In the film, race car Lightning McQueen and his best friend Mater head to Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix, but Mater suddenly gets involved with international espionage and discovers a plot to sabotage the World Grand Prix and its competitors.
Cars 2 was released in the United States on June 24th, 2011. The film was presented in Disney Digital 3D and IMAX 3D, as well as traditional two-dimensional and IMAX formats. The film was first announced in 2008, alongside Up, Newt, and Brave, and it is Pixar's 12th animated film. Cars 2 received mixed reviews from critics with praise for its voice acting and animation, but criticism for its G-rating, focus on Mater, plot, and felt the film lacked warmth and charm of Pixar movies. Despite this, it continued the studio's streak of box office success, grossing $559 million worldwide, and becoming the highest-grossing film of the franchise, A sequel, Cars 3, was released on June 16th, 2017.
Cars 2 opens with a British spy car named Leland Turbo recording a distress signal to his fellow spy colleague Finn McMissile and later sending him his current coordinates. 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 Pacific 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 Zundapp, 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 and disgusted. 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 surface up onto the sea.
Finn McMissile escaping from Zundapp's oil platform.
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 with his truck hauler Mack after winning his 4th PistonCup. 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, 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, 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, where in the world's top racing superstars are invited to compete. While watching the announcement of an international racing competition called the World Grand Prix, hosted by former oil tycoon Sir Miles Axlerod to promote his new alternative fuel Allinol, Mater gets angry when an Italian Formula One race car named Francesco Bernoulli, who is currently being interviewed at The Mel Dorado Show, starts boasting about how he is far faster than Lightning, and manages to contact the TV studio via phone to defend his best friend. 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 World Grand Prix on the air.
Lightning McQueen and Mater aboard a plane taking them to Tokyo.
By suggestion of Lightning's girlfriend Sally, Mater travels with him to Tokyo, Japan for the first race of the World Grand Prix with Lightning worriedly thinking that Mater won't behave properly. At the international airport, Lightning 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. 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 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 McQueen and Miles Axlerod are to rinse out his mouth on a waterfall fountain, while the other World Grand Prix racers watch in shock and dismay (except for Francesco who hysterically laughs at Mater and McQueen) from afar, and accidentally 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. While going to the bathroom, Mater comes across two lemon henchmen of Zundapp named Grem and Acer confronting American spy car Rod Redline, who slips a device containing classified information into Mater's undercarriage without him noticing. He is later approached by Finn's associate Holley Shiftwell who mistakes him for Rod, the agent she was supposed to exchange info with, and they agree to rendezvous during the race the following night. Rod is then captured and brought to Professor Z, who reveals that cars fueled with Allinol explode when hit with an electromagnetic pulse. Grem mans the mysterious typical-looking TV camera which is aimed 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, after talking to his leader, confirms that he is the one, and 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 (slightly offscreen).
Grem using the electromagnetic pulse emitter during the first race.
The following morning, the race is ready to begin. In the pit, Mater and Lightning's crew all wear headset microphones. The first race begins, and Bernoulli soon takes the lead until he is surpassed by Lightning. Above the race, McMissile and Shiftwell are surprised to see Mater attending the race in such a conspicuous manner. Zundapp's agents make use of an electromagnetic pulse emitter disguised as a TV camera on three competitors(Miguel Camino, Rip Clutchgoneski and Max Schnell), all of whom have their engines exploded. Finn and Holley find that Zundapp's henchmen are coming after Mater when one of them, Acer, spotted Mater at the pits, and manage to have him flee McQueen's pit box and into the nearby streets by hacking the headset he is using to pass instructions to Lightning. With Holley guiding Mater to a rendezvous where the package will be received, Finn 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 speeches, 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. Finn manages to save Mater from his pursuers, but Lightning blames Mater for accidentally making him lose the race and, in a fit of rage, claims that he doesn't need or want his help, leaving Mater sad, guilt-ridden and heartbroken. The next day, Mater sadly purchases a one-way ticket to go back to Radiator Springs, unwilling to let Lightning McQueen and his pit crew resulting in another accidental setback because of what happened in Tokyo. While at the same time, Lightning McQueen's pit crew is preparing to fly to Italy with Lightning. 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, after knocking Grem into the ground and hurling Acer through a jet and into an oil tanker. 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 feel guilty for angrily and rudely blowing up at Mater for his incomptience.
