As any viewer of Toy Story 3, Up, or Inside Out is well aware, Pixar is quite comfortable when it comes to embracing existential and emotional crises. But even that knowledge did not prepare us for this new trailer for Cars 3, in which our old pal Lightning McQueen appears to … crash and nearly perish on the NASCAR track? Or, put another way: Is Lightning being Bing Bonged? We picture a parent and child positioned in front of their computer screen, faces alight in excitement for a new Cars trailer, only to fall into a deep malaise a mere 35 seconds later. “Mommy? Daddy?†this newly shaken child might ask, looking for answers. And sure, unlike the first teaser (below), the new footage (above) shows Mr. McQueen surviving his scrape with oblivion, phew. But the reprieve is brief, as Lightning recovers … only to find his beleaguered, broken self without a place among the shiny young bucks of today. Cold comfort, kiddies.
