- “Going where no car has gone before.”
- ―Tagline
Cars 2 is a 2011 American computer-animated comedy adventure film produced by Pixar, and it is the sequel to the 2006 film Cars. In the film, race car Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) and tow truck Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) head to Japan, Italy, and the United Kingdom to compete in the World Grand Prix. But Mater becomes sidetracked with international espionage. The film is directed by John Lasseter (in his final outing as director of a Pixar film to date), co-directed by Brad Lewis, written by Ben Queen, and produced by Denise Ream. Cars 2 is also the first film John Lasseter has directed since the original Cars in 2006. George Carlin who voiced Fillmore was replaced by Lloyd Sherr after he died in 2008.
The film was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios and was released in the United States on June 24, 2011. The film was presented in Disney Digital 3-D and IMAX 3-D, as well as traditional two-dimensional and IMAX formats. The film was first announced in 2008, alongside Up, Newt, and Brave (previously known as The Bear and the Bow), and it is the 12th animated film from the studio. The film opened to negative reviews from critics, and is Pixar's lowest reviewed feature film to date. At the time of its release, it was the studio's lowest-grossing film in North America since A Bug's Life. Despite this, it continued the studio's streak of box office success, ranking #1 on its opening weekend in the U.S. and and Canada with $66,135,507, and topping international success of such previous Pixar's works as WALL-E, Cars, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, and Toy Story.
This marks one of the last few animated films to receive the G rating due to regarding its intense violent content[1] as subsequent animated films would be receiving the PG rating until further notice.
Plot[]
The film opens on a grainy video recording. A red English sports coupe named Agent Leland Turbo speaks to the camera saying that his mission of a discovery he made has failed and that he needs help from another British agent named Finn McMissile. He jots in his GPS coordinates just as a pair of hatchbacks opens the warehouse doors behind him, a commotion follows, and the video feed dies.
A crab boat named Crabby has Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) on board. The trawler tells McMissile that they've arrived at the coordinates, but there is nothing but water for miles. A massive warship appears from out of the shadows. It draws its guns on the trawler and demands that it leave immediately. The trawler swiftly obeys the order and turns around, and notices that Finn is no longer on board. The warship drifts back to its home base, unaware that McMissile has attached himself to the back of the ship using his pair of grappling hooks. The two arrive at a massive oil platform in the middle of the ocean. Finn grapples onto one of the oil platform's supports, engages his magnetic tires, and swiftly makes his way to the top of the facility. From above he takes photos and spies on a meeting taking place between dozens of "lemons" (Pacers, Gremlins, etc.). When he tries to get in touch with Leland Turbo, he is unable to hear or get word from him through his comm device. Professor Zündapp (Thomas Kretschmann), a monocled German weapons designer, appears and opens a second box, in which Finn sees what seems to be a regular looking TV camera. Zündapp then sees two Lemons, Grem and Acer, open a wooden crate that reveals the cubed crushed-up remains of Leland Turbo, leaving Finn horrified. All the lemons are soon alerted to Finn's presence and a massive chase/firefight ensues. Finn is soon cornered on the top-most platform of the oil rig. He peels out in reverse, plunging at least 100 feet into the water below. The secret agent sprouts water skis and rocket boosters which push him across the water like a speedboat. Zündapp's henchmen take off after him. A massive rocket missile locks in on Finn and explodes, leaving a pile of smoking wreckage floating on the ocean surface. Finn McMissile has in fact, faked his death and survived the explosion. He sprouts his submarine fins, turbines, a scuba mask and escapes undetected. The Lemons think Finn has died when four tires that Finn used as proof to fake his death float surface up onto the sea.
In Radiator Springs, Mater has resumed his towing job and is rescuing a stranded car named Otis on the side of the highway. Otis is ridiculed for breaking down and having a tendency to leak oil unlike Mater, who has never had oil-leaking problems despite looking rusty. Mater tows him back to town and sees that Lightning McQueen is back home after winning his 4th Piston Cup. The two reminisce by visiting the Radiator Springs museum which is dedicated to the memory of Doc Hudson who recently died sometime ago. Mater has exciting plans for them both, but McQueen cuts him off, saying that he would love to spend some time with Mater, but also wants to spend time with Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt), his girlfriend. Later that evening, Lightning and Sally are at the Wheel Well, which has now become a bustling hang-out and restaurant for tourists and visitors. Mater arrives, as a waiter, and interrupts Lightning and Sally's date. They take his intrusion with stride and order a couple of drinks. Mater heads to the bar where Guido is acting as the bartender. On TV, an interviewer named Mel Dorado is speaking to Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard), a former oil baron who has recently given up fossil fuels in favor of his own alternative fuel, "Allinol". Miles tells him of his plans to hold a World Grand Prix, wherein the world's top racing superstars are invited to compete. One of the contestants, Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro), an Italian racer, boasts of his speed and strengths and vows that he is unbeatable while insulting McQueen in the process. After the call of a female vehicle in Baltimore, Maryland fails to proceed and goes off on the air, Mel swiftly answers a second call from a certain someone from Radiator Springs; Mater. He claims that Lightning McQueen is superior to Francesco in every way and could drive circles around him. Francesco laughs at the claim and proceeds to insult Mater. McQueen takes him away from the phone booth to talk back at Francesco in retaliation by calling him "fragile", causing him to go into shock and cursing in his native language. He then accepts Miles' invitation to join the Grand Prix on the air.
