Want to know how Cars 3 ends?

The Art of Cars 3 reveals all!  If you’re a person who is just dying to know how a story ends before you experience it, you’ll find your answers and more in this beautiful book.  But more importantly, this tome of art is a detailed account of the development of Pixar’s newest animated film (due out in theaters on June 16).  If you’re a fan of the Cars franchise and are craving to know more about what went in to making this film, the thought-process behind the story, and curious about the plot twists that might have been, this is the book for you.

Title: The Art of Cars 3
Author: The production team for the film
Cost: $40 (but on Amazon at the time of writing for only $25.47)
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Genre: Non-fiction, art books

Featuring storyboards, development art, and concepts that went into Cars 3, the book chronicles in detail how this went from an idea to a film.  I love how it featured rough sketches and design specs of many of the characters you see in the film.  As a child, I loved drawing cars of all shapes and sizes and The Art of Cars 3 is like a playground for my mind.  The thought that went into each character was impressive, from the smooth shapes and curves of Lightning McQueen to the sharp, low, angled edges of Jackson Storm.  The quirky characteristics of the Crazy 8’s to the classic designs of the Legends, all of it was so interesting to see.  Even the signs and stickers adorning the cars are thought out before placing them in the film!

I particularly loved the pull-out section of the book where the top shows the cars from Lightning McQueen’s heyday and when you open it up you see the modern, slick cars which threaten to overtake McQueen’s now “classic” design.  It’s just fun and impressive.  My favorite part of the book however, are the “Deleted Scenes” featured in the third act.  The Art of Cars 3 is divided into acts just like the film and while they roughly coincide to the action in the movie, they also explore different parts of the film.  The first act heavily features the design of Jackson Storm and the set-up of the plot for the film.  The second act delves more deeply into Cruz and the other characters who make up Lightning’s comeback from the crash (no big secret as it is revealed in the trailer).  And the third act…well, I won’t give away anything about the plot, but in the book it features these deleted scenes of directions the story could have taken – complete with full storyboards and art.  Hopefully, we’ll see some of these in the home release of the film with animation and voice over.

Overall, this is really a well-made, beautiful book.  If I had one criticism it would be that I would have liked more information in the captions as to what we were seeing.  Often, it would be a beautiful picture without any reference to where it fit in the movie.  But it is such a seriously beautiful book and the stories are so intriguing that one minor flaw isn’t worth quibbling about.  If you’re a serious Cars fan, you’ll love this book.  If you love the sleek design of a race car, you’ll love this book, too.  But if you want to keep the plot a secret until after you see it – well, just open the book up after you see the film, but get the book anyway!