Cars 2

Brad Lewis

Dan Fogelman

**Screenplay by:**

Ben Queen

**Cars 2** is a 2011 computer-animated spy comedy adventure film directed by John Lasseter. It's a sequel to *Cars*, and features the voices of Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzard, and John Turturro. It focuses on race car Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater, who head to Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix, but Mater then gets distracted with international espionage.

## Plot

Finn McMissile, a British spy car, infiltrates an oil rig acquired by lemon cars to save a fellow agent. He notices the lemons, led by Professor Z, loading an EMP emitter, disguised as a camera, inside a crate. After being spotted, he gets away and fakes his own death.

After winning four Piston Cups in a row, Lightning McQueen returns to Radiator Springs. But then, Francesco Bernoulli, an Italian formula racer, challenges him to the newly-open World Grand Prix, which its creator, Miles Axlerod, leads. Lightning and his best friend, Mater, along with Luigi, Guido, Sarge, and Fillmore, head to Tokyo in time for the first race.

During the opening party, Mater causes disturbance by leaking oil and eating Wasabi, which embarrasses and infuriates Lightning. While in the bathroom cleaning up the mess, Mater stops a fight between American spy Rod Redline (who Finn and his new partner Holley Shiftwell were supposed to meet) and lemons Acer and Grem. Rod transfers information to Mater, whom Holley thinks is a spy. Meanwhile, Rod is captured and murdered by Professor Z and the other Lemons. Zündapp tells his boss (a mysterious mastermind) that Rod transferred his information.

During the first race, the camera ignites three cars! Lightning loses the race to Francesco, because of Mater giving him bad advice while avoiding Zündapp's minions with help from Finn & Holley. Enraged, Lightning rages at Mater, who, upset by his rejection, decides to get back home to Radiator Springs, but gets caught by Finn, and still thinking he is a spy, Finn and Holley persuade Mater to help them stop Zündapp's schemes. Meanwhile, at the hotel, Lightning starts to feel guilty about how he yelled at Mater, and sadly admits he didn't *actually* want him to leave.

## Music

• Walt Disney Pictures 2006 Fanfare - Mark Mancina [Walt Disney Pictures logo]

• Turbo Transmission - Michael Giacchino [Leland sends a message to Finn/title card]]

• It's Finn McMissile! - Michael Giacchino [Finn infiltrates the oil rig]

## Reception

The film recieved mixed reviews from critics, who praised the animation, score, action sequences, racing scenes, and voice acting, but said the film lacked the warmth and charm the first film got, and that Mater felt overused in this movie just because he got the spotlight instead of Lightning McQueen. Despite that, the movie did get good reviews from fans, and performed well at the box office, grossing $562 million. I liked the film, as I praised the animation, voice acting, action, racing scenes, and characters.

#### Why I Love It

1. Great animation, which is a nice step up for the first movie, considering it was the last Pixar film to be animated by Marionette, which animated their movies from 1995 to 2011.
2. The voice acting is still great, even with the newer materials, including Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer.
3. The new characters are awesome, such as Finn McMissile, Holley Shiftwell, and Francesco Bernoulli.
4. The action scenes are so cool, and the racing scenes are enjoyable.
5. The characters from the first movie are still great, like Lightning and the Radiator Springs crew.
6. The cars going around the world is an excellent idea.
7. The plot twist where it turns out that Miles Axlerod is the real mastermind is very surprising.
8. Although the story focuses more on Mater, that doesn’t mean that the story can't be too great.
9. There are hilarious moments, such as the bathroom and wasabi scenes.
10. Awesome score by Michael Giacchino.
11. The songs featured in the movie, like Weezer's cover of "You Might Think", "Collision of Worlds" by Brad Paisley, and "Polyrhythm" are really fun songs to listen to.
12. The climax is thrilling.
13. The scene of the Radiator Springs Grand Prix was a perfect way to finish the movie.
14. Though most people find a spy story generic, I don’t, as I find it rather cool.
15. There is a great reference to *Cars* character, Doc Hudson, who tragically died sometime before the events of this movie.
16. The toys are awesome.
17. It was nice to see Mater have a girlfriend for a change, and of course Mater and Holley’s love relationship is funny and cute.
18. The scene where Mater encounters a car with headlights for eyes and gets alarmed is a humorous metaphor for how early concepts of *Cars* intended for vehicles' eyes to be on their headlights rather than their windshields, similar to other anthropomorphic vehicles, such as those featured in Chevron advertisements, only for Pixar to reject that idea, instead choosing the windshield as the eye locations.
19. Awesome cinematography.

#### Cons

1. The scene where Lightning yells at Mater for shouting things at him into the microphone was really harsh. But Mater made him lose the race anyway due to being a fool so it’s somewhat understandable but still.
2. While exciting, this sequel is not as awesome as the first movie, but still great.
3. People complained that the spy plot is too generic for a Pixar movie like this, and that Mater shouldn’t have been the protagonist.

## Sequel

Another sequel, *Cars 3**,* was released on June 16, 2017. It, much like the original 2006 film, follows Lightning, who tries to prove to a generation of racers that he is still the fastest car in the world.

## Cast

* Larry the Cable Guy as Mater
* Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen
* Michael Caine as Finn McMissile
* Emily Mortimer as Holley Shiftwell
* Eddie Izzard as Miles Axlerod
* John Turturro as Francesco Bernoulli
* Brent Musburger as Brent Mustangburger
* Joe Mantegna as Grem
* Thomas Krestchmann as Professor Zündapp
* Peter Jacobson as Acer
* Bonnie Hunt as Sally
* Darrell Waltrip as Darrell Cartrip