At the international airport, McQueen bids a farewell to Sally and some of the residents of Radiator Springs as he, his pit crew and Mater board a jumbo jet heading to Japan where the first race of the Grand Prix will be held. McQueen, Mater and the pit crew take in the sights of Tokyo, and head to a Japanese party in a huge mall-like place put on by Miles Axlerod. Elsewhere, Finn and British spy-in-training Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) learn that an American spy is at the party and their assigned job is to intercept him and receive a package containing information of a car, who is the leader of the Lemons and is running the operation of the TV camera. At the building, Mater's antics accidentally go humiliating. First, he mistakes Wasabi (a Japanese food paste) for pistachio flavored ice-cream, goes screaming through the building and ultimately races onto the stage between where Lightning and Miles Axlerod are to rinse out his mouth on a waterfall fountain, while the other World Grand Prix racers watch in shock (except for Francesco who laughs at Mater and McQueen) from afar, and (supposedly) leaks a little bit of oil. Lightning furiously tells Mater to go to take care of himself and come clean. In the restroom, Mater enters a stall and is confused by its technological complexity. Outside, a male orange Gremlin enters the bathroom and sheds his skin, revealing himself to be a shiny blue Dodge Challenger beneath named Rod "Torque" Redline: the American Spy that was assigned to his British associates (Bruce Campbell).
Grem and Acer appear in the restroom, and a fight takes place. Midway through the uproar, Mater exits the stall and apologetically makes his way to the exit, unaware that Torque has passed the package to Mater by placing it on him during the commotion. Holley arrives, and using her GPS locator, she is shocked to discover that the presumed American spy is Mater before she goes to follow him. Mater manages to answer her coded questions through sheer luck, further "proving" his spy identity to Holley and Finn. She sets up a rendezvous with Mater, who mistakes it to be a date upon being attracted by Holly's beauty, and they part ways.
Meanwhile, Torque finds himself tied up and surrounded by the Lemons in another warehouse. Grem mans the mysterious typical-looking TV camera he aims directly at Torque. Professor Zündapp explains that the device is not a TV camera, but is actually an electromagnetic pulse camera, which, when aimed at a car using Allinol, will cause its fuel and strength to boil dangerously until it explodes. Acer shows Torque surveillance footage of the prior night's bathroom fight. He demands him to point out the other spy who received the package. Torque refuses, but he twitches emotionally when Mater appears on the screen. Zündapp catches his reaction and, confirms that Mater is the one. After talking to his leader, Zündapp orders his minions to find Mater and kill him as well. He then turns the camera weapon on at full power, causing Torque to burst into flames, killing him (offscreen).
The following evening, the race is ready to begin. In the pit, Mater and Lightning's crew all wear headset microphones. The race begins with Lightning taking the lead thanks to Mater's help. Above the race, McMissile and Shiftwell are surprised to see Mater attending the race in such a conspicuous manner. The two spot an unusually large concentration of lemon cars around the track. With Shiftwell guiding Mater to a rendezvous where the package will be received, McMissile spectacularly battles the lemon cars and saves Mater, but not before he incoherently narrates the strange goings-on of McMissile and Shiftwell. Mater's incoherent babbling, accidentally being fed to Lightning through his headset, causes Lightning to only come 2nd place in the race behind Bernoulli, who competitively teases him over losing against him. Being mad at Mater for the loss, Lightning rudely snaps at him and says that he no longer wants his help, leaving Mater sad and heartbroken. The next day, Mater sadly purchases a one-way ticket to go back to Radiator Springs. Lightning's pit crew is preparing to fly to Italy. At the airport, Mater is escorted past security by a disguised Finn, who is still convinced that Mater is the American spy they are looking for. Grem and Acer from the night before arrive to get to Mater, and a chase takes place on the airport tarmac. McMissile's private spy jet Siddeley appears overhead, and Mater and Finn manage to safely get on board. Back at the airport, Lightning and his pit crew are reading a sad and heartbroken message from Mater saying that he left them, which makes Lightning guilty for angrily blowing up at Mater.
Onboard Siddeley, Holley examines the package given to Mater by Torque. It is revealed to be a single photo of a car engine belonging to the leader of the lemons. Mater comments that the engine is nothing special: it belongs to a car that leaks oil and requires many replacement parts. Also photographed are a few car parts Finn knows are only sold in Paris, France. He asks Mater to come along. Mater is hesitant, especially because of what happened last night, but Finn assures him he is helping him, so Mater agrees. The three head to Paris, where they track down Finn's usual informant Tomber, who is revealed to have sold the car parts to the Big Boss, the leader of the Lemons that owns the engine. Through the trio's investigation, it is revealed that the leader is also a lemon, one of history's loser cars, the same ones the agents have been dealing with. Tomber also reveals that the lemons will hold a secret meeting in Porto Corsa, Italy on the same day as the second Grand Prix race, most likely for the Big Boss to attend as well. After watching from the computer in Stephenson, a spy bullet train, and seeing some of the lemons arrive, it is decided that Mater will be disguised as a lemon criminal family leader's personal tow truck, Ivan, and will gain access to the secret meeting where Mater can identify the leader of the lemons.
The Italian race has begun as Finn and Holley stay behind to spy on the race and look out for lemons while Mater infiltrates the secret meeting in disguise. Holley fits Mater with a voice-activated disguiser that will change his outward appearance to whatever he tells it to do. She also seeks to repair a large dent on Mater's bed. He refuses, saying that the dent is a part of him, and he would never repair it. Holley agrees to work around the dent while Finn gives Mater some weapons. The secret meeting reveals in Mater's HUD that all the Lemons' heads are present and wanted in several countries as Mater is nervous about this. Eventually, Professor Zündapp arrives and tells the Lemons the Big Boss is present. A TV appears overhead, upon which Mater sees a live video of the Big Boss's engine apologizing that he can't attend in person due to engine trouble. The Big Boss then goes over his plan, and it is revealed he and the rest of the Lemons are the owners of the world's largest untapped oil deposit in the middle of the ocean. Miles Axlerod and his Allinol alternative fuel threaten to put the Big Boss out of business, so they will use the pulse camera to destroy the WGP racers during the race broadcast, including Lightning McQueen. The world will assume that Allinol is dangerous and will continue to use gasoline. Mater is afraid for Lightning. After Brazilian racer, Carla Veloso and British racer, Nigel Gearsley, are shot by the pulse camera, Finn immediately races off to get the pulse camera before any more racers are destroyed, but just as he jumps over to get a roof, he gets captured by a helicopter's magnet and Grem, who was actually controlling the pulse camera, shoots Japanese racer, Shu Todoroki, and causes a massive multi quintuple crash.
