We ranked the 7 Pixar sequels from worst to best

Cars 3

You had to expect this one to be next. Look, the Cars movies aren’t great. Kids may love them, but they don’t have the same appeal as some of the other films in their roster.

Cars 3 is actually considered a better film than Cars 2, with a 68 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and an audience score of 70 percent (compared to the previous film’s dismal 39 percent). Critics felt like it had a surprisingly poignant story to go along with the impressive animation (something that Pixar always gets right), and that maybe the franchise still had some life left in it after all. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean a Cars 4 is on the way.

The film did earn $383 million worldwide, which is less than Cars 2 earned globally, and even on a budget of around $175 million, it’s still considered a flop. Pixar isn’t known for films flopping, but thankfully for hits like Inside Out and Finding Nemo coming out around the same time, it wasn’t a huge blow for the company.

Cars 3 tells the story of the legendary Lightning McQueen dealing with aging and being blindsided by a new generation of racers. The film’s honest look at aging and an empowering new female character — Cruz Ramirez, voiced by Cristela Alonzo — helped the film get a better reputation than its predecessors, but that may not be saying a lot.

The world may be over the Cars craze, so hopefully Lassetter (who didn’t direct the third film in the series) is over it too.