We're less than a week from the release of the newest entry in the Cars franchise so it's time for that last-minute marketing blitz. One last trailer for the new film is online and it's all about limits, specifically, has Lightning McQueen reached his or not. Things aren't looking too good for our hero here, though at least he has some decent music to play him out. Check out the final trailer below.
Since the trailer is about limits, the use of the Eagles "Take it to the Limit" is a nice touch. In the trailer, we see Lightning McQueen involved in what looks to be several different races with one thing in common. He's losing. In every case, we see a car in the lead, which looks to be Jackson Storm for the most part, and Lightning McQueen closely, but clearly, behind. We know that Cars 3 is going to be something of a comeback story as McQueen will find himself being counted out of racing following a serious crash, but he isn't quite ready to be done.
The trailer opens with something a couple other spots have contained, the voice of Doc Hudson as played by Paul Newman. We learned recently from the director of Cars 3 that Pixar actually has hours of recorded material from Newman's original Cars recording sessions. It's not clear how much of a role Doc will play in the new film, nut we know that he's there.
The music used in the trailer is also worthy of note. It's possible that The Eagles song is only being used as part of the trailer, but the Cars franchise has always made music a major part of their movies because driving and music go hand in hand. However, previous films have tended to have original songs, or at least new covers of classic tunes, as part of the soundtrack. Could this be an indication that Cars 3 will include more songs we're already familiar with, in their original versions?
I'm certainly looking forward to Cars 3 more than I ever would have expected. The movie really feels like it's a "sports movie" in the vein of Rocky or The Natural, something that Disney has been fairly good at making themselves, but this is Pixar's first go at the genre. While the Lightning McQueen we know has always been at the top of his form, the new film will give us his comeback. The tension is visible on Lightning's face.
The third act of Lightning McQueen arrives in theaters Friday.