Lightning and Francesco are neck and neck at the race, but Lightning manages to beat Francesco on his home turf to the latter's annoyance. They soon wonder about the other racers before they see the screens in horror, as the other racers explode and crash by the ray of Professor Zündapp's pulse camera. For Lightning, 1st place is bittersweet, given the amount of carnage on the track. The Big Boss and his cronies anxiously watch the sports report. Finally, Miles Axlerod appears and reluctantly declares that Allinol must be too dangerous and tells the world that the race's final leg will be run on gas. This pleases the Lemons as they celebrate their fortune, as Holley contacts Mater to tell him that Finn has been captured before she gets captured as well by the Lemon Hugos. Eventually, Lightning is interviewed and asked if he, too, will run on gas. Lightning refuses, saying that he will continue to use Allinol. This angers the lemons and the Big Boss, who collectively orders Professor Zündapp to kill Lightning McQueen in the third and final WGP race as his subordinate announces this to all. Mater is shocked and accidentally sheds his disguise and is recognized as the "American spy". The lemons draw their weapons, while Mater accidentally draws his weapons, and a blowout happens. This little problem saves Mater, and he flees using a parachute Finn gave him and flies directly for Lightning, who is still swamped by the press. Mater breaks through barricades and crowds and is about to warn Lightning when Mater is immediately captured by the Lemons, and he is replaced by the real Ivan, who distracts Lightning while Mater is thrown into a cargo container. Professor Zündapp taunts him over his care for Lightning and his failure to warn him in time before Mater gets sprayed with tranquilizing gas, sending him unconscious.
While Mater is asleep, he dreams of his own immatureness and lack of maturity, as demonstrated from scenes in Japan that were earlier in the film. When he wakes up, he is inside the Big Bentley Clock Tower in the final race's location in the World Grand Prix, London. He is tied up to the ceiling and is hanging 90 feet over a dangerous set of gears. Below him, Finn and Holley are also tied up, about to be smashed and crushed by a pair of intersecting gear cogs. As the three are held captive, Mater moans on him being responsible for the situation. Finn tries to convince him otherwise, going as far as correcting what he told Mater about him being a fool back in Italy was to compliment his spy skills, but he finally confesses to Finn and Holley with anger that he is not an actual spy. They now understand that Mater's "immature act" is not an act at all and that Mater is just being himself. He puts the blame campaign on himself further for what happened to Lightning further before Grem and Acer arrive. They see that Mater, Finn, and Holley are awake and tell Mater that they have the pulse camera aimed at Lightning McQueen, who is still alive sitting at the starting line. The two Lemons brag that they're going to kill McQueen, and Mater is to watch at Zündapp's order; this horrifies Mater.
At the pits for the race, McQueen talks to almost all of the other Radiator Springs residents (who all came after he called) about Mater turning out to be still missing, he had called to talk to Mater, not realizing he wouldn't be there. As they prepare for the race, his friends state that Sheriff and Sarge are looking for help from Scotland Yard and the British military personnel. Sally tells Lightning to focus on the race. However, the talk is interrupted as Axlerod comes to Lightning's pit stall to thank him for his decision because of how the fans reacted to the race crash in Porto Corsa. He even hopes McQueen will win so that his creation will be given the popularity it deserves. Sally tells McQueen to race for Mater, which he agrees to.
The race begins as Grem aims the pulse gun at Lightning and pulls the trigger, while a horrified Mater looks on as the pulse gun is about to fire. To the two lemons' surprise, nothing happens, and Lightning does not explode. They are confused as Zündapp contacts Grem and angrily questions the camera's inability before telling him both of the two lemons must go to the backup plan. Mater questions this. They tell him that they have planted a bomb in Lightning's pit and it will explode the next time he makes a stop. The two Lemons leave to meet up with Professor Zündapp. Mater manages to free himself from his bonds and wants to save Finn and Holley, but he is told instead to save his friends at the pit stall. Mater obliges and takes off to save his friends. Finn and Holley are seconds away from being smashed and crushed in the clock tower until Holley manages to turn back the clock, which sends its gears in reverse and cuts them both off their bonds. Now free, the two find Mater's air filter discarded on the metal floor. They both realize that the two lemons have actually lied to them, and the bomb isn't in the pit; it's actually planted on Mater, in the place of his air filter. Holley sprouts her wings while Finn purses on the ground to both save Mater and stop Professor Zündapp from activating the bomb.
Mater quickly makes his way onto the track and arrives at Lightning's pit; he is surprised to see his friends are there because of him and warns them about the bomb before Finn contacts him. He tells him the bomb is on Mater. Now aware of where the bomb is, he seeks to outrun Lightning, who immediately spots him the second he makes a stop and is about to apologize to Mater for what happened back in Japan. Instead, Lightning eventually hooks himself to Mater, but then he sprouts a pair of rocket boosters (given by Finn) at his words of getting away from Lightning. The two burst through the track wall and into the streets of London. Professor Zündapp tries exploding the bomb, but by now, Mater and Lightning are so far away, the bomb is out of range. Finally, Holley and Finn arrive, with the latter ordering Holley to handle Mater's situation while he goes after Zündapp, and a chase takes place between them. Meanwhile, the lemons go after Lightning and Mater.
Professor Zündapp arrives at the docks, where his personal combat ship, Tony Trihull, is waiting for him to board, but Finn is close behind and manages to grapple himself to the Professor's back bumper. Unfortunately, the ship produces a giant magnet, and a tug of war between the ship and Finn occurs. Mater and McQueen continue to travel in the streets of London as Mater tells him to let go, but McQueen refuses. Finn immediately projects several magnetic grenades toward the ship's magnet, which causes it to explode. Holley catches up to Mater and McQueen; she tells Mater to stop, but he refuses. Upon spotting Grem and Acer up ahead, she is forced to stop the two lemons to prevent them from attacking Mater and McQueen. After Holley dive swipes them, the two lemons crash into a royal pub and get beaten up by other angry cars for breaking their glasses of root beer.