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 at Tokyo, but Finn assures him he is helping them, so Mater agrees. The three head to Paris, where they track down Finn's usual informant Tomber, who is revealed to have sold the Big Boss those parts. Through their investigation, it is revealed that the engine owner is 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 meeting in Porto Corsa, Italy on the same day as the Grand Prix race, most likely for the boss to attend as well. After watching from the computer and seeing some of the lemons arrive, it is decided that Mater will be disguised as the lieutenant's personal tow truck and bodyguard, Ivan, and will gain access to the meeting where he can identify the leader of the lemons and owner of the engine. In Porto Corsa, Italy, where the second race of the World Grand Prix is being held, Mater manages to infiltrate the lemons' secret meeting disguised as another tow truck. He finds out that the mysterious chain of accidents occurring during the races is part of a plan to discredit Allinol and ensure that all cars keep using regular gasoline to secure the profits of their organization, who managed to secure the largest untapped oil reserves in the world. 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' 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 endanger 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 harmed, 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 resulting him as well as Rip Clutchgoneski, Max Schnell and the others injured, but thankfully Jeff Gorvette and Lewis Hamilton stopped in time before they got hit.
Lightning and Francesco fighting for first place on the final lap.
At the end of the race, Lightning McQueen wins 1st Place and Francesco Bernoulli came in 2nd Place. However, Lightning's victory is cut short when he and Francesco discover that most of the other racers have been involved in several crashes, because of more engine blowouts making them feel shocked. For Lightning, 1st place is bittersweet, given the amount of carnage on the track. Claiming that Axelrod doesn't wish to endanger the lives of any more cars, he announces the almost complete suspension of the use of Allinol for the final race in London. 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. But Lightning states that he trusts Allinol (by Fillmore's advice, despite Fillmore's suspicions) and will keep using it. 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 which 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 seized by the Lemons, and he is replaced by the tow truck he was disguised as who distracts Lightning while Mater is thrown into a cargo container. After being thrown into a cargo container, Mater pleads the Lemons to let him go, yet Professor Zündapp calmly taunts him over his care for his friend Lightning and his failure to warn him in time before Mater gets sprayed with tranquilizing gas, sending him unconscious.
Mater, Holley and Finn being held captive inside Big Bentley.
While Mater is asleep, Mater dreams of his own immatureness and stupidity as well as the lack of maturity, dignity and carefulness, 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 they are held captive, Mater moans the situation as he finally confesses to Finn and Holley that he is not an actual spy, and they now understand that Mater's "immature act" is not an act at all and that Mater is just himself, and also realized that Mater isn't the actual spy but someone else was. He puts the blame campaign on himself for what happened to Lightning before Grem and Acer appear. They see that Mater, Finn, and Holley are awake and tell them 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, Finn and Holley. At the pits for the race, Lightning McQueen talks to the other Radiator Springs residents(who all came (except for Lizzie and Mack)) 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 the local authorities and military personnel. Sally tells Lightning to focus on the race. However, the talk is interrupted as Miles 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 hoped McQueen will win so that his creation will be given the popularity it deserved. Sally tells Lightning McQueen to race for Mater, which he agrees to. The race begins as the lemons aim the pulse gun at Lightning and pull the trigger, while a horrified Mater looks on as the pulse gun is about to fire. To their surprise, nothing happens, and Lightning thankfully does not explode. They are confused as Zündapp contacts Acer and angrily questions this before telling him both of them go to the backup plan. Mater questions this plan, and 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 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 when 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 ground. They both realize that the two lemons have actually lied and deceived to him, 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.
The bomb is revealed to be inside Mater.
Zundapp is captured by Finn and Holley
Mater quickly makes his way onto the track and arrives at Lightning's pit; he is surprised to see all of his friends are there because of him and warns them of the bomb before Finn contacts him and tells him the bomb is on Mater. Now aware of where the bomb is, he seeks to outrun Lightning, who immediately spots him and is about to apologize to Mater. Instead, Lightning hooks himself to Mater, who sprouts a pair of rocket boosters (given by Finn), and the two burst through the track wall 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 reluctantly and desparately refuses. Finn immediately projects several magnetic grenades toward the ship's magnet, which causes it to explode resulting in Trihull's death. Holley catches up to Mater and McQueen; she tells him to stop, but he refuses, and she is forced to stop Grem and Acer 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 and injured by other angry cars who mash them up for breaking their glasses of root beer.
