By Travis Johnson
The first Cars came out in 2006 – that’s ten years ago. That is actually enough time for idiots who saw it when they were eight to go through a difficult puberty and start clamouring for a grim ‘n’ gritty “serious” update of something they first saw when wetting themselves was still a daily possibility (see also: Transformers, GI Joe, every superhero property, probably Silverhawks for all we know).
Judging by this early teaser for Cars 3, Disney/Pixar are all up in that demographic. What we have here is a slick, kinetic, dramatic burst of energy and action that would look right at home presaging, well, anything other than a Cars sequel. Remember, Cars is basically Doc Hollywood with Matchbox toys, not the kindergarten version of The Fast & the Furious.
So what’s going on here? The powers that be are tight-lipped, of course, and doubtless we’ll get a more detailed and kid-friendly trailer before too long – the real money is in small boys with short attention spans, after all. In the meantime, marvel at what an odd artifact this initial marketing salvo is.
