Sunday, May 30, 2021

Pixar Playlist #18 - Cars 3

 Ladies and Gentlemen, whether you like it or not, the Pixar Playlist


And we’re back for one, probably final lap with the Cars series. It’s said that major franchise sequels are needed to pay for their more original projects but with Cars it’s always been less about the films and more about the sweet, sweet merchandise.

The end result is that Cars 3 was in production since Cars 2 came out, but evidently the feedback from the last film shaped their decision to do a story more akin to the original Cars. The team did their research on professional athletes and their stories.

In the animation end, the team was helped by some new rendering technology that allowed them to preview their animation. The film underperformed, earning $385m on a $175m budget, at best it broke even and managed a mere 69% with audiences and critics on Rotten Tomatoes. But Cars films have never been Box Office darling, their money is in the merch Where do I stand here? Well, let’s take a look

Lightning McQueen has become a racing pro, helped by some friendly competition but as the years pass, he begins to get outshone by the younger breed, who are using more sophisticated designs, engines and training to get the edge. Many of his fellow racers drop out or are replaced as a result. Lightning’s attempts to beat them by pure speed result in him crashing.

Lightning’s sponsor Rusteze isn’t so willing to drop him, and the two owners have sold the company to a guy who can secure them the modern training they think he needs. The new owner, Sterling plans to merchandise the f*ck out of Lightning but is worried that any further losses would damage his brand and warns him to drop out. Lightning agrees to continue and they wager the result of his next race on whether he retires.

He’s helped by a trainer named Cruz Ramirez, she has certainly interesting insights into motivation and training and is certainly capable of a race-track simulator but it’s contrasted by a complete lack of race-car experience, which becomes a problem when it becomes clear that the simulated approach will not work for Lightning.

The first Cars film had a pretty basic narrative, the second had a convoluted and dumb narrative that was very much pandering to kids. This film is actually pretty mature all things considered. Whilst I wouldn’t call it complex, it’s themes would resonate more with an older audience. That comes with its downsides too, as having your face constantly reminded that he’s getting old and outclassed [like with Indiana Jones] might actually have negatively affected merchandise.

The big theme here is sports injuries and yes, this is the first narrative to primarily focus on the racing side. Yes, the original did have Sports themes too, but it was largely just the story of a ego-maniac needing to be taken down a peg. Anyway, Lightning’s big character arc is dismissing the role of a trainer as lesser.

He respects and idolises Doc Hudson, reprised in this film by unused audio from the first, integrated a billion times better than Rise of Skywalker [they did the same with Tom Magzolli as Rusty Rust-eze]. But he always felt that he was a guy who loved racing and was crushed by not being able to do it. The writers here have done their homework, consulting athletes and psychologists about this exact kind of scenario, and it shows with Lightning’s character.

It’s a nice twist that he finds out that Doc was enjoying himself more than he had in years training Lightning, it’s sad that Paul Newman died so couldn’t record any new footage. The end offers a nice compromise of Lightning both racing and training, that’s good for merch even if it feels weird as a cap off to his character arc.

Cruz serves as being the opposite end of the spectrum. She idolises McQueen but never had the self-confidence to actually race and is looked down upon by some. She’s inexperienced by talented and Lightning, despite a rough start, sees her potential and helps her along. It’s a very unusual and interesting dynamic and they play off each other quite well.

This, once again comes with a downside. Most of the Radiator Springs cast have very little to do in this. I’ll grant that I’m not exactly clamouring to see more of Mater after Cars 2, but I was hoping to see a bit more of Sally Carrera and explore their dynamic.

The new animation bits allow for some very impressive set-pieces such as the demolition derby. Apparently that scene would not have been possible without the rendering tech. The animation itself is of the level of quality you’d expect from a Pixar film but there is one thing nagging at me. The first and, to a lesser extent, the second film gave a you a real sense of speed as you’re watching the races. Now it may be a personal thing but I got no such sensation with this film, despite its many racing set-pieces.

Cars 3 offers a more interesting take on the Cars franchise with more mature and well-researched themes and ideas. The new characters are interesting but some of the older ones feel under-utilised as a result. The animation is of high quality but the sensation of speed is lost, which is a shame as there are so many racing set-pieces here.

#1 Inside Out
#2 The Incredibles
#3 Up
#4 Finding Nemo
#5 Finding Dory
#6 Toy Story 3
#7 WALL-E
#8 Toy Story 2
#9 The Good Dinosaur
#10 Brave
#11 Toy Story
#12 Cars 3
#13 Monsters Inc
#14 Ratatouille
#15 Cars
#16 Monsters University
#17 Cars 2
#18 A Bug’s Life

No comments:

Post a Comment