And that's saying a lot because of the three this is the only one rated above a 3. The first Cars Life is one of the worst animated movies ever made and while a little better the second one was also very bad. Cars Life: A Royal Heist is not great and I personally don't see myself wanting to see it again in a hurry but is easily the best and most watchable of the Cars Life series. The animation is inconsistent, to begin with it does look very flat and choppy with some awkward character animation but once things get going it's more lively and fluid with some very colourful moments in the second half. The music is very annoying and monotonous, staying at a very draggy tempo and some of it comes across as repetitive. The voice work is still an improvement over the first 2 movies, this one at least doesn't have Denise Finelli but some of it can still sound rather amateurish with some ridiculously outlandish accents and hamming up happening, and others like the voice actress for Queen Limousine sounding bored and with an overdone clipped accent. And to be honest the beginning shows no promise at all, when it all starts we're like "oh no, this one is exactly like the other two".
But things do significantly pick up once the story gets going, the second half does have some exciting and fun moments. Unlike the first two movies Cars Life 3: The Royal Heist actually does have glimpses of a story, not the most original mind and a couple of the twists and turns are on the obvious side(most really keep you guessing though) but apart from the slow and amateurish start there is momentum in the pacing and children will enjoy the caper/courtroom-like goings on. The characters and writing are also vastly improved though not perfect. Sparky is nowhere near as much of a brat though, he is more determined and resourceful here whereas in the previous two he was disrespectful and refused to acknowledge his mistakes. Speedy is wisely down-played and not as prominent, a great thing seeing as in the previous two and when Denise Finelli was voicing her she was one of animation's most annoying characters and one of the rarities where you wanted to wish serious harm to. I still don't like her much as a character, but she wasn't anywhere near as distracting this time.
Cars Life 3: The Royal Heist also seems to know who it's aiming at, the dialogue is still not perfect with some parts that do not flow very well at all or come across as cheesy. But the humour is nowhere near as juvenile or crass which may make things more digestible for parents while there are few if any parts here that are inappropriately creepy or sadistic which makes it easily the most accessible of the Cars Life movies for children. It does have its elements of charm, playfulness and suspense and unlike the first two Cars Life movies there are values to be learnt such as loyalty, persistence, friendship and honesty and they are not handled in a preachy way either. Overall, the other two Cars Life movies were terrible with the first having no redeeming qualities at all, Cars Life 3: The Royal Heist was surprisingly tolerable, not great but apart from starting off terribly it is the best of the series by a mile. 5/10 Bethany Cox