In the center of London, Mater and Lightning 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 Lightning even more. McMissile furiously orders Zundapp to deactivate the bomb on Mater, but he claims that only the one who installed it is able to do so. Mater quickly attempts to disarm the bomb using voice activation but discovers that the bomb has a fail-safe for such a scenario. It begins counting down from 4 minutes. Professor Zündapp states the bomb can only be disarmed by whoever's voice is that armed it, as 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 4 to 3 minutes, meaning that Zündapp was not the one who armed the bomb. When he asks Jokingly with arrogance anyone else would try, Holley zaps him with her taser beam since she has enough of him, which makes Zündapp to fall unconscious, then says that he is getting on her nerves, defeating him once and for all.
As they wonder what to do, the lemons and their army arrive to make sure the bomb goes off. Lightning McQueen notes they are the ones who want him dead, which they confirm yet also state that it's not personal but it is for their business. Mater tries to talk them out of it though his explanation of becoming rich and powerful, which only further encourages them in a negative and vile manner, but luckily, almost everyone from Radiator Springs shows up and helps Mater, Finn, and Holley defeat all the criminals. The heroes angrily surround remaining lemons who try to flee from the area, but Sarge appears with the British military, who presumably 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 as to also make up for harshly lasing out towards him back in Tokyo, 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, and resulting in the guards and police officers to point their guns at Mater. Finn arrives, telling them that Mater cannot disarm it before Lightning tells Mater to reveal his claims, and Mater states the Big Boss was Axlerod. Everyone pays attention as Mater states 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 and says that they'll see the engine from the photo if they open up his hood. Axelrod tries to deny and rebuke this as Holley politely questions Mater's theory and guess. He says Axelrod admitted to this after he used his disguised voice for everyone to hate Alternative Fuel so the world would go back to using oil. Axelrod states that the notion is preposterous as the Queen's grandson wants to get her from the scene, but she wants to see where things are going. Finn points out to Mater that Axelrod was the one who created the fuel, Allinol, but Mater brings up the possibility of Axelrod finding the oil wells in the ocean and creating Allinol as a sham and decitful excuse to make alternative fuel look bad to profit from oil. Axelrod angrily denies this, even asking if Mater is basing this on a wild and stupid "what if" guess 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 is face to face with Axlerod. Everyone else braces for the explosion as the timer counts down at 1 before Axlerod was forced to admit the truth and quickly deactivate the bomb, revealing that Mater's guesses, theories and suspicions were confirmed. The bomb shuts down for good as the police surrounds Axelrod, Mater lifts the defeated villainous car's hood, and the engine is the same as the Lemon's big boss, which Holley and Finn confirm. Axelrod then questions how Mater figured out his plan, as Lightning completely apologizes to Mater for fiercely and angrily snapping up about him, he tells Mater that from now on, he is coming to all his races. And in the end, the deaths of Leland Turbo and Rod Hotline were in full closure and not in vain, while Miles Axelrod was arrested for fraud, corruption, deceiption and orchestrated murder.
Mater is knighted by the Queen of the United Kingdom.
For exposing Miles Axlerod as the criminal mastermind and the fraud he is, Mater is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and though he insists on just being called Mater without his new title. He introduces Lightning McQueen and Finn McMissile and back forth after and before introducing them to the Queen. When the team returns home to Radiator Springs, where Mater is as much a celebrity as Lightning McQueen, he talks about his flying British girlfriend, as 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). After hearing Holley keeping a dent and deeming it "valuable," Lizzie remarked she was crazy as Mater while Mack commented that Mater and Holley make a great couple. Lightning McQueen is still confused about something; he brings up Zundapp, stating that the death ray should have killed him as he and Mater question why didn't he explode.
The same race cars from the WGP get invited to an unofficial Radiator Springs Grand Prix, free of the press, video cameras, bright lights, and parties. Lightning McQueen jokes with Francesco Bernoulli, as far as wearing a bumper sticker with another version of his catchphrase that refers to the Italian race, and the race begins. Finn and Holley state they are perplexed too as Holley reveals Allinol is regular gasoline modified and customized by Axelrod to explode when targeted. Lightning tells Fillmore about his claims of his fuel being safe, as Fillmore admits that both he and Sarge had used Fillmore's alternative fuel in place of the Allinol because they were suspicious of Axelrod and his fuel. Sarge confirms this while awkwardly using Fillmore's catchphrase "Man" as he is teased by him for it by the latter.
