Cars 2

Theatrical release poster

***Cars 2*** is a 2011 American computer-animated spy comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to *Cars* (2006), the second film in the *Cars* franchise, and the 12th animated film from the studio. The film was directed by John Lasseter (in his final outing as director of a Pixar film to date), co-directed by Brad Lewis, and produced by Denise Ream, and written by Ben Queen, Lasseter, Lewis, and Dan Fogelman. In the film's ensemble voice cast, Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Tony Shalhoub, Guido Quaroni, Bonnie Hunt, and John Ratzenberger reprise their roles from the first film. George Carlin, who previously voiced Fillmore, died in 2008, and his role was passed to Lloyd Sherr. The returning cast is joined by Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, John Turturro, Eddie Izzard, and Thomas Kretschmann, who voice the new characters introduced in this film.

The film follows race car Lightning McQueen (Wilson) and tow truck Mater (Cable Guy), who head to Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix, but Mater accidentally becomes sidetracked with international espionage, and ends up attempting to uncover a conspiracy led by a mysterious criminal mastermind and his gang which threatens all competitors in the Grand Prix, accompanied by British spies Finn McMissile (Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Mortimer).

*Cars 2* was first announced in April 2008 with a tentative 2012 release date, making *Cars* the second Pixar film to spawn a sequel after *Toy Story* (1995), as well as becoming a franchise. Lasseter was confirmed to be returning as director, while Lewis was designated as co-director in June 2010. The film's story was conceived by Lasseter while he was traveling around the world promoting the first film. Michael Giacchino composed the film's score, with artists such as Weezer, Robbie Williams, Brad Paisley and Bénabar contributing tracks for the film. This was the final Pixar film animated with their old software system, Marionette, before being officially replaced with Presto in 2012. With an estimated budget of $200 million, *Cars 2* is one of the most expensive films ever made.

*Cars 2* premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on June 18, 2011, and was released in the United States on June 24, in Disney Digital 3D and IMAX 3D as well as traditional two-dimensional and IMAX formats. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, *Cars 2* continued Pixar's streak of box office success, grossing over $559 million worldwide, becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2011 and the highest-grossing film of the *Cars* franchise. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 69th Golden Globe Awards, but lost to *The Adventures of Tintin*. A sequel, *Cars 3*, was released on June 16, 2017.

## Plot

British spy Finn McMissile infiltrates an oil rig owned by criminal lemon cars to rescue fellow spy Leland Turbo. He witnesses the lemons, seemingly led by weapons designer Professor Zündapp, loading an electromagnetic pulse generator, disguised as a TV camera, onto a shipping crate. After discovering Turbo's death, Finn's presence gets exposed to the lemons, and he escapes by faking his death.

After winning his fourth Piston Cup, Lightning McQueen returns to Radiator Springs to spend his off-season with his friends. However, Italian formula race car Francesco Bernoulli challenges Lightning to participate in the World Grand Prix, an international three-race event created by former oil tycoon Sir Miles Axlerod, who intends to promote his new environmentally friendly fuel, Allinol. Lightning and his best friend Mater — along with Luigi, Guido, Fillmore, and Sarge — depart for Tokyo, where the first race takes place.

At a World Grand Prix promotional event, Mater makes a scene after eating wasabi and seemingly leaking on stage, embarrassing Lightning. While cleaning up, Mater interrupts a fight between American spy Rod "Torque" Redline and lemons Grem and Acer. Redline plants his tracking device on Mater, causing the spy Finn McMissile and his associate Holley Shiftwell to mistake Mater for the spy. Meanwhile, Redline is captured and killed by Zündapp, who reveals that Allinol ignites when hit with an EMP. He informs his superior, an unknown mastermind, that Redline passed on his information. Holley finds and recruits Mater to stop Zündapp's plot.

During the race, three racers are ignited by the camera. Lightning places second in the race after Bernoulli, due to miscommunication with Mater, who was evading Zündapp's henchmen. Lightning snaps at Mater who is soon abducted by Finn as he attempts to return to Radiator Springs, and they escape from the lemons in his jet, Siddeley. After traveling to Paris to gather intel from Finn's old friend Tomber, they head to Porto Corsa, Italy, where the second race takes place. During the race, Mater infiltrates the lemons' meeting, just as the camera ignites some more racers, causing a multi-car pile-up, while Lightning wins. Due to controversy over Allinol's safety, Axlerod lifts its requirement for use in the final race in London. However, when Lightning decides to continue using it, the lemons plan to kill him in the race. This spooks Mater, and accidentally blows his cover, causing him, Finn, and Holley to be captured and tied up inside Big Bentley, where he admits to them that he is not the spy they think he is.

