The Search for Distraction Options

This may put be in the minority of adults, but I like Cars.  The movie.  Yes that one.  I admit I liked the story even when it's world building and internal logic seemed incomprehensible.  I only liked it more when I realized it was really about driverless cars who take on human characteristics and adopt human culture as a way to assuage their guilt and emotionally hollow cores for wiping out their creators in an apocalyptic war.

But mostly these days, I like Cars because it is the one non-terrible, non-grating entertainment I can put on the screen that will keep the kids from destroying the house in their boredom.  Still waiting for dinner to get made?  Put on Cars.  Left bunny behind at school?  Put on Cars.  Kids fighting over toys?  Put on Cars.  Amazingly, they never get sick of it.  As an adult, on the other hand, I was really hoping for another reliable "go to" pick.  Sadly, out of the many, many, many other TV, movie and internet options, none of them could captivate as much as Cars.


I had been hoping the sequel, could double our stockpile of guaranteed distractions, but that movie is a mess.  Don't get me wrong, the kids still like it.  But thanks to a risible and incongruous spy plot, too much Larry the Cable Guy (as Mater) and too much action and violence, it only seems to amp up the little ones' mayhem quotient, rather than calm them down.

That's why I've found the early word on Cars 3 to be so encouraging.  Here's the plot summarized on Pixar's website:

Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) is suddenly pushed out of the sport he loves. To get back in the game, he will need the help of an eager young race technician with her own plan to win, inspiration from the late Fabulous Hudson Hornet, and a few unexpected turns. Proving that #95 isn’t through yet will test the heart of a champion on Piston Cup Racing’s biggest stage!

Let's break this down a bit.  In terms of the story, the biggest hope I have for Cars 3 is for a return to the roots of the original story.  You know a movie called "Cars" about what cars are supposed to do: driving and racing.  Looking at the extras from the original, it was clear the story emerged from director John Lasseter's emotional connection to family road trips and it really showed on the screen.  That connection was lost in the sequel, but he himself has said it will be a stronger part of the third outing.  [Note that the AV Club has figured out the secret meaning of Cars as well!]  It mentions the Hudson Hornet (Paul Newman's character in the original) and not Mater.  Lightning's character progresses, effectively deals with aging and promisingly, for a story with few compelling female characters, a technician with "her own plan".

Will these encouraging signs hold out?  Here's hoping.  The value of going from one and a half hours to three hours of guaranteed distraction cannot be underestimated.