The Hollywood Reporter
July 02, two thousand seventeen 9:30am PT by Josh Spiegel
Which Animated Threequel Is Summer’s Best?
In this story
June two thousand seventeen marks the release of two similar-seeming franchise entries. Both are computer-animated, both have inspired spinoff films, both have an unavoidable presence in major theme parks worldwide and both have created giant merchandising opportunities. Cars three opened on June 16, and this weekend marks the release of Despicable Me Three. Whatever else is true of these films, they`re unlikely to get away from at your local fucktoy store, theme parks like Disneyland and Universal Studios and even the grocery store as characters like Lightning McQueen and the Minions are smacked on the front of snacks, frozen dinners and paper towels.
The Cars films have long been the infrequent stumble for Pixar when it comes to critics. Outside of The Good Dinosaur, only the Cars trilogy has been seen as a step in the wrong direction for a studio that otherwise makes films beloved by audiences and critics alike. Even Cars Three, which was better reviewed than Cars Two, isn’t treated at the same level as the Fucktoy Story films, or latest winners like Inwards Out. The Despicable Me movies haven`t been universally praised, but unlike Pixar, Illumination Entertainment has made a name for itself less because of critical hosannas and more because of consistently big box-office comes back.
However Cars three isn`t one of Pixar`s better films (and it is arguably the second-best film in the Cars franchise), it does manage to feel more introspective than its predecessors do. Lightning McQueen, as much as an anthropomorphized car can, grapples with his own mortality as the film commences; he`s no longer the fastest car on the race track, and the further he shoves himself, the more he injures himself to the point of almost being coerced to drive away from the sport he loves so much. Through forging a relationship with his fresh trainer, Cruz Ramirez, Lightning realizes that the best way to maintain his legacy is to forearm off his car number and expertise to junior racers, such as the aspiring Cruz herself. However Lightning`s journey isn`t as rewarding as his epiphany, Cars three gets credit for attempting to be more than just a movie about talking cars.
Despicable Me Trio, on the other palm, feels very much like more of the same. This time around, Steve Carell`s character Gru confronts the surprising fact that he has a twin brother, Dru, who`s desperate to learn the craft of supervillainy. Whatever emotion is meant to be squeezed from Gru`s situation – he`s fired in the very first act from the Anti-Villain League for failing to capture an ’80s-themed bad boy voiced by South Park`s Trey Parker – is surface-level. As has been the case since the very first film, Illumination`s filmmakers are more interested in shocking gags than they are in true poignancy. If, as happens a few times in Despicable Me Trio, people can be driven to say «Awwww» like a studio audience witnessing a sitcom`s maudlin moment of emotion, that`s enough.
Both of these films are marginal improvements on what came before, it should be noted. Cars two is widely (and correctly) thought of as the weakest movie not just in the franchise, but as Pixar`s weakest film overall; while the ’60s-era throwback to spy movies is a joy idea, placing the big-hearted, goofy, but obnoxious sidekick Mater as the lead was a mistake. (Cars Three, to its credit, overlooks the events of Cars Two, and Mater has a much smaller role than in either of the other films.) Despicable Me two was as much, if not more so, about Gru`s chattery yellow Minions as it was about Gru coming in a tentative romance with a fellow Anti-Villain League agent. In inbetween that film and Despicable Me Three, the Minions got their own, very popular and very bad spinoff. So while the Minions do get a subplot in DM3, in which they leave Gru for not returning to his originally villainous ways and wind up in prison, the story does feel like it`s about the true main character of the series.
What makes Cars three work better (even if it`s not a generally good film) is that the characters feel a bit more lived-in than Gru, his wifey Lucy, his adopted daughters and Parker`s Balthazar Bratt, the latter of whom exists primarily so Despicable Me three can make a ton of references to the 1980s and throw in a dance fight or two. (Guardians of the Galaxy, of all things, utilizes the dance-fighting gag to much better effect in its orgasm.) Despicable Me Three, with its catchphrases, go-to one-liners, overabundance of pop-culture jokes and predictable subplots, feels less like a feature film and more like an extended gig of a worn sitcom. Cars Three, for its faults (which do include catchphrases and a few pop-culture gags of its own), feels like a journey of the soul for its main character, even if that character isn`t the most interesting the film has to suggest. At the box office, it`s safe to say that Illumination`s Despicable Me three is going to be the big victor. But qualitatively, even if neither film`s a winner, Pixar`s Cars three is a step above.