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The reviews for Cars 3 are in... and they're not half bad

Cars 3... faring pretty well with the critics - Credit: Disney/Pixar
Cars 3… faring pretty well with the critics – Credit: Disney/Pixar

Beyond toddler age, it’s hard to imagine ‘Cars’ being anyone’s favourite Pixar franchise.

However, the reviews are coming in for what many would expect to be a rather shrug-worthy third movie in the series, and they’re actually not half bad.

Owen Wilson’s cock stock car Lightening McQueen is back, as is tow truck Mater, Lightening’s best chum, voiced by Larry The Cable Guy.

This time Armie Hammer joins the cast as racing rival Jackson Storm, but after a serious crash, McQueen’s future is thrown into doubt, before he stages a comeback with help from race technician Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo).

(Credit: Disney/Pixar)
(Credit: Disney/Pixar)

And thus far, at the time of publishing, things are going OK, with the movie garnering a respectable enough 63% approval rating on reviews aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

Owen Gleiberman in Variety writes: “’Cars 3′ is very much a tale of mentorship, of learning how to give up your ego in order to bolster someone else’s. As such, it’s touching in a pleasingly formulaic, pass-the-torch way.”

Eric Kohn, giving the movie a reasonably impressive B+ on Indiewire, even goes as far as comparing the film to another eminent cinematic franchise.

(Credit: Disney/Pixar)
(Credit: Disney/Pixar)

“This is a sturdy, mature sports movie about the aging process that – if the anthropomorphized vehicles were swapped for humans – wouldn’t look out of place in Rocky’s oeuvre,” he added.

On this side of the pond, the Metro agrees: “There’s something badass about a movie aimed squarely at kids that’s all about the pains of getting old.”

Uproxx adds: “Who knew that adding some emotional weight and unconsciously using some themes from Rocky III could add a little much needed depth and humanity to these sentient automobiles?”

Sure, they’re not all great.

Alonso Duralde on The Wrap writes: “As a spawner of merchandise, Cars 3 fires on all pistons but, as a movie, it’s a harmless but never stimulating 109 minutes.”

Screen International’s Tim Grieson was similarly unimpressed: “In ‘Cars 3’, champion racer Lightning McQueen grapples with the possibility that his glory days are behind him – an uncomfortably apt metaphor for a franchise that has run out of gas.”

But in the main, the notices are positive, and likely a pleasing dovetail to the franchise.

It’s due out in the UK on July 14.

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