The sequel, with its over-the-top spy movie plot, certainly wasn’t looking to make as much of an emotional impact.
It’s also surprising because if there was a Pixar franchise where we might expect a darker film, it probably wouldn’t be Cars.
The word was that the plan for Cars 3 was to try and recapture the heart of the first film, but I never really expected this.
While the original film certainly had some emotional aspects to it, the sheer fact that the movie is about anthropomorphic automobiles does a lot to make it feel less “real” than other Pixar films.