Cars 3 seemed to get back to the roots of the Cars franchise a little more to me. Maybe not so much the Route 66 part (which was part of what first captured me into the franchise), but deff the racing and the heart of the franchise.
We got back to the racing, where Cars2 had racing but, let’s be honest, not a lot of it. The first Cars included two entire races plus some history of racing with Doc and the dirt track. Cars 2 just had the races as something to get the gang out of the country and basically as something for Light to do while Mater was off having his adventure. Cars 3 got back to the racing, and we got to see Light and his racing friends having fun and everything.
We also got some history again. In the first Cars, the history was Route 66-centric. It was about the history of Radiator Springs, and Route 66 and the interstate system. Cars 2 sorta skipped out on the history aspect of the franchise, in favor of more world building (which, don’t get me wrong, I LOVED the international world building). But Cars 3 got back into the history, in this case the history of the Piston Cup when they got to Thomasville.
Plus! Basically everyone in Radiator Springs got lines!! (Except Red, but you know, Red) Even Doc got lines! And Sally got an actual part again!! The Radiator Springs family was back and looking after each other again. Plus we got to meet Light’s Racing Gang (Bobby & Cal) and Doc’s old racing gang (More Doc Backstory?!?).
Plus, I love the Cars architecture (which is why I still love Cars 2, despite it’s flaws), like the Rust-Eze Racing Center designed like a racetrack, the Florida racetrack open to the sea was really cool, and the old Thomasville track?? Looks EXACTLY like old dirt tracks!!
So ya, basically I LOVED Cars 3, it seems the more natural sequel of Cars than Cars 2 did, Cars 2 seems like an extra long Tall Tale.