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 they 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 they leave. He uses the rockets to join in the race, shocking Francesco Bernoulli and catching up to Lightning McQueen. The film ends with Mater telling Lightning that he will see Lightning at the finish line first as they compete while Finn's Spy Jet winks and flies off.
Cars 2 was originally scheduled for a 2012 release, but Pixar moved the release up a year.
A storyboarded scene which was used during the production of the movie (Finn does not appear in the final scene),
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, who says to be an avid spy films fan, liked so much the idea of spy cars that he kept it in mind, and it became a main element in Cars 2.
From left to right: Denise Ream (producer), John Lasseter (director), Emily Mortimer (Holley Shiftwell), Larry the Cable Guy (Mater), & Michael Giacchino (composer).
Several members of the team watched 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 spy films, story supervisor Nathan Stanton payed 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 where they visited 15 locations in 12 days. They also got to Japan in October 2009.
Many animators had the opportunity to test real sports cars at their full speed, by themselves or with a pilot, to gain experience on how to animate the characters of the movie. Some also attended to racing events.
It took a long time for the team to decide 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 this idea was finally 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. In Cars 2, this technique, referred to as "Car-ification", appears more prominently due to the important number of places visited. Lasseter wanted 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 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. The process extends itself to the culture. The use by gambling cars of fuzzy dices similar to those hanged in a decorative purpose inside a car, or the periodic table of elements that becomes the automotive table of elements, can be given as examples.
In 2009, Disney registered several domain names in relation to the title "World Grand Prix". However, only the title "Cars 2" has been released.
Marketing[]
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 account 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 a turntable video was provided for most of them.
The life-size model of Lightning McQueen, Finn McMissile and Mater.
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, D.C. 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. The result can be seen here.
At the occasion of the 2011 WonderCon, Disney also led a viral marketing campaign. Outside the convention center was an AMC Pacer parked 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.
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).
Home media[]
The film was released on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD 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 Toon “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.
Reception[]
Critical Response[]
Cars 2 met with mixed reviews from critics and holds a 39% approval rating on aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 203 reviews, with an average score of 5.5/10, making it the first Pixar film 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". "The original Cars was not greeted with exceptional warmth," said The New York Times, "but the sequel generated Pixar's first truly negative response." Critics generally criticized the G rating, the focus on Mater and felt the film lacked warmth and charm, while also feeling the film was made as an exercise in target marketing. 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?" Although Leonard Maltin on IndieWire claimed that he had "such high regard for Pixar and it's creative team headed by John Lasseter" he said he found the plot "confusing" and felt that Mater's voice was annoying saying that he'd "rather listen to chalk on a blackboard than spend nearly two hours with Mater." 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 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.” Ticket buyers also gave the film an A– in exit polls, on par with other Pixar titles. 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 Results[]
Cars 2 grossed $191,452,396 in the USA and Canada, and $370,658,396 in other territories for a worldwide total of $562,110,792.
Worldwide on its opening weekend it grossed $109.0 million, marking the largest opening weekend for a 2011 animated title. Overall, Cars 2 became seventh biggest Pixar film in terms of worldwide box office among fourteen released, making it the highest-grossing film in the franchise.
Cars 2 made $25.7 million on its debut Friday (June 24, 2011), marking the third-largest opening day for a Pixar film after Toy Story 3's $41.1 million. At the time, though, it was the third least-attended opening day for a Pixar film, only ahead of Up and Ratatouille. It also scored the sixth largest opening day for an animated feature. 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 seventh largest opening for Pixar, the eighth largest among films released in June, and the fourth 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 is the only Pixar film that missed the $200-million mark since A Bug's Life, and it is also the least attended Pixar film ever.
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. 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).
Cars 2 marks the first Pixar film not nominated for an Oscar. It is also the first Pixar film not nominated for Best Animated Feature in the history of that award.
Attached Short Film[]
Hawaiian Vacation, the first episode of the Toy Story Toons series stars the Toy Story characters, was attached to Cars 2.
