But was Cars 3 actually good on the level of Ratatouille or Pixar's best? I don't remember Good Dinosaur receiving any outstanding praise. All I'm saying is I feel like they've had some missteps over the past few years. Even Brave was just alright - not excellent, and not up to their previous standards. Inside Out was pretty good though, I can definitely give them that.
You asked what their last critically acclaimed movie was, I provided a list of their last 7 films and the current rating of their 8th due out in like a week. I in no way meant to imply that all of those movies were critical darlings so I apologize if it came off that way, but the only critical BOMB of their last 8 films was Cars 2. If we're gonna get into our own personal feelings on their recent output fine, but that's not what you initially asked unless I completely misunderstood you.
I will say that while probably not on the level of something like Ratatouille or Pixar's best, Cars 3 is unquestionably not only the best of the 3 Cars movies, but also a really excellent film on its own about a very surprisingly adult subject matter. I know the Cars movies get a lot of shit not just here but in the world, but Cars 3 is a good movie. The Good Dinosaur isn't... bad... but it is fucking
WIERD.
But Coco isn't even out here yet and it's already critically acclaimed, and so was Finding Dory and Inside Out. Even though I wouldn't call Cars 3 "critically acclaimed" it did review much better than the other two and it seems like a pretty unanimous "it's the best of the three" despite still getting a middling score so, *shrug*. I don't think Pixar would ever be able to make a Cars movie that got critical acclaim honestly, people just can't get past the "kiddy" talking cars thing.
You can kind of chart a wave like Disney's, they had their golden period then their dark period then their resurgence, Pixar seems to be making that same pattern and starting with Inside Out they're back on the upswing again (minus Cars obviously but again, it's Cars), with Coco already reviewing extremely well, and their next two films being Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4 which I can't even fathom being bad.