My family and I made our way to the The Rockin’ Parkway Drive-In in Maryville, Tenn. on Friday night to take in the third installment of the “Cars” movie series. The place was packed with movie goers who backed their vehicles into whatever empty spot they could find and then spent time waiting for the sun to go down by playing games of catch with baseballs, footballs and Frisbees.
“Cars 3” from Pixar and Disney again followed the adventures of animated racer Lightning McQueen and several of his old friends from the previous two installments of the film series. In the first “Cars” movie, Lightning McQueen matured as a race car under the watchful eye of ‘The Fabulous Hudson Hornet’. That film featured a significant number of racing scenes and delivered a family friendly message as McQueen went from being egotistical and and very much self-centered to becoming a sincere and compassionate friend by the end of the movie.
Some were left disappointed by the second installment as it took on more a spy/thriller type of scenario and left much of the racing, and McQueen’s friends from the first movie, in the background.
Racing fans will no doubt enjoy “Cars 3” as the story returns to its racing roots with McQueen having to deal with getting older and becoming less competitive. Without giving away any details, the hero of the film takes on more of a mentor role to another racer while continuing to do a good bit of racing of his own.
NASCAR fans will recognize some familiar voices as Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Gordon, Richard Petty, Kyle Petty, Chase Elliott, Darrell Wallace, Jr., Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney and H.A. ‘Humpy’ Wheeler offer their talents as they bring various characters to life.
Dirt racing fans will enjoy the fact that McQueen does much of his training on dirt tracks throughout the film and offers numerous dirt track references as well.
All in all, the movie was highly enjoyable for young and old alike and the life lessons taught were valuable ones. Further, the movie reviewer for Christian radio network K-Love gave the movie a perfect five-out-of-five rating for family friendliness so there should be no worries as far as taking children along is concerned.