Sequel and spin-offs[]
On August 17, 2013, Michael Wallis, the voice of Sheriff, and a Route 66 consultant for the first two films said in an interview with WGBZ radio that Pixar will make a third film in the series which will go back to Route 66 and will also include Route 99.
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.
Trivia[]
Below is a list of cameos, in-jokes, re-used animation and other trivia from Cars 2.
References to Cars[]
Coincidentally, both begin with a scene taking place at night. However, unlike both films, Cars 3 begins at day.
Near the beginning of the movie, Mater asks Lightning McQueen if he can handle Mater's plans, and Lightning says that he can handle anything. He also said that he can handle anything after Mater asks him if he wants to go Tractor Tipping in the first movie.
At the end of the movie, Finn McMissile tells Mater that if he needs anything, just let him know, and Mater says that there is one thing. That was very similar to at the end of Cars when Tex Dinoco tells Lightning McQueen that if he needs anything, just let him know, and Lightning McQueen says that there is one thing.
Both movies end on an aircraft getting in the view of the camera, while Lightning McQueen races away on the roads of Carburetor County in the background.
Both films include numerous guest stars appearances.
Some ideas that didn't made the cut of Cars made their way into Cars 2. In a scene that never went beyond storyboarding, Lightning and Sally went to see a movie about a British spy car named "Finn McMissile". From there came the spy theme of Cars 2 and its tritagonist. In early versions of Cars, the residents of Radiator Springs organized an event called the "Radiator Springs Grand Prix" to bring back interest on the town. This idea was found as a good way to end Cars 2.
Both movies end with the main character getting a girlfriend.
When the Japanese toilet shoots water at Mater's undercarriage, he makes the same scream that he made in the first film when he was spinning like a tornado while he was driving backwards.
Also, when Mater gets covered in soap from the Japanese toilet, he makes the same babbling that he makes in the first film when he's driving backwards.
Francesco Bernoulli is similar to Chick Hicks. However, unlike Chick, Francesco does not cheat, and becomes on good terms with Lightning McQueen by the end of the movie.
In the closing credits, Mater uses his hook to make the Leaning Tower of Pisa upright, then it leans to the other side. This is a reference to in the first film when Mater uses his hook to try to make his sign upright, but then it leans to the other side.
The famous Wilhelm scream is heard in both movies.
Tokyo, as it appears in Cars 2, reuses many elements from how it appeared in Tokyo Mater. Notably, many advertisements appear without a change in both media.
At the end of the movie, Mater tells the visitors of Radiator Springs the events that happened on London, however Van doesn't believe him, finding the story nonsensical. Holley then suddenly appears to prove the veracity of Mater's story. This is very similar to the endings of Mater's Tall Tales, in which a car from Mater's story interacts with him to prove the story Mater told was true.
The Incredibles is again mentioned on a French poster in the entrance of the Marché Aux Pièces. It bears the French title of the film, Les Indestructibles.
Also at the entrance is a poster for A Bug's Life, using the French title of the film, 1001 Pattes (1001 Legs). This marks the second time this movie is mentioned in the Cars franchise, with the first time being in the credits of Cars.
The jungle from which Miles Axlerod emerges during the clip on the Mel Dorado show is a carbon copy of the same style from Up.
In the credits, it was shown that Mater's was born in January 12, 1957, which is the same as John Lasseter's. This implies that Mater's model year is 1957, although it is not mentioned in his model name, and in the unproduced short film, Backwards to the Forwards, Mater is said to of "rolled right out of the factory in 1955".
In the credits, Vitaly Petrov, a character from the Russian version of the film, can be seen on a Russian postcard.
In the credits, while the camera pans through a cartoon San Francisco, the Pixar Animation Studios appears on the map with a giant Luxo Lamp above it.
In the credits, some of the travel brochures passing by have pictures of Luxo, Jr. and the Luxo's Ball, as well as a fictional airline company called "Pixair", a reference to Pixar.
Todd the Pizza Planet truck returned again in this film, where he appears twice.
The character team built 145 new character models for the film and 781 variants. These variants, which are primarily background cars, include 13 model variants – unique character models that are based on other new models – and 768 shading variants – models that are re-used from classic and new Cars, Cars 2, and Cars Toons models, but with new, unique paint schemes. In total, there are 926 new characters in Cars 2.
