‘Cars 3’ never gets up to speed

Admit it. You weren't missing Lightning McQueen all that much. There are only so many times you can watch cartoon speed competitions between talking cars with eyeball windshields before they become rather draggy. “Cars 3” seems to be the limit. Viewing it is like watching 132 laps at a NASCAR speedway. It's not the sort of additional chapter you would call “eagerly awaited.”

The 2006 original, which introduced that world of humanoid hot rods, was not the highlight of Pixar's acclaimed track record. Its 2011 “autos go spying in Europe” sequel, more a sales pitch for Disney's consumer products division, is universally regarded as the studio's worst.

“Cars 3” eases back to thoughtful character drama with occasional sprinkles of peppy humor. It spends a fair amount of time in highoctane car races but more on its characters' inner stories and adult themes around generational transitions.

Owen Wilson reprises his voice role as Lightning McQueen, who, you may remember, began his career as a famous go-getter West Coast race competitor before finding the gentle small-town life in the Route 66 Podunk of Radiator Flats. Lightning is gamely committed to showing a new generation of rivals that he's still the best race car in the world, but their up-to-theminute engineering is hard to beat.

Just as Lightning was the protege of race veteran Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), here he shares his wisdom with a less experienced up-andcomer. The moral, as in the first film, is that winning isn't everything and competition isn't about beating others but bringing out your personal best.

The vocal performances are passable. There are more newcomers, including Cristela Alonzo as Lightning's spirited race trainer, Cruz Ramirez, and Armie Hammer as Jackson Storm, a smug new racing hotshot, but they don't bring much excitement to the game. Regular cast members Tony Shalhoub, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy and more appear, but they seem to be around mainly for old times' sake. Newman left behind a collection of recorded dialogue used here for flashback memories.

There is a steady supply of smoking wheels, flipping race cars and even a dirty demolition derby, rendered in impeccable visual detail. The vistas here aren't as vast as the imposing desert backgrounds in the original “Cars,” however, and none of the scenes carries an aweinspiring level of creativity. There's nothing here you can't live without.