https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R9_lMzzu6LHHZoZ-Ap-8OsjhLkZbJLp7ZmWZLPSa6i4/edit?usp=sharing

I know.

When it comes to the best animated movies in the world we look towards movies such as the Lego Movie or Toy Story to other kinds like A Silent voice and more. Animated movies recently have been getting a lot more respect which is incredibly deserved but with that some movies have been forgotten and left behind.

The Cars trilogy has been one of the most confusing and strange movie trilogies I've ever seen. Its a series that originally shouldnt of succeeded with a mediocre first movie only to get confused and completely drop the ball on the second one.

By the time Cars 3 had come around no one was watching. A franchise built on confusion and misdirection and ended with a whimper of a final movie. At least that's what many people tend to believe.

I thought the same thing. When I originally watched cars on a slow long 5 hour bus ride from a Ski trip the only thing I could think about was how frustrated I was that my phone was dead. It took nearly a year later to finally sit down and watch the movie with my younger brother. A movie that he loved so much I had to sit down and watch it nearly every single night for over a month. And from repeatedly watching that movie like an absolute crazy man I saw something in it that nobody else in the world has or has yet to talk about.

This isn't why Cars 3 is the greatest movie in the world or why the cars franchise is a perfect trilogy. It isn't even an accidental masterpiece. But this is why I think you were all wrong about Cars 3


When writing this script I rewrote it nearly 5 times. Mostly because as someone whos never made videos before It was struggling to find how to put my thoughts and arguments into words. I nearly analysed and broke the entire movie down scene by scene hoping that would prove something but that would both be a colossal waste of both of our time.

The cars franchise has always struggled in confusion. Cars 1 was one of the hits that rode off the success the entire animation industry was facing. Nearly every year there was a new hit of a movie. We are talking about the same year movies like Happy Feet, and Monsters House came out.
Its pointed out pretty commonly that Cars 1 lacks a lot of things and isn't the best movie. From a confused universe that doesn't need to be about cars to just a lack of real inspiration behind it. But this isn't about Cars 1.

Cars 2 is infamously known for being horrible and confused. Amplifying some complaints such as the world building and creating new ones like why the hell are they spies i don't understand. But despite the horrible reviews and terrible reputation it had Cars 2 was the best performing movie in the entire series with a box office of over 500 million out performing the first movie.

With the huge success of the second movie it was clear that a third would be made. But with that bad reviews something needed to change and the director was swapped from John Lasseter to Brian Fee. A first time director but someone who did work on movies like Wall-e as a storyboard artist.

Faced with the impossible task of creating a sequel to one of the worst animated movies of all time he got to work.



Cars 3’s plot is actually pretty standard and simple. Lightning Mqueen is a hot-shot racer that is competing and winning races in a competitive environment. Hes racing with his best friends and everyone seems to be winning to some degree. There all veteran races at this point and there mostly racing for the sake of racing until suddenly a new racer shows up. Jackson storm.

Hes a new and young hotshot cocky racer, racing with the best tech out there and smashing records left and right. He's not exactly an awful person but he's cocky and knows he's on top. He openly admits to respecting Lightning as he grew up watching him but mocks him for continuing to race. Soon other races start to quit or are replaced with this new generation until lighting seems himself entering a race filled with strangers. Lightning pushes himself as far as he can to beat jackson. But ends up crashing and spends the next few months recovering back in Radical Springs, the town from the first movie.

This is the main message of Cars 3. Every single action lightning takes from this moment is to preserve what those first 5 opening minutes of the movie. He is fighting not just because he wants to win. But because he wants to be in control of when he loses.

The story then follows lightning as he picks back his pieces and regains his confidence. He hears that he has a new whole training base of operations and that his sponsors sold him to a rich billionaire Sterling who comes off as a huge fan of lighting. After some demeaning training lighting gets frustrated and rushes to go on the Vr training station only to crash and destroy it. Sterling loses his confidence and instead pushes lightning to quit while he's ahead and cash out, sell some merchandise and become richer than he could imagine while maintaining his legacy as one of the best.
Lightning of course refuses like any hot blooded racer would and declares that “I decide when im done”

He creates an ultimatum that if he wins the next race he can continue racing, but if he loses he will sell anything he wants and quit racing. Cruz his trainer from before goes with him and eventually lightning comes to realize that he is not and will not be faster, that hes peaked in speed and cant even beat his previous records. During this all cruz bursts because of lightning remarks. Stating that lightning at least could race and had done it. That she never even had the opportunity to and was scared. That she didn't belong

He goes to get help and attempts to use techniques and racing methods to win, stuff like drafting and properly overtaking and more. He gets better but still clearly he's not good enough and even cruz was able to beat him.

They go to the race and halfway through lightning changes his mind. He gives cruz his number and tells her to race in his place and to win for him. Cruz does this and eventually despite jackson storms best efforts, wins.






Despite being a movie for young audiences the themes of this movie are as real as ever. One thing to note in Cars 3 is the lack of any real villain. I have always had an issue with overly evil or forced villains in stories that really didn't need one. Not every movie needs some huge bad guy and cars 3 understands this. Jackson Storm appears to be the main antagonist but he's at many times described to basically be what lightning used to be and even then other than some minor insults and jabs to lighting and also trying to discourage cruz, he is in no way a villain.
Sterling also appears to be a villain and early when he is introduced you get nervous to him due to the whole Billionaire evil stereotype. We feel he's lying about being a fan and using lightning for money. But he turns out to be nothing but a worried businessman who is a genuine fan of lightning even giving him more chances than he really deserves.

Instead the main villain of Cars 3 is lightning and himself. It isn't until lightning finally accepts that things have changed that the movies issue is resolved.

But that isnt all

Cars 3 has one message. One thing that its focusing on. Its that things and it doesnt just lie in the movie.
Let me take a quote from an interview Brian Fee the director of Cars 3 said about his inspiration for the movie.

The plot of Lightning getting older was just straight from where would McQueen be ten years later? What he used to be the hotshot, right? But he’s not now. In fact, Jeff Gordon was getting close to retirement; we talked a lot with [Gordon]. And one of the things he told us was his biggest fear in life now; this was before he retired, right before he retired, his greatest fear was that he’d never be a