In the center of London, Mater and McQueen finally stop as Holley states they have to disarm the bomb that was planted on Mater. Lightning is shocked at this situation and questions who put a bomb on Mater to kill him. Immediately, Finn arrives with a tied-up Professor Zündapp, who angrily questions McQueen on why his death ray didn't kill him, which shocks McQueen even more. At Finn's furious demands to deactivate the bomb, Professor Zündapp reveals it is voice-activated. Mater quickly attempts to disarm the bomb using voice activation, but the bomb begins counting down from 5 minutes. It has a fail-safe for such a scenario. Professor Zündapp states the bomb can only be disarmed by whoever armed it. Holley angrily forces the Professor to disarm it himself. He obliges, but the heroes are shocked to find the bomb's timer count down from 5 to 4 minutes, meaning that Zündapp did not arm the bomb. When he asks jokingly with arrogance if there is anyone else who would try to deactivate the bomb next, Holley zaps him with her taser beam since she has enough of him for annoying her, which makes Zündapp fall unconscious, defeating him once and for all.
As Lightning wonders what the four will do, the lemon crime family leaders and their armies arrive to make sure the bomb goes off. Lightning notes the lemons are the ones who want him dead, which one confirms by stating that it's not personal. Mater tries to talk them out of it through his understanding on what the lemons had gone through and his explanation of becoming rich and powerful, which only further encourages the lemons. But luckily, almost everyone from Radiator Springs shows up and helps Mater, Finn, and Holley defeat all the criminals, who are arrested by Sheriff and British police cars from Scotland Yard. The heroes angrily surround some of the remaining lemons that try to flee from the area, but Sarge appears with the British military, who take the remaining villains into custody.
Afterward, Guido tries to unscrew the bolts of the bomb planted on Mater, but none of Guido's wrenches fit the bolts. With only 2 minutes left, Mater envelops his mind around the situation and believes that he has actually realized who the identity of the Big Boss is, the same one who should be able to disarm the bomb using his voice. Mater initially thinks he can't do what he has to after learning what his antics had really done until Lightning encourages him to do what he must, as to also make up for harshly snapping up at him back in Japan. Using his rockets and his parachute, he blasts the two across London to the race's finish line. There, Mater finds Miles Axlerod and the Queen of England.
Mater tells everyone that someone is sabotaging the racers, and he knows who before bowing to the Queen, revealing the bomb to her guards, which causes a panic. Finn arrives, telling them Mater cannot disarm it. He gets second thoughts on what he is doing before Lightning tells Mater to reveal his claims, so Mater states the Big Boss is Axlerod. Everyone pays attention as Mater explains that he figured it out as the bomb on him holds the same bolts as the engine he saw from the photo. Mater has Holley show everyone the picture, and states that Miles Axlerod was the one who leaked oil at the party in Japan and he just blamed it on Mater. Axelrod denies this by stating electric cars don't use oil, but Mater tells Axelrod is really faking being an electric car. He adds that everyone will see the engine from the photo if they open up Axelrod's hood. Axelrod tries to rebuke this as Holley questions Mater's theory. Mater says Axelrod admitted to this after he used his disguised voice for everyone to hate Allinol so the world would go back to using oil. Axelrod states that the notion is preposterous as the Queen's grandson, Prince Wheeliam, wants to get her away from the scene, but she decides to see where things are going first. Finn points out to Mater that Axelrod was the one who created the fuel, but Mater brings up the possibility of Axelrod finding the oil wells in the ocean and creating Allinol as a sham to make alternative fuel look bad to profit from oil. Axelrod denies this, even asking if Mater is basing what he said on a wild "what if" theory before the Queen, her grandson and her companions leave with Axelrod begging for help, but he is ignored. He tells Mater to back off as the bomb's timer ticks down from 10 seconds while Mater remains face to face with Axlerod. Everyone else braces for the explosion as the timer counts down at 1 until Axlerod is forced to quickly deactivate the bomb, revealing that Mater was right about Axlerod all along. The bomb shuts down for good as the police surrounds Axelrod to arrest him. Mater lifts the defeated villain's hood, and the engine is revealed to be the same one as the Lemon leader's engine, which Holley and Finn confirm. Axelrod then questions how Mater figured out his plan, as Lightning tells Mater that from now on, he is coming to all of Lightning's races.
As thanks for defeating Axlerod's plans, Mater is knighted by the Queen of England, though he insists on just being called Mater without his new title. He introduces Lightning to the Queen, Lightning to Finn and Finn to the Queen.
When the team soon returns home to Radiator Springs, where Mater is as much a celebrity as Lightning with his knight title mentioned on his newly added side of the Radiator Springs billboard that features Lightning McQueen, he talks about his flying British girlfriend to his friends and some customers at Flo's V8 Cafe. His story is met with skepticism until Finn and Holley arrive, confirming the story. Mater introduces Finn as a secret agent to everyone and is about to do the same with Holley, who interrupts by stating she and Mater are a couple, which shocks his friends such as Guido, who, as Luigi puts it, now believes Mater's claims of Holley being his girlfriend. Holley is now sporting her own dent from after stopping Grem and Acer in London, which she refuses to fix (like Mater). McQueen is still confused about something; he brings up Zundapp, stating that the death ray should have killed him before he and Mater question why he didn't explode. Finn states that he and Holley are perplexed too. Holley reveals from their investigation that Allinol is just regular gasoline modified by Axelrod to explode when targeted. McQueen tells Fillmore about his claims of his fuel being safe. Fillmore admits that Sarge had used Fillmore's alternative fuel in place of Allinol because it was bad. Sarge confirms this while awkwardly using Fillmore's catchphrase "Man" before he is teased by him for it by the latter. Back in Radiator Springs, the same race cars from the WGP get invited to an unofficial Radiator Springs Grand Prix, free of the press, video cameras, bright lights, parties and trophies. Lightning jokes with Francesco, going as far as wearing a bumper sticker with another version of his catchphrase that refers to the Italian racer, and the race begins.
