This was a completely disappointing effort. I think we have to acknowledge that Pixar's tank is empty at this point. It was a very muddled, confused story, with minimal plot, just a few set pieces strung together.
I appreciate Lightning's character arc, but it didn't pay off. OK, he's getting old, starting to get beat by the younger, higher tech cars. Interesting premise. At the beginning, they ignore the idea that cars can actually change their tech - could Lightning try to "get in shape" by improving his aerodynamics, suspension, handling, etc.? No, he just gets old and gets bypassed.
And he's aided by a "trainer" who expects to get him ready for a race in just a couple weeks, by putting him on a 5 MPH treadmill. She's pretty inept, I expected her to get thrown by the wayside.
BUT WAIT! The inept trainer is actually a racer! Who's never raced before? But, a day racing on the beach, a night on a moonshine run, and a few days on a dirt track, and a demolition derby, make it clear to us that this is now a main character. A boring, predictable, main character.
SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING HERE.
And the final twist is the most unrealistic thing I have seen in a movie in years, I can't understand how this made it past the first draft of the script. You know how, if you don't run any qualifying heats, you get to race in the championship, you just have to start last? No?
You know how, in a marathon, they just let anyone trade numbers, and the person finishing the race is not the person who started? Really, you don't? And how you can just pick someone out of the crowd to finish the race for you, they don't have to be on your team, or regulated in any way by the race? You don't? Well, the writers of this movie know all those things.
You know how, if you have no idea about the rules of a game or sport, and you try to write a movie about it, you risk making something completely unrealistic, that takes the audience out of its suspension of disbelief entirely? The writers of the movie never heard that rule either. And the movie ends on this absolutely farcical idea, which is awful. Even worse, Lightning's story arc is resolved in an unsatisfying way, and Cruz's story arc was set up so inartfully that it basically means nothing to her. And it certainly meant nothing to me as a viewer.
Still, better than Cars 2.
I appreciate Lightning's character arc, but it didn't pay off. OK, he's getting old, starting to get beat by the younger, higher tech cars. Interesting premise. At the beginning, they ignore the idea that cars can actually change their tech - could Lightning try to "get in shape" by improving his aerodynamics, suspension, handling, etc.? No, he just gets old and gets bypassed.
And he's aided by a "trainer" who expects to get him ready for a race in just a couple weeks, by putting him on a 5 MPH treadmill. She's pretty inept, I expected her to get thrown by the wayside.
BUT WAIT! The inept trainer is actually a racer! Who's never raced before? But, a day racing on the beach, a night on a moonshine run, and a few days on a dirt track, and a demolition derby, make it clear to us that this is now a main character. A boring, predictable, main character.
SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING HERE.
And the final twist is the most unrealistic thing I have seen in a movie in years, I can't understand how this made it past the first draft of the script. You know how, if you don't run any qualifying heats, you get to race in the championship, you just have to start last? No?
You know how, in a marathon, they just let anyone trade numbers, and the person finishing the race is not the person who started? Really, you don't? And how you can just pick someone out of the crowd to finish the race for you, they don't have to be on your team, or regulated in any way by the race? You don't? Well, the writers of this movie know all those things.
You know how, if you have no idea about the rules of a game or sport, and you try to write a movie about it, you risk making something completely unrealistic, that takes the audience out of its suspension of disbelief entirely? The writers of the movie never heard that rule either. And the movie ends on this absolutely farcical idea, which is awful. Even worse, Lightning's story arc is resolved in an unsatisfying way, and Cruz's story arc was set up so inartfully that it basically means nothing to her. And it certainly meant nothing to me as a viewer.
Still, better than Cars 2.