YMMV / Cars 3

• Accidental Innuendo: Chip Gearings, the #11 racer, is sponsored by Combustr, an online banking service that will see its debut in the new film. However, at first glance you probably would not have come to that conclusion. As you can clearly see, the piston and stylized explosion look like... well... to put it bluntly, a car-ified version of a joint. The color choice doesn't help either.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Sterling decides not to let Lightning race because every time McQueen loses a race, he "damages" himself. Was he talking about "damaging the brand" like McQueen accused him of, or acting out of genuine concern for McQueen's own safety, not wanting another near-fatal crash like the previous race? Though given his demeanor in the final half of the movie, it's more of the former and he was trying to play up the latter as an excuse.
  • Some fans have interpreted Jackson Storm as having an Inferiority Superiority Complex, and his arrogant personality is simply a facade used to hide that, which is partially supported by how aggressive he gets when he realizes that Cruz is about to beat him. His trash talking of Cruz during the final race could also be interpreted as him projecting his own insecurities onto her.
• Ass Pull:
  • Sterling going from a well-intentioned if somewhat greedy corporate executive to a full-on Jerkass at the climax is a bit hard to swallow. It's as though the writers were worried that the audience would sympathize with him too much and threw this in at the last moment just to make him less sympathetic when his company gets bought out by Dinoco.
  • Lightning letting Cruz race in his place in the Florida 500. While it is possible for real-life racers to switch drivers mid-race, it seems to be this trope when you consider that the cars themselves are the drivers, and this rule was never mentioned earlier in the film or any other installment of the franchise prior to this scene. However, Fridge Brilliance occurs when you consider the fact that, before this film, there was no reason for the rule to come up.
  • Cruz somehow perfectly replicates the "flip over the car" trick that Doc Hudson tried back in his glory days, despite never training to do it or even seeing it herself, since Smokey only told her how it happened.
• Awesome Music: "Ride" performed by ZZ Ward and Gary Clark Jr.
• Badass Decay: As several parts of the fanbase have noted, Lightning seems to be less competent as a racer compared to his showing in Cars 2. In 2, Lightning was easily capable of keeping up with and even beating Francesco, an F1 race car with a top speed of 220 mph, while in 3, he struggles to keep up with the slower (at only 214 mph) Jackson Storm and ultimately gives up on doing so to let Cruz do so instead.
• Broken Base:
  • Bob Peterson replacing Michael Keaton as the voice of Chick Hicks. Even if it was possibly done because of Keaton being busy with Spider-Man: Homecoming, many are still split over Peterson and if he was a good replacement for Hicks, with some simply not caring while others cite him as sounding too different from Keaton. People are also debating if having Hicks appear in the film at all was even necessary, seeing as how he has a relatively minor role in the film as the host of his own TV show, and that it could've been a different character instead.
  • The ending of the film has been rather controversial in some circles, namely over Cruz winning the Florida 500 instead of Lightning ^note though technically, Lightning won alongside Cruz since they switched halfway through and him later becoming her trainer. Some people feel that these factors both make Lightning suffer from Badass Decay and feeling it denied Lighting the onscreen win he deserved while others point out that the whole point of the film was for Lightning to accept that even if he couldn't race as he used to he could still be a part of his passion by passing on his legacy to Cruz.
• Common Knowledge: Contrary to popular belief, Lightning does not actually retire from racing or pass his Piston Cup spot on to Cruz by the end of the movie. While she takes his number and sponsor (95 and Rusteze) during the climax, it's only for that race, and afterwards, she is given a different number and sponsor (51 and Dinoco). Lightning flat-out states that he will keep racing in the future, and while he does act as Cruz's crew chief in the credits in a way specifically mirroring the retired Doc, it's implied to only be a temporary deal until she's ready to race without his active guidance.
• Contested Sequel: While the film is near-unanimously considered better than the second, whether or not it's better than the first movie is more divisive, with opinions seem to be split down the middle.
• Draco in Leather Pants: A lot of people like to portray Jackson Storm as more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold rather than the Jerk with a Heart of Jerk he is in the film. Forgetting about his personality, Storm's design as a car is pretty cool - sort of a mix between a NASCAR Xfinity Series car and a Le Mans racer, the sort of design that pops up every so often as a NASCAR concept. The black paint job and electric blue trim and decals just add to it. If that kind of a racer showed up in Real Life NASCAR, it would pretty much turn everybody's heads.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Natalie Certain is pretty popular despite her limited screentime. Her amazement towards Cruz winning the Florida 500 has made her especially popular with Les Yay shippers.
  • Miss Fritter is quite popular too, thanks to how absolutely awesome she is and revealing to actually be pretty nice when she's not participating in demolition derbies.
  • Cal Weathers really has about three major scenes in which he appears in, but is a pretty popular character nonetheless thanks to his friendly rivalry with Lightning and being a pretty funny character. Helps that he's also the nephew of Strip Weathers.