Holley tells Finn that they've been called into another mission as Siddeley arrives to pick them up. Finn says to Mater that the Queen has personally requested Mater's involvement in the mission. Mater immediately turns them down, saying that he is happy to be home and doesn't want to leave on another adventure yet. Holley says the two agents understand, but she will return soon since Mater owes her a first date, and Finn and Holley leave Mater with the weaponry they gave him, including the rockets, upon his request to keep them before the two agents leave. Mater uses the rockets to join in the race, shocking Francesco and catching up to Lightning. The film ends with Mater telling Lightning that he will see Lightning at the finish line first as they compete while Siddeley winks and flies off.
Cast[]
- Larry the Cable Guy as Mater
- Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen
- Michael Caine as Finn McMissile
- Emily Mortimer as Holley Shiftwell
- John Turturro as Francesco Bernoulli
- Eddie Izzard as Sir Miles Axlerod
- Thomas Kretschmann as Professor Zündapp
- Joe Mantegna and Peter Jacobson as Grem and Acer
- Bruce Campbell as Rod "Torque" Redline
- Tony Shalhoub as Luigi
- Darrell Waltrip as Darrell Cartrip
- Guido Quaroni as Guido
- Brent Musburger as Brent Mustangburger
- Colin Cowherd as Colin Cowling
- Jason Isaacs as Siddeley/Leland Turbo
- David Hobbs as David Hobbscap
- Stanley Townsend as Vladimir Trunkov, Ivan, and Victor Hugo
- Lloyd Sherr as Fillmore and Tony Trihull
- Paul Dooley as Sarge
- Michel Michelis as Tomber
- Sig Hansen as Crabby the Boat
- Franco Nero as Uncle Topolino
- Vanessa Redgrave as Mama Topolino and The Queen
- Bonnie Hunt as Sally Carrera
- Cheech Marin as Ramone
- Jenifer Lewis as Flo
- Michael Wallis as Sheriff
- Katherine Helmond as Lizzie
- John Ratzenberger as Mack
- Jeff Garlin as Otis
- Patrick Walker as Mel Dorado
- Lewis Hamilton as Himself
- Velibor Topic as Alexander Hugo
- John Mainieri as J. Curby Gremlin
- Brad Lewis as Tubbs Pacer
- Richard Kind as Van
- Edie McClurg as Minny
- Teresa Gallagher as Mater's Computer
- Jeff Gordon as Jeff Gorvette
Additional Voices[]
- Catherine Bolt
- Gillian Bolt
- Jess Fulton
- Jess Harnell
- Sonoko Konishi - Chuki
- John Lasseter - John Lassetire
- Colleen O'Shaughnessey
- Daniel Okeefe
- Dice Tsutsumi - Daisu Tsashimi
Production[]
Casting[]
Three voice actors of the original Cars film have also died since the first film had been released. Joe Ranft, who voiced Red and Jerry Recycled Batteries, died in a car accident in August 2005 during production of the first film. Despite rarely speaking in the original movie except for weeping, Red appears in the movie and does an inaudible cry. Jerry, on the other hand, would not return after the original Cars owing to Ranft's death in spite of being a minor character.
George Carlin, who voiced Fillmore, died of heart failure in June 2008. Lloyd Sherr provided the voice of Fillmore in the film.
Paul Newman, who voiced Doc Hudson, died of cancer in September 2008. Lasseter was at first adamant that Newman would return, even though he had announced his retirement from acting. After Newman's death, Lasseter said that they would see how the story would proceed with Doc Hudson. Eventually, Doc was cut from the film and later on in Cars 3, it is implied that Doc Hudson died of aging.
In international versions of Cars 2, Jeff Gorvette is replaced in one scene by a different character, they don't replace him at the races or when the racers are shocked as they watch Mater drinking water from the fountain, they are voiced by a regionally better-known racer than Jeff Gordon:
- Spain: Fernando Alonso: Fernando Alonso, it is unknown if they planned to use Miguel Camino before replacing him with Fernando Alonso during development.
- Russia: Vitaly Petrov: Vitaly Petrov
- Sweden: Jan Nilsson: Flash
- China: Unknown: Long Geo
- Mexico: Memo Rojas: Memo Rojas
- Germany: Sebastian Vettel: Max Schnell
- Brazil: Claudia Leitte: Carla Veloso
- France: Laurent Larcher: Raoul ÇaRoule
- There was for some reasons never a Japanese version with Shu Todoroki nor the UK Version with Nigel Gearsley, it is unknown why there was never a Japanese version where Shu Todoroki replaces Jeff Gorvette and becomes the car that McQueen meets along with Lewis Hamilton and why there is no UK version where Nigel Gearsley replaces Jeff Gorvette and becomes the car that Lighting Mcqueen meets along with Lewis Hamilton.
A notable voice in the international versions Sophia Loren, who voices Mama Topolino in 21 non-English-speaking countries and Jacques Villeneuve, who voices David Hobbscap in the French versions. In the Brazilian version, sportspeople still appear, with Lewis Hamilton becoming Formula One champion Emerson Fittipaldi, while Brent Mustangburger and David Hobbscap were done by sports announcers José Trajano and Luciano do Valle.
Development[]
Cars 2 was originally scheduled for a 2012 release, but Pixar moved the release back one year.
John Lasseter conceived the sequel's story while traveling around the world promoting the first film. He said, "I kept looking out thinking, 'What would Mater do in this situation,' you know? I could imagine him driving around on the wrong side of the road in the UK, going around in big, giant traveling circles in Paris, on the autobahn in Germany, dealing with the motor scooters in Italy, trying to figure out road signs in Japan."
