Cars 3: A mom and daughter view

I remember seeing the very first Cars movie. The middle still makes me a little teary-eyed. My girls are big fans of the first movie in the franchise, too. When we were invited to check out the newest movie, Cars 3, I was excited to take them along and hear their thoughts.

Our oldest at 10 has the best memory of the first movie, so I asked her to first give her thoughts, and I think she did a pretty good job of capturing it from her perspective.

Daughter’s View (she typed this up and wrote it all on her own)

You have all seen the trailers for the new Cars Movie, Cars 3. You have seen the new crash from Lightning McQueen. He almost quits racing but the racing life hasn’t quit on him yet. He gets this brand new facility for him and a new trainer which is a new character that I love. Her name is Cruz. She is a bright yellow car who thinks Lightning McQueen is old. So, funny!!!!!!

There is this other new character named Storm. He is this new fancy racecar that keeps beating Lightning. All his [McQueen’s] friends that are racecars are either getting fired or retiring. They are getting fired because their sponsors want to have the fancy new racecars instead of the older ones.

Storm is just this mean racecar who gets inside the car’s head and Keeps race cars from winning at all. Lightning gets a chance to either win a race and keep racing with his new sponsor or lose and be done with racing forever.

Lightning must struggle to keep on top. If he blows this chance he won’t get another one. Come and see the amazing new movie Cars 3.

Mom’s View

What more is there to add? She sums it up so well.

I think the biggest part of the Cars franchise is the nostalgia. I’m entertained, there are some parts that made me laugh and some parts that get me in the feels and I’m good.

I like that we get more history of Doc Hudson and some of his friends, but it does drag on a bit during that time. However, our 5 year old went to the movie also, and didn’t get antsy, so it kept her attention. I like the history as there is an older female race car that shares about her challenges getting into races and stealing a number to compete. These four characters were inspired by real
NASCAR legends, Junior Johnson, Louise Smith, Wendell Scott, and Henry “Smokey” Yunick.

The demolition derby brought some good laughs from the whole audience; kids and adults alike. The Crazy 8 sequence features more than two dozen characters, including Tbone, a car whose condition improves— temporarily—when he gets hit; SuperFly, who catches air; FareGame, the taxi who doesn’t get any fares; and Jimbo the pickup truck and of course, the School Bus!

I have to point out the animation, too which is amazing. It felt like we were watching real-life NASCAR racing because of the attention to detail. It was apparent that they drew from several key areas in the southeast U.S. where they visited to research the history of stock-car racing as well as the look and feel of racing in the area.

Cars 3 presented some issues that are important for girls and women and I was happy to see them in a race car movie.

There is definitely an interesting twist at the end of the movie that I didn’t quite see coming and it was a pleasant surprise (I won’t ruin it!). It’s hard to tell if it’s set up to continue with the movies and make subsequent movies.

And side note: Cruz talks about her parents at one point, but I’ve wondered, where do the Cars come from? Maybe that’s a talk for a different day! Is it still called the birds and the bees?

Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) is suddenly pushed out of the sport he loves. To get back in the game, he will need the help of an eager young race technician, Cruz Ramirez (voice of Cristela Alonzo), with her own plan to win, plus inspiration from the late Fabulous Hudson Hornet and a few unexpected turns. Proving that #95 isn’t through yet will test the heart of a champion on Piston Cup Racing’s biggest stage! Directed by Brian Fee (storyboard artist “Cars,” “Cars 2”), produced by Kevin Reher (“A Bug’s Life,” “La Luna” short) and co-produced by Andrea Warren (“LAVA” short). “Cars 3” also stars Armie Hammer as Jackson Storm, Bonnie Hunt as Sally Carrera, Michael Wallis as Sheriff, Larry the Cable Guy as Mater, Cheech Marin as Ramone, and Paul Dooley as Sarge. Brian Fee is directing Cars 3 with Kevin Reher producing.

The movie runs at 1 hour and 49 minutes and is rated G.