The official trailer is here for Disney and Pixar’s upcoming threequel, Cars 3. Pixar’s Cars franchise continues to be one of its most popular, thanks, in part to its enduring characters, which have pulled in vast sums of money from merchandising. Including the Planes spinoffs, the Cars franchise has taken in over $1.4 billion worldwide in theaters, and that total is about to rise with the release of Cars 3.
Owen Wilson will once again return to voice the number one race car, with Larry the Cable Guy as his trusty sidekick, Mater. New characters also feature, including Armie Hammer as the newest, slickest race car on the block, Jackson Storm, and Cristela Alonzo as Cruz Ramirez, the sprightly trainer tasked with keeping Lightning McQueen on track. Ahead of Cars 3 release, the latest trailer for the movie has dropped online and can be viewed above.
Set to arrive this summer, Cars 3 picks up with a dejected Lightning McQueen, who is struggling to keep up with the other cars on the track. In particular, Jackson Storm, who uses the latest technology to keep ahead of the pack. When McQueen spins off the track, he has to (literally) pick up the pieces and put himself back together again.
Enter Cruz Ramirez who, with the help of Mater and guidance from the late Doc Hudson, sets McQueen back on four wheels, and sends him back out to compete on the world stage. Will he manage to be number one again?
The trailer above gives the first proper look at the decline of McQueen’s abilities on the track, something he must learn to accept. Aging is inevitable, and in the sports world can greatly impact on your performance. That said, though McQueen might not be as fast a racer as Jackson Storm, he can be smarter. From the looks of things, Cruz Ramirez is going to be the one to teach him that, and in return, he might just inspire her to have a little more confidence in herself, too.
This being Pixar, we can most likely expect a relatively happy ending, but also a more poignant tale to be told. John Lasseter has hinted at Cars 3 being an emotional movie, and the storyline would certainly hint at that. Early Cars 3 teasers and posters showed McQueen in a sad state of decline, and fans wondered about the dark turn the Cars franchise seemed to have taken.
Themes of rejection, failure, and heartache are married with friendship, determination, and acceptance, and if you think a movie about talking Cars can’t deliver all that, think again. Cars was also a movie packed full of emotion, and the themes it explored, most specifically the idea that you should always remain true to your friends, easily resonated with young viewers, who found it easy to access the story being told.
Cars 3 should hold a broad appeal; those who have grown up with the franchise as well as the younger viewers who will have watched the original 2 movies at home. It’s not known if this is McQueen’s final outing, but if it is, he’s going out on a high.
Source: Disney/Pixar
- Cars 3 Release Date: 2017-06-16