The spy theme of Cars 2 emerged from a scene developed for Cars, which would have seen Lightning and Sally go to the drive-in movie theater, where they would have seen a spy film. Although the scene didn't make it to the final film, John Lasseter loved so much the idea of spy cars that he kept it in is mind and it became a main element in Cars 2.
Several members of the team watched numerous spy movies and studied the scenarist techniques and filming process. Lasseter watched as many spy movies as he could get to figure out the genre. While looking at Ronin, story supervisor Nathan Stanton paid particular attention to how car chases are shot.
Some members of the Cars 2 production team made a research trip in Europe in May 2009 were they visited 15 locations in 12 days. They also got to Japan in October 2009. Although supervising animators Shawn Kraus and Dave Mullins weren't part of the trip, they were able to see and try race cars of several types to study how to animate the racing parts of the movie.
It took a long time for the team to decide of the emotional center of the film. Notably Doc Hudson's death was envisaged as the emotional center of the film, as he could be considered as Lightning and Mater's father, but finally, this idea was abandoned, and Lightning and Mater's friendship was retained.
It was originally planned that the World Grand Prix would be composed of five races rather than three, but two of them were removed because it was too much story to tell. The movie was also supposed to open in Prague, but Lasseter moved it to the ocean and the oil rigs, which he though would be a much more spectacular way of debuting the film and to announce its spy theme.
In the original Cars, the landscapes and buildings included numerous car elements and mechanical pieces. For Cars 2, this technique, referred to as "Car-ification" appears more prominently due to the important number of places visited. Lasseter wanted the as much monuments as possible to be "car-ified". Therefore, all famous buildings in the real towns visited received important modifications to integrate in their architecture car grills, headlights, pistons, spark plugs, and many other car pieces, although the general appearance is conserved. Some buildings are even renamed, as Big Ben that becomes Big Bentley. Many also get bigger proportions to fit a car scale. For example, the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame's Cathedral in Paris are 50% bigger than the originals.
In 2009, Disney registered several domain names in relation to the title "World Grand Prix". However, so far only the title "Cars 2" has been released.
Marketing[]
The Australian poster of the film.
The teaser trailer for Cars 2 appeared on the Blu-ray and DVD editions of Toy Story 3 when it was released on November 2, 2010.
The full-length trailer for Cars 2 was released on Pixar's official YouTube channel on November 15, 2010 and later appeared in front of the animated Disney film Tangled. From early 2011 to the opening of Cars 2, Disney/Pixar massively published stills, video clips and concept art from the movie. Characters of the film were also regularly revealed, and for most of them a turntable video was provided.
Life-sized remote-controlled models of Lightning McQueen, Mater, and Finn McMissile were created for Cars 2 as part of the "Agents on a Mission" tour, presented by State Farm, to promote the film. The cars were exposed in several North American cities, including Detroit, Toronto, Phoenix, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Washington, DC, and Miami, among others. Mattel and LEGO have produced toys derived from the movie. To promote the movie and its products, Lego recreated the official Cars 2 trailer using LEGO bricks.
At the occasion of the 2011 WonderCon, Disney also led a viral marketing campaign. Outside the convention center was parked an AMC Pacer with an inscription leading to the Twitter account @ChromeLeaks. This account gives a URL that redirects to a video, Cars N' Deals of Emeryville Sale-A-Bration!, which contains a number of Pixar-related references, plus a hidden message that will bring you to a video with new Cars 2 footage. In June, Disney/Pixar released another viral video, of lesser importance, V12 TV, which uses clips from Cars 2 to spoof popular television programs.
For the occasion of the Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, Disney/Pixar published a poster and a video clip featuring footage from the movie.
Jake Mandeville−Anthony v. The Walt Disney Company[]
On March 14, 2011 British screenwriter Jake Mandeville-Anthony filed a lawsuit against Disney and Pixar, saying the Cars franchise had similarities to characters and multiple screenplays, "Cookie & Co." and "Cars", which he developed in the early 1990's, alleging copyright infringement and breach of implied contract. Mandeville-Anthony claims he sent his story to a number of studios, including Disney and Pixar, and met with Jim Morris, then at Lucasfilm. He requested an injunction to stop the release of Cars 2 and actual or statutory damages. On July 27, 2011 the case was dismissed, preventing it from going to jury trial or ever being refiled. Disney's attorneys proved that Mandeville-Anthony's story, reportedly full of crude language and dialogue and highly offensive racist stereotypes, were very different from the Cars films.
Attached short film[]
Hawaiian Vacation, a short film starring Barbie and Ken from Toy Story 3, was attached to Cars 2.
Reception[]
Critical response[]
Upon its release, Cars 2 was greeted with negative reviews from professional film critics, ending Pixar's longtime reputation of producing films which were both successful with movie critics and at the box office compared to those of Disney's post-Renaissance era. "The original Cars was not greeted with exceptional warmth," said The New York Times, "but the sequel generated Pixar's first truly negative response." Several of the most influential critics cheered the movie, but far more were negative, "even gleefully so." Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 39% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 205 reviews, with an average score of 5.5/10, making it the first Pixar film ever to garner a "rotten" certification. Its consensus reads, "Cars 2 is as visually appealing as any other Pixar production, but all that dazzle can't disguise the rusty storytelling under the hood." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 57/100 based on 38 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Critics generally criticized the focus on Mater and felt the film lacked warmth and charm. Reviewing the film for The Wall Street Journal, Joe Morgenstern wrote, "This frenzied sequel seldom gets beyond mediocrity." Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman said, "Cars 2 is a movie so stuffed with "fun" that it went right off the rails. What on earth was the gifted director-mogul John Lasseter thinking – that he wanted kids to come out of this movie was [sic] more ADD?" Considering the low reviews given to the Pixar production, critic Kyle Smith of the New York Post said, "They said it couldn't be done. But Pixar proved the yaysayers wrong when it made its first bad movie, Cars. Now it has worsted [sic] itself with the even more awful Cars 2."