  • Danny Swervez only had one speaking line in the whole film, plus some cameos later on, but he's become rather popular among fans due to his famous "Name's Danny, bro" quote.
  • Among the Next-Gen racers, Harvey Rodcap has a unique paint design with clashing colors that makes him stand out. He was also one of the only Next-Gen racers (along with Tim Treadless) to show shock and concern for Lightning when he crashed.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • How exactly did Doc die in the first place?
  • What happened in the four months that passed following Lightning's near-fatal accident?
  • There have been plenty of Fan Sequels that showcase the aftermath of Cruz' new career as an official racer along with Lightning being her trainer.
• Foe Yay Shipping: A good portion of fans like to ship Cruz with Jackson Storm.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Try watching Lightning's near-fatal wreck after Ryan Newman's near-fatal crash at the 2020 Daytona 500, or Ryan Preece's wreck during the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on the same track three years later (which, although Preece luckily escaped from it with no severe injuries, resembled Lightning's crash very eerily).
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Turns out a 2009 film was also entitled Cars 3. It was even released two years before Cars 2!
  • Shortly after the first film was made, VideoBrinquedo created a mockbuster titled The Little Cars in the Great Race with the lead character being a yellow car named "Cruise".
• Les Yay: After Cruz Ramirez wins the Grand Prix at the end of the movie, racing analyst Natalie Certain looks in awe at the racer and breathlessly remarks that it was "A heck of a ride."
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The bizarrely bleak tone of the teaser trailer spread around the internet fast. A popular comment on YouTube says that the film is being directed by Zack Snyder.
  • Edits of the trailer featuring Johnny Cash's version of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", referencing the Logan trailer, have sprung up. One went so far as to match up the Logan trailer's audio directly.
  • "LIGHTNING MCQUEEN FUCKING DIES" was the general reaction to the trailer on Tumblr. Here◊ is a collage of some of the more memorable such posts.
  • Related to the crash is the often asked question of "If he crashes, does he need life insurance or car insurance?"
  • Some detractors have humorously reacted to the trailer by turning McQueen's Catchphrase from "Ka-chow!" to "Kach-OW!"
  • After the leaked footage revealed that Lightning's accident was caused by his right rear tire blowing out (like in the first movie), several viewers began leaving responses such as the "you need tires, you idiot!" line from the first movie.
  • "Name's Danny, bro."^ExplanationOne of the next-gen racers, named Danny Swervez, introduces himself to Lightning with this very quote.
  • The dramatic scene where McQueen has a Heroic R Ro D, falling behind Storm during the race in LA, and then desperately trying to keep up against Storm, directly leading into his infamous fatal crash, has been a subject of memes where the scene is used to refer to a situation of a person denying that something has way passed.
• Misaimed Fandom: Some people really wish Lightning had beaten Storm rather than Cruz, despite the entire film being about him learning to accept being older and realizing Cruz's potential.
• Misaimed Merchandising: Several figures from the film's toyline are based on McQueen's appearance just after his crash.
• Most Wonderful Sound: Pretty much EVERY time we hear Lightning's engine.
• Narm:
  • For some, the trailer's swerve into Darker and Edgier territory creates unintentional, line-crossing hilarity for an otherwise family-friendly franchise.
  • The child car screaming "LIIIIIIGHTNIIIIIIIIING" from the crowd of fans in the second trailer.
  • Lightning telling Sterling that "The racing is the reward, not the stuff." ^note the "stuff" in question being McQueen brand merchandise that Sterling planned on selling if McQueen went into retirement. It borders on Narm Charm for some, since what Lightning says is understandable in context.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • In-Universe for Lightning and Cruz, the demolition derby which is basically the equivalent of The Hunger Games or Battle Royale for cars.
  • In the trailer, we only see the slo-mo shot of Lightning's crash, but in the actual film, we see it in all its horrific glory, as he violently tumbles over and over on the track, sparks flying and pieces of his body coming off. It's even tougher to watch than the King's crash in the first movie. What's worse is when Lightning finally comes to a stop, he just lies motionless with his eyes shut and smoke (possibly from his engine) coming off him. The music doesn't help matters. Keep in mind that unlike the King's crash which was on the outfield turf and Doc's crash which was on sand; Lightning's crash happened on hard asphalt. Let that sink in for a bit...
  • We finally get to see what Doc's career ending crash looked like in 1954 on an old film archive. It starts off good with Doc as the Fabulous Hudson Hornet gaining a lead in a race set on a beach. But as Hudson charges forward towards another turn, he struggles to get traction back on the sand only to start barrel rolling repeatedly in a similar manner to Lightning's crash. What is worse is that Hudson, unlike McQueen, was conscious through the duration of the crash. He even struggles to get back up while there are medical personnel around him.
