Cars 3 Blu-ray Review

Reviewed by Lynn Barker on Oct 07, 2017

Rating:

Those talking, racing autos are back in Cars 3. Is Lightning McQueen still cool? Will a new racer take his place as champion? Are there fun extra features on the Blu-ray? Check Kidzworld’s review.

By: Lynn Barker

In Cars 3, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) starts losing races to new gen high tech racer Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer). With a lot of racers his age retiring, Lightning thinks of abandoning the track, especially after surviving a big crash. Will hot Latina trainer Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo) be able to rekindle Lightning’s racing dreams while living a dream of her own?

Lightning and Cruz race on the beachCourtesy of Disney•Pixar

A Rookie “Storm”

When high tech, slick, faster model racer Jackson Storm starts beating Lightning on the track, he thinks of retiring. Storm is part of the “Next Gen” racers; cars built for amazing speeds few can meet. Even with encouragement from his old buddies like Tow Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and memories of advice from Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) his mentor, Lightning seems to have lost heart. When he survives a bad crash, Lightning recovers but broods in his garage alone back in Radiator Springs.

Storm teases Lightning in an interviewCourtesy of Disney•Pixar

Sally Gives Pep Talk

Sally (Bonnie Hunt), Lightning’s long-time girlfriend, tells him he’s not washed up until he decides he is. He should get back in the race! Lightning decides he needs to train like Storm does and goes to a new, state of the art facility built by Stirling (Nathan Fillion), the new owner of his former sponsor’s company Rust-eze. There he meets Cruz Ramirez, a female trainer who kicks butt but creates winners. She treats him like a senior citizen and Lightning hates it.

Tow Mater and Sally will always root for LightningCourtesy of Disney•Pixar

Making a Deal

Lightning just can’t cut it against the new cars so Stirling wants him to retire and just be a brand name. Lightning makes a deal, He will enter one last race in Florida. If he wins, he keeps racing. If not, he’ll do what Stirling wants. Cruz helps Lightning train and he remembers what Doc Hudson always told him… he doesn’t have to be faster, just smarter.

Cruz and Lightning go looking for friends of Doc HudsonCourtesy of Disney•Pixar

At the Derby

Lightning and Cruz end up surviving a demolition derby that lets Lightning know that Cruz has a racer’s heart… and talent but he’s wasted time and didn’t train as he wished and will now have to start last in the big race. He blames Cruz who lets him know she gave up on her own racing dreams which Lightning inspired in her when she was a kid. The two reconcile and go looking for Smokey, the car who trained Doc Hudson. They find him and other winning old timers and learn more about Doc’s methods. Lightning learns just how proud of him Doc was.

Lightning at the mercy of Miss FritterCourtesy of Disney•Pixar

The “Last?” Race

Remembering some of Doc’s tricks like a certain brand of Tokyo drifting and “drafting” behind a fast car to gain speed, Lightning does pretty well in the big race but doesn’t think he can win. Remembering how much Cruz wants to race and how good she is, he leaves the race and puts her in for the second half representing his team. Will she win? Will Lightning keep racing but also coach his new protégé, female racer Cruz?

Lightning tries hard to beat Jackson StormCourtesy of Disney•Pixar

Special Extra Features

There are a large bunch of extras on this Blu-ray/DVD/Digital set. Some extras are on the Blu-ray with the film. Others are on an additional bonus disc.

The cute short film Lou, shown with Cars 3 in theaters, is included. It centers on a playground with the items in a Lost and Found box featured. Very sweet extra.
Generations: The Story of Cars 3 which features the filmmakers talking about character growth and where they got the “aging athlete” idea for a storyline for Lightning. Interesting.
Let’s Get Crazy is a silly/fun extra which focuses on the real-life world of demolition derby and how it inspired the movie’s Thunder Hollow Crazy 8 race.
Cars to Die (Cast) For is great for collectors. The filmmakers, artists, etc. show us their faves of thousands of metal die cast tiny cars based on the characters. There are around 1,000 of them! Fun.
Legendary is a very cool extra tracing stock car racing way back in history to moonshiners running their booze over state lines way back in prohibition (no booze by law) days. They had to drive fast to escape the law and thus, stock car racing was born. Real life racers like Wendell Scott and Louise Smith served as prototypes for the veteran car characters in the film.

Cruz leads Lightning as he trains to beat StormCourtesy of Disney•Pixar

World’s Fastest Billboard has Pixar artists showing us what we might have missed: all the funny ads and logos in the background of the movie. This extra is fun!
Fly Throughs are an aerial trip through some of the major locations in the film. We see three of them. They are so detailed!
The 5 Deleted Scenes are explained by filmmakers as to why they were omitted. They are interesting and fun and in various stages of animation.
I really enjoyed My First Car consisting of three animated tales narrated by cast and crew members retelling why they loved the first cars they ever had. This is a hoot!
Miss Fritter’s Racing School is a cute group of endorsements by the demolition derby cars telling us why Miss Fritter (the demolition derby school bus in the film) should be given credit for their demo derby careers.
Ready for the Race is fun and interesting. It’s hosted by Disney Channel’s Olivia Rodrigo at Hendrick Motorsports where young race driver William Byron shows us how real NASCAR racers train. It was inspiration for the training facility in the film.
Cruz Ramirez: The Yellow Car that Could features artists drawing and creating the character, deciding to make her a trainer rather than a computer whiz as first developed. Actress Cristela Alonzo who voices Cruz tells us about the character. Nice.
There is a Feature Commentary by director and filmmakers includes info on the whole Cars franchise, story themes, character design, tech stuff, having a multi-national voice cast.. really thorough.

Miss Fritter is the queen of the demolition derbyCourtesy of Disney•Pixar

Wrapping Up

As usual, Disney•Pixar product on home entertainment looks and sounds great. The extras couldn’t be more thorough unless they featured more of the voice actors. Would like to have seen Owen Wilson talk about the changes in the Lightning character. This may be the last Cars movie, at least featuring Lightning McQueen and it is well worth adding to your collection or gifting. We go four stars.