Conversely, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the movie 3½ stars out of four, and said that "the sequel is a tire-burning burst of action and fun with a beating heart under its hood." He also praised its "fluid script" and called it a "winner". Roger Ebert was the most effusive of the more positive reviews, writing, "At a time when some 'grown-up' action films are relentlessly shallow and stupid, here is a movie with such complexity that even the cars sometimes have to pause and explain it to themselves." Justin Chang of Variety commented, "The rare sequel that not only improves on but retroactively justifies its predecessor." A central current of the negative reviews was the theory that Cars 2 was forced out of Pixar by its corporate parent, the Walt Disney Company, out of greed to drive merchandising sales. Lasseter vehemently denied these claims, calling them "people who don't know the facts, rushing to judge." Some theorized that the vitriol was less about the film but more about Pixar's broadened focus to sequels. The New York Times reported that although one negatively reviewed film would not be enough to scratch the studio, "the commentary did dent morale at the studio, which until then had enjoyed an unbroken and perhaps unprecedented run of critical acclaim."
Box office[]
Cars 2 grossed $191,452,396 in the USA and Canada, and $368,400,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $559,852,396. Worldwide on its opening weekend it grossed $109.0 million, marking the largest opening weekend for a 2011 animated title. Overall, Cars 2 became sixth biggest Pixar film in terms of worldwide box office among twelve released.
Cars 2 made $25.7 million on its debut Friday (June 24, 2011), marking the second-largest opening day for a Pixar film after Toy Story 3's $41.1 million, but it was still the third least-attended first day for a Pixar film, only ahead of Up and Ratatouille. It also scored the fourth largest opening day for an animated feature, trailing only Toy Story 3, Shrek the Third ($38.4 million), and The Simpsons Movie ($30.8 million). On its opening weekend as a whole, Cars 2 debuted at No.1 with $66.1 million, marking the largest opening weekend for a 2011 animated feature, the sixth largest opening for Pixar, the fifth largest among films released in June, and the third largest for a G-rated film. In its second weekend, however, the film dropped 60.3%, the largest second weekend drop ever for a Pixar film, and grossed $26.2 million. It became Pixar's lowest-grossing film since A Bug's Life, making the film their first financial disappointment in North America, since the film cost $200 million to make. It was the most expensive Pixar film for 2 years along Toy Story 3, until Monsters University, which is claimed to have cost $270 million to make.
Outside North America, it grossed $42.9 million during its first weekend from 3,129 theaters in 18 countries, topping the box office. It performed especially well in Russia where it grossed $9.42 million, marking the best opening weekend for a Disney or Pixar animated feature and surpassing the entire runs of Cars and Toy Story 3. In Mexico, it made $8.24 million during its first weekend, while in Brazil, it topped the box office with $5.19 million ($7.08 million with previews). It also premiered at No.1 with $5.16 million in Australia, where it debuted simultaneously with Kung Fu Panda 2 and out-grossed it. It is the highest-grossing film of 2011 in Lithuania ($477,117) and Argentina ($11,996,480). It is the highest-grossing animated film of 2011 in Estonia ($442,707), Finland ($3,230,314), and Norway ($5,762,653).
Accolades[]
Cars 2 marks the first Pixar film not to be nominated for an Oscar. It's also the first Pixar film not to be nominated for Best Animated Feature in the 2001-present history of that Award.
Release[]
During the Summer of 2008, John Lasseter announced that Cars 2 would be pushed forward and released in the summer of 2011, one year earlier than its original 2012 release date. The US release date was later confirmed to be June 24, 2011, with a UK release date set for July 22, 2011. The world premiere of the film took place at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on June 18, 2011. Cars 2 was released in 4,115 theaters in the USA and Canada setting a record-high for a G-rated film and for Pixar. The latter was surpassed by Brave (4,164 theaters).
International premieres[]
- June 24, 2011 (Canada, Mexico)
- July 22, 2011 (United Kingdom, Ireland)
- July 27, 2011 (France)
- July 30, 2011 (Japan)
Short film[]
The film was preceded by a short film titled Hawaiian Vacation, directed by Gary Rydstrom and starring the characters of the Toy Story franchise.
Home media[]
- Main article: Cars 2 (video)
The film was released on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy, and Movie Download on November 1, 2011. The release was produced in four different physical packages: a 1-disc DVD; a 2-disc combo pack (Blu-ray and DVD); a 5-disc combo pack (Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, and Digital Copy); and an 11-disc three movie collector's set featuring Cars, Cars 2, and Mater's Tall Tales. The film was also released as a Movie Download option in both standard and high definition.
The Movie Download version includes four bonus features: the new Cars Toon "Air Mater", the Toy Story short "Hawaiian Vacation", "World Tour Interactive Feature", and "Bringing Cars 2 to the World." The 1-disc DVD and 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack versions include the shorts "Air Mater", and "Hawaiian Vacation", plus "Director John Lasseter Commentary." The 5-disc combo pack includes all of the same bonus features as the 1-disc DVD and 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack versions, plus "World Tour Interactive Feature" and "Sneak Peek: The Nuts and Bolts of Cars Land." The 11-disc three movie collection comes packaged with Cars (Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy), Cars 2 (Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy), and Mater's Tall Tales (Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy).
Cars 2 sold 1,983,374 DVD units during its opening week, generating $31.24 million and claiming first place. It also finished on the top spot on the Blu-ray chart during its first week, selling 1.76 million units and generating $44.57 million. Its Blu-ray share of home media was 47%, indicating an unexpectedly major shift of sales from DVD to Blu-ray. Blu-ray 3D contributed to this, accounting for 17% of total disc sales.
Video game[]
- Main article: Cars 2 (video game)
A video game based on the movie was developed by Avalanche Software and published by Disney Interactive Studios for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, and Nintendo DS on June 21, 2011. The PlayStation 3 version of the game was reported to be compatible with stereoscopic 3D gameplay. Unlike the film, the game got mostly positive reviews.
