Film Review: "Cars 3" (2017).

"From this moment, everything will change." This is Cars 3. This 3D computer-animated comedy-adventure film directed by Brian Fee, in his directorial debut, written by Kiel Murray, Bob Petersonand Mike Rich, and produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It is the third installment of the Cars film franchise and a stand-alone sequel to Cars 2 (2011). Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen 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 with her own plan to win, 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!

In late 2011, development of a sequel began after the release of Cars 2, and, in March 2014, pre-production began. Executive producer John Lasseter, director of the previous film had stated that the film would be more emotional, and go back to the film's original roots. The production team for the film conducted extensive research on multiple NASCAR racers, particularly older ones, as well as a sports psychoanalyst. By March 2917, it was revealed that Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt and Larry the Cable Guy would reprise their roles, with Cristela Alonzo, Chris Cooper, Armie Hammer, Nathan Fillion, Kerry Washington and Lea DeLaria as newcomers. The production utilized a new rendering system, RIS, which made intensely detailed scenes possible. The system was previously used on Pixar's Finding Dory (2016). In previous movies the animators had to first do the animation before the rendering, but RIS allowed animation and rendering to take place simultaneously in a process called "hardware shading", making it much easier for the animators to see what a completed scene would look like when finished. Fee said that the film's animation is "art directed realism" and stated that it causes the film's characters and sets to "feel more real and alive than ever before."

The film features the voice talents of Wilson, Hunt and Larry the Cable Guy, who reprise their roles, with Alonzo, Cooper, Hammer, Fillion, Washington and DeLaria. The film is filled with laughs (most of them good, a few of them shticky) and tears (all of them earned), thanks to the performances of the cast who are meant to slay us (and mostly do) with their irascible sharp tongues, and dizzyingly extended flights of physical comedy.

Fun and poignant, Cars 3 delivers a beautifully animated adventure that adds another entertaining chapter to its predecessor's classic story, unlike Cars 2. I never thought I wanted a sequel to Cars and Cars 2, but here we are and I'm pretty happy it exists. However, it is a movie so stuffed with "fun" that it went right off the rails at times. What on earth was the gifted animation powerhouse thinking – that he wanted kids to come out of this movie was more ADD?

Simon says Cars 3 receives:

Also, see my review of Finding Dory.