• Older Than They Think: People seem to forget that the original Cars film's first race involves a series of car crashes. The differences are that Lightning is unharmed by it and the crash in this film is a lot more realistic.
• One-Scene Wonder: Other than Miss Fritter, the Thunder Hollow Speedway racers have only a few seconds onscreen, and they make every second count.
• Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading: To some, Lightning and Cruz's relationship came off as unintentionally romantic instead of the platonic mentor-student friendship it was intended to be. Not only do a lot of their interactions come off as Ship Tease (particularly since they spend a good deal of the movie together), but Sally - Lightning's canonical girlfriend - is Demoted to Extra and barely interacts with him.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: Some people have begun to ship Cruz and Danny together, despite that neither of them interact with each other at any point during the film.
• Shocking Moments: Let's just say the first teaser's footage of Lightning McQueen's fateful crash threw everybody in for a loop (for better or worse).
• Signature Scene:
  • Jackson Storm coming out of nowhere to beat Lightning last-minute.
  • The Bullet Time shot of Lightning McQueen flying through the air and crashing. Though, considering it's been shown or alluded to in all the film's previews (the teaser revolves entirely around it), this was likely intentional.
  • Lightning going out of control on the simulator and destroying it.
  • The entirety of the Fireball Beach race, as well as the Thunder Hollow Crazy 8.
  • Cruz's epic flip over Storm in the Florida 500.
• Signature Song: "Run That Race" and "Ride".
• Strawman Has a Point: Even though it seems like a cold hearted decision for Sterling to forcibly retire Lightning, one has to remember that up until this point, Lightning was in the midst of a big losing streak, had a near fatal crash, wasn't getting anywhere during training, and trashed a multimillion dollar simulator. But then again, this could be more because of the last two since Sterling was all for the idea of Lightning's comeback to the racing scene up until the simulator incident.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: In general, critical reception has been more favorable to this movie than the second - the second movie had a "Rotten" score of 34%, whereas the third movie has a "Fresh" score of 68%. The fact that this film focused on the racing aspect, as opposed to the second film (which started off focused on racing, but became distracted by the spy story) probably helps.
• Tainted by the Preview: One half of the Broken Base feels that the Darker and Edgier tone displayed in the teaser trailers didn't really set a very good first impression for the film.
• Trailer Joke Decay: Played with in that it's definitely not a joke, but some of the film's detractors have become somewhat bored with the apparent overuse of the shot where McQueen crashes. Even those looking forward to the film have felt that the shock experienced from the first trailer had lost some of its impact when all of the film's trailers showed it, especially since this scene is apparently one of the film's biggest plot points.
• Visual Effects of Awesome:
  • As controversial as it is, you gotta admit that the scene of Lightning McQueen crashing in slow motion is very detailed. Due to the camera angles concealing the character's faces (although McQueen's closed eyes can briefly be seen if you look close enough when he is sent flying), it's practically photorealistic.
  • Much like The Good Dinosaur, the backgrounds are incredibly realistic, to the point where you could mistake the film for being live-action that just happens to star computer animated cars.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Parents in particular have stated that their kids were really upset when they saw McQueen crash in the teaser.
• Win Back the Crowd:
  • The Darker and Edgier tone of the trailer is this to the other half of the Broken Base who felt like the series was too kid-friendly for older audiences.
  • Even though she's only the Deuteragonist, the mere presence of Cruz Ramirez caused some rejoicing among Pixar fans on accounts of Pixar's frequent lack of heroines in their filmography. It also helps that she's (technically speaking) a non-white lead.
  • Even if the film wasn't as dark as the trailers portrayed it as, Cars 3's positive reception has won over quite a lot of people who were either disappointed with Cars 2 or just didn't consider the Cars franchise as a whole to be Pixar's strong suit.
• The Woobie:
  • Lightning goes through a lot here. His fear of possibly having to retire due to newer, younger racers taking the lead gets the best of him a fairly good portion of the time and is constantly emotionally let down by some of the other racers because of it.
  • Doc, once we learn that he went through many of the same issues McQueen did in the film.
  • Cruz. About half-way through the movie, Lightning snaps at her for being nothing but a mere trainer that doesn't understand what he's going through. This causes Cruz to have a minor breakdown and reveals to Lightning that she has always wanted to be a racer just like him, but never felt like she belonged anywhere.
  • Cal Weathers. Being a total Butt-Monkey throughout most of the film along with being forced to go into retirement, you can't help but feel bad for the guy.
• Woolseyism: The movie is retitled Cars: Crossroads for the Japanese dub, and it makes a great deal of sense. The term "crossroads" is used as a metaphor for deciding between two actions that will have eventual consequences, and the film is about Lightning deciding whether or not he should continue racing (where he won't be able to keep up with the newer racers and is very likely to hurt himself) or retire (in which he'll have to watch a lifelong passion of his finally come to an end). This is reinforced in the lyrics of the movie's Japanese theme, "Engine".

---