I thought, as many seemed to, that Lightening McQueen would die a brutal death. It’d be like the end of Toy Story 3, where instead of a trash incinerator, McQueen would be on a conveyor belt, ready to get pancaked. A final Owen Wilson-famous “wow” would be uttered before the death, and no, Mater would not play the role that the aliens had in Toy Story 3. McQueen would just die. Movie over.
I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say that didn’t happen. Sorry if you were rooting for that.
But what did happen, I found quite charming, surprisingly. I wanted to tell you a bit about it.
Pixar movies all have a message. They all deal with some aspect of growing up, maturity, believing in oneself, etc. This movie’s message was about the end of one’s career. When do you stop? Are you a quitter when you decide to retire? Can someone make you stop living your dream? It’s almost like this film was made with the newly Medicare-eligible in mind, because these are not often thought of as #childhoodproblems (It felt like it needed a hashtag, sorry).
This theme applied to both Lightening McQueen, who is sort of being forced to retire in this movie, and his trainer, Cruz Ramirez, who has wanted to be a racer her whole life but was told she couldn’t do it.
A good majority of this movie is dedicated to pointing out differences between new and old perspectives, mainly with race training techniques. At first I was worried it was going to be a big metaphor for why old is better and us young folk trying to modernize and digitalize everything are the real villains of the world. Happily, a balance was established, showing more of a “honor what works for you”-type of message.
On the subject of characters, this movie has about 80% less Mater than Cars 2 did, which I was a-okay with. Also, I loved that a strong female character took on the role that Mater filled in the first one as Lightening McQueen’s main on-screen companion. Cruz has a decent backstory and, while she is caring, is one of the toughest characters in the film. She’s written in a way that makes her likable, basically a second protagonist, and, at times, more interesting than Lightening McQueen. Little boys have a new toy to collect.
And speaking of little boys (a ho ho), my favorite thing about this movie was the reaction one audience member gave during one of the final scenes. Without spoiling anything, a character does something really cool, with a lot of the movie leading up to this particular moment. This little boy got out of his seat and started jumping up and down with his fists in the air. I was even more charmed by this because he didn’t actually cheer, and while I have a love for kids movies, I often don’t share that affection for random children at the movies.
In all honesty, this boy’s actions reminded me of why I love animation, movies as a whole, storytelling, everything in that realm. What a grand reaction to a story. There was such joy in this little nugget’s body that he couldn’t contain it. It made me want to write something to see that reaction happen again. How magical, really.
While there were some predictable parts of the film, I will say that there were enough surprises and positive messages that made me feel like it was good I gave Cars 3 a try. The way it ends looks like it is surely setting up for a fourth installment; maybe that one will make me stand up in my seat and cheer this time.
And PS: Lou, the short before, is a cute idea that examines why some people don’t act so nice to others. Toy Story-like, a little creepy at times, but a good reminder of why I’m always happy that Pixar even bothers to include a short. Only complaint: these kids have an unrealistic amount of recess.