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1) Cars (2006)

Unlike most trilogies, Cars seems to be a franchise that focuses more on needless sequels rather than an overlying story arc over the course of three movies. Cars took us to the world of Radiator Springs, a small town off of Route 66 that is home to talking cars. This is where a NASCAR-type celebrity racer hides away and learns to appreciate the small things in life and blah blah blah. Cars 2 gives the cars weapons and a pointless spy plot and probably has very little to do with Cars 3, which is meant to take the few viewers left that care back to where Cars began: the race track. Main man Lightning McQueen is a washed up racer now and must prove he still matters before he ages his way into retirement. Sounds like a metaphor for the franchise, right? You probably only need to watch the first Cars to have an understanding of what this world has to offer and I don’t imagine you’ll need much more than the most basic of imaginations (okay, cars that talk, got it) to be able to watch Cars 3.

2) Toy Story 3 (2010)

Watching an Oscar winning film like this might not be the best way to help you enjoy the car crash that Cars 3 is expected to be, but it is a great way to help you fully understand what Disney and Pixar are capable of if they care enough to try. Pixar’s bread and butter is making things that can’t talk do just that. They made fish talk, dinosaurs talk, robots, dogs, monsters… everything talks and feels things and it’s amazing. Pixar is amazing. Talking toys are amazing. Toy Story 3 is amazing.

Pixar has mastered emotional manipulation and I still cry every time I watch the end of Toy Story 3. Part sequel, part super rare amazing trilogy ender, part prison escape movie, Toy Story 3 teaches viewers how to let go of their childhood past and grow up. It’s about love, loss, family and friendship; these are things Disney and Pixar know well and have gone through together. Toy Story 3 is the fruit of the Disney/Pixar birth and breakup and wedding vow renewal ceremony. It makes everything they put us through worth the adventure and was the start of a very promising (and permanent) future together.

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