Ranking All The Pixar Sequels From Worst To Best

Oh, Cars. A film that should have never had a sequel in the first place somehow wound up being Pixar's only other trilogy besides Toy Story, and that doesn't sit well with a lot of people.

However, Cars 3 isn't a bad film, but is actually a solid animated sports movie that is (at least) on-par with the first film. In many ways, it's what Cars 2 should have been, digging deeper into Lighting McQueen's character development, and pushing him into greater conflict in his professional life as well as his personal one.

It's also in the unique position of giving Pixar the opportunity to show off what they learn from failure. Mater's role is significantly dialed back, the emotional moments are given more room to breathe, and the humor is much less gratuitously annoying.

Sure it has issues, like the pacing being all over the place and the occasional out-of-nowhere creative decision that reminds you this was still made by all the people who thought 'Spy Mater' was the best idea they'd ever had. But the film's central theme of mentorship is a powerful one and the finale of Lightning McQueen handing the race over to Cruz Ramirez punctuates it really well, and brings the series full circle in a really interesting way.