Cars 3

Genre: Animation-comedy

Director: Brian Fee

Cast: Owen Wilson, Cristela Alonzo, Chris Cooper and Bob Costas

Being screened at QFX Cinemas

Kathmandu

Cars 3 shows the struggle of the champion Lighting McQueen (Owen Wilson) to hold on to his numero uno position with the rookie Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer) breathing down his neck. Cars 3 has the old storyline — a one-time famous hero not accepting the new generation, which has been seen a lot in Hollywood films.

McQueen, Cal Weathers (Kyle Petty) and Bob Cutlass (Bob Costas) are racers and McQueen is the superstar and champ among them. But one day he loses a race to Jackson; and this happens continuously for three weeks. The story that follows is whether McQueen is able to surpass the difficulties to reclaim his champ position.

The Brian Fee-directed Cars 3 takes audiences to the kingdom of cars where spectators, racers, journalists and announcers are all cars. These cars talk and think like humans emoting all human feelings. Fee has used anthropomorphism (give objects human forms and traits) and the flashback technique to tell the story, especially McQueen’s part. The second-half of the film is better than the first-half. The film becomes interesting with the entry of Cruise Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo).

The 3D effects and stunt scenes are the film’s USPs. The scenes of the race and practice are commendable. The visual effects are stunning and the colourful cars are eye-pleasing. The last stunt done by Cruise is thrilling.

Animator David Juan Bianchi’s animation is incredible. The female cars are sexy and sensual, whereas the male cars are macho, dirty and rough (in looks). Likewise, the huge mountains, jungles and muddy roads look natural.

Director Fee, who has written a story of Cars 3 along with Ben Queen, Eyal Podell and Jonathon E Stewart, has told a story that is similar to Ice Age 3. They show the conflict between the old and new generations where the old comes to the fight carrying loads of experience, while the new comes with infinite energy. Likewise, the writers show that the hero is always right. So, while the writers are busy showing how incredible McQueen is, they fail to do justice to the character of Jackson — tagging him as the villain. Jackson’s other side is not shown.

Wilson as McQueen and Chris Cooper as Smokey have done a decent job, but the show-stealer is Alonzo as Cruise. The yellow Cruise is outstanding in the role of instructor. She is funny and adventurous.