Menu
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Feature
    • Arts
    • Astrology
    • Business
    • Community
    • Employment
    • Event Stories
    • From the Pioneer
    • Government
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Non Profit News
    • Obituary
    • Public Safety
    • Podcast Interview Articles
    • Pioneer Pulse Podcast: Politics, Palette, and Planet – the Playlist
  • Weather
  • Guest Column
    • Perspectives
    • Don Backman Photos
    • Ardent Gourmet
    • Kitchen Maven
    • I’ve been thinking
    • Jim Heffernan
    • The Littoral Life
    • Neal Lemery
    • View From Here
    • Virginia Carrell Prowell
    • Words of Wisdom
  • Things to do
    • Calendar
    • Tillamook County Parks
    • Tillamook County Hikes
    • Whale Watching
    • Tillamook County Library
    • SOS Community Calendar
  • About
    • Contribute
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Opt-out preferences
  • Post Submission Test
  • Search...
Menu

MOVIE VIEWS FROM ANDREW – CARS 3: OK, IT EXISTS

Posted on June 19, 2017April 3, 2020 by Editor

By Andrew Jenck, for Tillamook County Pioneer

(Cars 3 is currently playing at Tillamook’s Coliseum Theater.)

Every family has that black sheep, and the Cars films seem to be that to Pixar Animation. They’re considered some of the worst the studio has produced and yet, are one of the most commercialized, overabundant franchises from Disney, which is saying a lot. Still, the first Cars film on its own was alright. It was overlong, had little conflict, and played out in the clichéd egotistical hotshot becomes humbled in the simple life story, but its heart was in the right place and did have its moments, especially, the ending. I feel most of the criticism is from Cars 2, a result of the commercialism-making, Mater, the comic relief, the main star, and going from a racing to a spy film, but with cars.

That sequel left such a bad taste that Cars 3 seems to write it out of existence and puts the focus back on Lightning McQueen. Now he’s the past-his-prime veteran trying to keep up with the more technologically advanced rookies entering the scene, in which he has a career-threatening crash, similar to mentor, Doc Hudson. As a result, he tries to recover by teaming up with a full-of-energy trainer named Cruz Ramirez. This is what Cars 2 should have been about: Lightning trying to get back to the top while also becoming a mentor to Cruz. Doc’s voice actor, Paul Newman, passed away in 2008, so this film works as a nice remembrance of him. His legacy plays a key role in the film, as Lightning learns more about Doc’s past and how he can still be a part of racing, even when he retires from racing. The story is rather poignant at times, and as someone who grew up with Cars, it was a nice trip down memory lane (no pun intended).

Things aren’t all glory though. While Lightning and Doc’s buddies work well as characters, the supporting cast is unmemorable. There’s one pointless sequence that just promotes the next line of toys. I understand that the real villain is Lightning’s age and time, but they could’ve fleshed out Jackson Storm beyond just being the arrogant hotshot,  such as drawing parallels between him and McQueen from the first movie. Unless you’re a fan of NASCAR, you’ll find the racing scenes to be underwhelming, feeling nowhere near as creative as some other sequences that Pixar animates. It’s a shame because the animation is very well-detailed, and the cars can even look realistic from the rear. The infamous crash scene has basically been shown in its entirety, and they have a time skip where you miss some potentially dramatic moments.

The biggest problem, however, is Cruz Ramierez. She always tries to crack jokes, either being awkward or boastful, and it gets old really fast. They give her a backstory, but it’s revealed through an emotional, expositional heavy scene that’s been done to death, something that Pixar has been above doing. She’s crucial to Lightning’s development and the climax of the film, which is too predictable, and drags the film down a bit.

Despite my ramblings, I do think this a perfectly fine film. If you’re a fan of the first film, you’ll probably really like this one. If you’re being dragged by your kids to see it, you’ll be able to tolerate it. As someone who sees a lot of mainstream films, I can definitely say this has more heart and effort than most of those films, so I’d say that’s a recommendation; just don’t expect anything along the level of Inside Out or Toy Story.

Featured Video

Slide Contribute SUBSCRIBE

Tillamook Weather

Tides

Tillamook County Pioneer Podcast Series

Tillamook Church Search

Cloverdale Baptist Church
Nestucca Valley Presbyterian
Tillamook Ecumenical Service

Archives

  • Home
  • EULA Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Opt-out preferences
  • Search...
Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on pinterest
Pinterest
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
Linkedin
Catherine

Recent Posts

  • LOCAL VFW POST RAISES $1,500, GETS MATCHING GRANT - $3,000 FOR LOCAL FOOD ORGANIZATIONS

    May 20, 2025
  • OREGON DEPT. OF FISH & WILDLIFE: More spring Chinook fishing days on Columbia River mainstem as run expected to come in above forecast 

    May 20, 2025
  • Check out AWARD-WINNING incredible “Coastal Futures” project on display at Rockaway Beach Library

    May 20, 2025
©2025 | Theme by SuperbThemes

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}