know they don’t have the resources to handle the reality of the new racing world, so they sell their company to Sterling, who has built a state of the art training facility, run by Cruz Ramirez. Unfortunately, while Lightning knows he needs to change the way he trains, actually changing is a lot harder than he thought it would be. Cruz wants to build up slowly, but Lightning quickly becomes impatient and wants to rush things and this puts his comeback in jeopardy.
Reviewing Pixar movies is always a little harder than reviewing other animated movies. When you review a movie like Smurfs: The Lost Village, you just need to say if the film is good enough to entertain kids. With Pixar movies, you have to talk about whether or not the film will also appeal adults, as adult fans of animation make up a significant portion of Pixar’s audience. With that in mind, how well did Cars 3 do?
Frankly, I have mixed opinions about the movie. On the one hand, I think the film will entertain kids more than it will entertain adults. The race scenes, the jokes, etc. all appeal more to kids than adults. On the other hand, the plot is about getting old and realizing the younger generation is there to replace you. That’s clearly a plot adults will connect with, but not kids. Because the film was pulling in two different directions, it wasn’t able to satisfy either audience as much as it would have, if the film concentrated its efforts. The end result is still good, but not great, and when it comes to Pixar films, you expect greatness.
To emphasize, I’m glad I got a chance to watch Cars 3 and I might watch it again, but it doesn’t live up to Pixar’s past films.
The Blu-ray is a two-disc release with mst of the extras on the second disc. That’s not to say there are no extras on the first disc.
As with all Pixar releases, there is a short film as part of the extras. In fact, there are two of them. The first is is Lou, which is about a Lost and Found ... monster thing ... which deals with an elementary school bully stealing toys from other students. Miss Fritter’s Racing SKOOOL is another short film, this time it's an infomercial from the Cars universe. Ready for the Race is a six-minute featurette on the real-world training racers do and how Pixar used that in the movie. There is also Cruz Ramirez: The Yellow Car That Could, an eight-minute look at the newest character in the Cars franchise, Cruz Ramirez. Finally, there’s an audio commentary track with Brian Fee, the director; Kevin Reher, one of the producers; Andrea Warren, the co-producer; and Jay Ward, creative director for the franchise.
Disc two begins with a five-part, 40-minute behind-the-scenes featurette that looks at the making of the sequels, the toys, etc. The other big extra on disc two are the deleted scenes, with a running time of over 25 minutes. There are also Flythroughs, which are roughly 1-minute looks at one of three locations. And finally there are three short animated interviews with cast / crew talking about their first car. In total, there are about 75 minutes of extras on the second disc.
Cars 3 is a good movie, but it is not a great movie. On the other hand, the extras on the Blu-ray Combo Pack are great, so if you or your kids like the movie, then it is certainly worth picking up.
Video on Demand (Movie Only) or Video on Demand (With Bonus Features)
The Movie
The Extras
The Verdict
Filed under: Video Review, Cars 3, Cars, Nathan Fillion, Armie Hammer, Bonnie Hunt, Paul Newman, Kevin Reher, Owen Wilson, Tom Magiozzi, Ray Magliozzi, Angel Oquendo, Cristela Alonzo, Kyle Petty, Brian Fee, Andrea Warren