App[]
An app based on the film was released on iTunes for a dollar on June 23, 2011. The Lite version was released for free that same day. The object of the game is to complete each race, unlock new levels, and get a high score. As of June 28, 2011, The app has hit No.1 on the App Store.
Sequel[]
- Main article: Cars 3
On August 17, 2013, Michael Wallis, the voice of Sheriff, stated that Cars 3 was in development, and that it would include California's Route 66.
At the Disney shareholders meeting in March of 2014, Disney CEO and chairman Bob Iger confirmed that Pixar is in pre-production on the third Cars film.
Rating[]
Cars 2 is rated G in the USA and is rated U in the UK (G in Ireland)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The theatrical release had an alternate Pixar logo that reads, "Celebrating 25 Years." This has been removed from subsequent home video releases.
- Cars 2 is Pixar's first non-Toy Story sequel, which makes Cars Pixar's second franchise.
- It is also the first non-original film to focus on the secondary character (in this case, it being Mater) rather than the protagonist of the original film (Lightning McQueen), followed by Monsters University (Mike Wazowski), Finding Dory (Dory), and Incredibles 2 (Elastigirl).
- In fact, Cars 2 is the only Cars film where Lightning McQueen isn't the protagonist.
- Cars is the second Pixar film to become a franchise, after Toy Story. It's also the final film independently before it was purchased by Disney.
- This is the only Cars film not to have a post credits scene.
- This is the first Pixar film to receive a negative critical reception.
- It was also Pixar's first least liked film considered by most critics to be Pixar's worst film of all time.
- This was the last Pixar film released before Steve Jobs' death.
- Cars 2 is the last Pixar and only Cars film to use the 2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo. Cars 3 used the 2011 Disney logo.
- It was also the last Pixar movie to feature "Walt Disney Pictures Presents" in the opening credits.
- This is the last Pixar film to be directed by John Lasseter before his departure from Pixar and Disney animation at the end of 2018.
- It also marks the only time that Randy Newman doesn't score a Pixar film directed by Lasseter.
- This is the only film in the Cars franchise not to be scored by Randy Newman. It was instead scored by the other recurring composer, Michael Giacchino.
- This is the only Cars film where the main character doesn't appear in a new paint job at the end.
- This is the only Cars film where the Tractors don't appear. However, they do appear in a Target commercial, which was to promote the film.
- It's also the only Cars film that contains deaths. In this film, the Lemons killed Agents Leland Turbo and Rod "Torque" Redline, and Tony Trihull and some of the Lemons were killed by Finn McMissile. As a bonus, Doc Hudson passed away before the main events of the film.
- Since Doc's voice actor, Paul Newman, passed away in 2008, Cars 2 is the only film where Doc doesn't make a physical appearance. However, archival recordings of Newman would later be used in the flashback scenes from Cars 3.
- When Mater and Holley Shiftwell are sightseeing in Paris, there is a restaurant called Gastow's, which is a parody to Gusteau's restaurant from Ratatouille.
- Even though Chick Hicks didn't appear in this film, he appeared as a downloadable character in its video game adaptation.
- Alongside Chick Hicks and Doc Hudson, Strip "The King" Weathers, Tex Dinoco, Rusty, and Dusty are the only characters who don't make an appearance in Cars 2.
- This is the third Pixar Animation Studios closing logo that cuts in from black, after WALL-E and Up.
- This is the second Pixar film of 2010s to be rated G by the MPAA, after Toy Story 3.
- This is the fourth Pixar film to be scored by Michael Giacchino, after The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Up.
- Eddie Izzard and Richard Kind appear in The Wild (as the voices of Nigel and Larry, respectively), which is another animated film by Disney released at the same year when the first Cars film came out.
- This is the second Pixar film to be set (partly) in Paris, France, after Ratatouille.
- Flo says, "Go get 'em, tiger", to Lightning McQueen. This could be a reference to Mary Jane Watson's known quote to Spider-Man.
- During the end credits, where "Collision of Worlds" plays, South America is the only permanently inhabited continent to not be shown being traveled by both Lightning McQueen and Mater during that sequence.
- During the end credits, Lightning McQueen and Mater were seen traveling around the world. This presumably foreshadowed the events of the 2022 TV series Cars on the Road. In the TV series, Lightning McQueen and Mater went to different places while driving to Mato's wedding.
- Due to its depictions of gun violence and other intensity, this marks one of the last few animated films to receive the G rating by the MPAA that were most often to be given to family-friendly films from the past generations.[1] Subsequent animated films would be given the PG rating as its occasional G rating will be limited to films for very young children.
- Apparently, this is not the only time that a G rated film got in trouble. Some of the past animated films that received this non-restricted rating, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame,[2] All Dogs Go to Heaven, and The Rugrats Movie, have gained criticism for the inserted adult content in films that were marketed primarily for children.
- This film is unique for being the only Pixar film with a leading female character where she wasn't positioned as one of the story's three principal character types (Toy Story 3 doesn't count because Jessie, Mrs. Potato Head, and Barbie are all part of an ensemble cast during that film). In this case, Holley Shiftwell, the film's most major female character, isn't the protagonist (Mater), the deuteragonist (Lightning McQueen), or even the tritagonist (Finn McMissile). Instead, she's just a supporting character.
- Eddie Izzard and Thomas Kretschmann, the voices of the Lemons' leaders Axlerod and Zündapp, respectively, were both born in 1962.
See also[]
External links[]
Cars 2 on Pixar Wiki- Cars 2 on Pixar Cars Wiki
- Cars 2 on Wikipedia
- Cars 2 on Disney.com
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Was Cars 2 Too Violent For A G-Rating?". Screened (June 27, 2011).
- ↑ Bahr, Sarah (June 21, 2021). "'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' at 25: 'The Most R-Rated G You Will Ever See'", The New York Times.
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