When the race starts, Lightning takes the lead before passing Big Bentley, however, the camera was inexplicably defective on him. The lemons tell Mater that they planted a time bomb in Lightning's pits as a backup plan, spurring him to escape. Finn and Holley escape soon after but realize that the bomb was fitted on Mater's air filter instead. As Mater flees down the track, Lightning pursues him to apologize for his outburst, while Finn apprehends Zündapp. The other lemons arrive and outnumber Finn, Holley, Mater, and Lightning, but they are soon rescued by the other Radiator Springs residents and Sarge's colleagues in the British Army. Mater and Lightning go to Buckingham Palace, where Mater exposes Axlerod as the mastermind, proven when he is forced to disable the bomb. It is then revealed that the World Grand Prix was his cover-up to turn the world against alternative fuels, and he leaked in Tokyo, for which Mater was blamed. After Axlerod and the lemons are arrested by the London police, Mater receives a knighthood from the Queen, and he and Lightning reconcile.

Back in Radiator Springs, as Mater tells everyone about his experience, Fillmore even reveals that he swapped Lightning's fuel from Allinol to his organic fuel as he never trusted Axlerod, explaining the camera's ineffectiveness on him during the London race. A "Radiator Springs Grand Prix" is held, featuring the World Grand Prix contenders. Finn and Holley, who came over, invite Mater to go on another mission, but he declines, choosing to stay in Radiator Springs. While his weapons get confiscated, he keeps the rockets and speeds off with Lightning, just as Siddeley speeds into the distance.

## Voice cast

*Main article: List of Cars characters*

Much of the cast from the original *Cars* returned for the sequel, but three voice actors of the original film have died since its release. Joe Ranft (who voiced Red) died in an automobile accident on August 16, 2005, ten months before *Cars* (which was dedicated in memorial to him) was released, and therefore Red played no vocal role in the film. George Carlin (who voiced Fillmore) died of heart failure on June 22, 2008, so Fillmore was voiced by Lloyd Sherr (who also voices Tony Trihull). Paul Newman (who voiced Doc Hudson) died of cancer on September 26, 2008. After Newman's death, Lasseter said they would "see how the story goes with Doc Hudson." Doc was eventually dropped, and implied to have died a few years before the events of *Cars 2*.

* Larry the Cable Guy as Mater, a Southern-accented tow truck from Radiator Springs who becomes sidetracked with espionage.
* Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen, a Piston Cup race car and Mater's best friend.
* Michael Caine as Finn McMissile, a British spy car who, alongside Holley, helps Mater to foil the criminals.
* Emily Mortimer as Holley Shiftwell, a beautiful young British desk agent, new to field work who is Finn's assistant.
* John Turturro as Francesco Bernoulli, McQueen's main racing rival from Italy.
* Eddie Izzard as Sir Miles Axlerod, a British "electric" car who created Allinol and the World Grand Prix. He is later revealed to be the mastermind behind the evil organization the Lemons.
* Thomas Kretschmann as Professor Zündapp, a German car and Axlerod's assistant who plans to sabotage the World Grand Prix. Kretschmann reprised the role in the film's German dub.
* Joe Mantegna and Peter Jacobson as Grem and Acer, Professor Zündapp's henchmen.
* Bruce Campbell as Rod "Torque" Redline, an American spy car.
* Tony Shalhoub as Luigi
* Darrell Waltrip as Darrell Cartrip
* Guido Quaroni as Guido
* Brent Musburger as Brent Mustangburger
* Jason Isaacs as:
	+ Siddeley, an Gulfstream V spy jet.
	+ Leland Turbo, a British agent car who sent the video message to Finn and is crushed into a cube by lemons.
* David Hobbs as David Hobbscap. Jacques Villeneuve voiced the character in the film's French dub.
* Stanley Townsend as:
	+ Vladimir Trunkov
	+ Ivan
	+ Victor Hugo
* Lloyd Sherr as:
	+ Fillmore
	+ Tony Trihull, a combat ship.
* Paul Dooley as Sarge
* Michel Michelis as Tomber
* Sig Hansen as Crabby the Boat
* Franco Nero as Uncle Topolino. Nero reprised the role in the film's Italian dub.
* Vanessa Redgrave as:
	+ Mama Topolino. In the film's Italian dub, Sophia Loren voiced Mama Topolino.
	+ The Queen. Redgrave reprised the role in the film's Italian dub.
* 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 Lewis Hamilton
* Velibor Topic as Alexander Hugo
* John Mainier 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
* John Lasseter as John Lassetire

In international versions of the film, the character Jeff Gorvette is replaced with race car drivers better known in the specific countries in his dialogue scenes (however, he still appears as a competitor).

* Mark Winterbottom as Frosty (Australian release)
* Fernando Alonso as Fernando Alonso (Spanish release)
* Vitaly Petrov as Vitaly Petrov (Russian release)
* Jan Nilsson as Flash (Swedish release)
* Memo Rojas (Latin American release)
* Sebastian Vettel as Sebastian Schnell (German release)

In Brazil, Gorvette is replaced by Carla Veloso in his dialogue scenes (Carla appears in all other versions of the film, but with no lines); Carla is voiced by Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte. 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.