This is the only Cars film not to have a post-credit scene.
Mater says that his line of work is towing and salvage. Finn replies by saying, "Right. And Ms. Shiftwell's is designing iPhone apps." This is a reference to Apple's smartphone line.
Cars is the second Pixar film to become a franchise, after Toy Story and is the last independently before it was purchased by Disney.
This was the final 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 Randy Newman did not scored a Pixar film directed by Lasseter.
Cars 2 is also the first time that Michael Giacchino had done the scoring of a Pixar movie franchise that was previously done by Newman, and it was the only time he did so until Lightyear in 2022 (Almost 11 years later).
State Farm is mentioned briefly. When McMissile and Shiftwell tell Mater that he is a secret agent, he thinks they mean an insurance agent, and sings, "Like a good neighbor, Mater is there!", a reference to the State Farm jingle.
Cars 2 has the lowest score Rotten Tomatoes has given to Pixar, with an average score of 39% based of 193 reviews by well known critics and stated as rotten. This is also the first Pixar film to earn a rotten ranking.
This is the only Cars film in the franchise where the Tractors do not appear.
The car with eyes in her headlights.
At the Marché aux Pièces in Paris, one car has eyes in her headlights, which is an allusion to their standard location on anthropomorphic cars. It referred to how John Lasseter felt it was more appealing for the eyes to be on the windshield instead.
A large number of background characters (including the World Grand Prix racers Miguel Camino and Max Schnell) have the tire codes "P215/65R15 89H" and "Traction A Temperature A". Raoul ÇaRoule is a rare exception, having a different tire code reading "P210/70R18 99S".
Cars 2 is the third Pixar movie to feature an entirely non-human cast after A Bug's Life and Cars.
In the short YouTube documentary A Day in the Life of John Lasseter, it is shown that during the end of production of Cars 2, Professor Z's lines in the interrogation scene with Rod Redline were changed to remove any references to radiation ("electro-magnetic pulse" was originally "blast of radiation"). John Lasseter asked that the lines be changed out of respect for Japan, due to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster that happened there three months before the film's release in the United States, which it was caused by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. However, in the Cars 2 Junior Novelization and the Cars 2 magazine, "blast of radiation" was used, probably because they were made before they changed the line.
A Cars 2 poster seen in the 2011 Muppets movie.
One of the film's posters can be seen in the 2011 Muppets movie.
Cars 2 is the fourth Pixar film to contain subtitles over foreign languages, with the first being The Incredibles, the second being Ratatouille and the third being Toy Story 3.
Cars 2 is Pixar's fifth longest film, with a running time of 1 hour and 46 minutes, with Ratatouille in fourth, The Incredibles in third Cars in second, and The Incredibles 2 in first.
However for some reason the Google result for Cars 2 shows it's runtime being 2 hours long.
This was the second time in the Cars series when Mater was flying. The first was in Unidentified Flying Mater, and the third was in Air Mater.
This is the only Cars film in the franchise not to be scored by Randy Newman, since it is instead scored by other recurring Pixar composer Michael Giacchino.
The first character seen in the movie, Leland Turbo, and the last character seen in the movie, Siddeley, are both voiced by Jason Isaacs.
During the Mel Dorado show, in the picture of the scientists examining the Allinol, in the background is a picture saying "Automotive Table of Elements." This is a reference to the "Periodic Table of Elements." The table has the same chemical symbols as the actual Periodic Table.
The story of Cars 2 kind of reverses the story of Cars Mater-National. In Cars 2, Lightning and Mater visit the world. In Cars Mater-National, the world visits them.
The bathroom fight in Tokyo between Rod Redline, Acer and Grem is a reference to the pre-credits sequence of the James Bond film Casino Royale.
This is the last Pixar film to use the words "Walt" and "Pictures" in the Disney logo at the very beginning.
In the movie, Rod Redline dies after radiation. But in the video game, you can choose to play as him when you download him. However, it could be that he is part of a simulation, as the tracks are part of a simulation.
This is the last Pixar film released before Steve Jobs' death.
This is the only Cars film in the entire franchise, including the two Planes movies, not to have the main character appear in a new paint job at the end.
The money received from this movie is larger than the first movie, despite the mixed reception.
During the London scenes of the film, in the director's commentary, John stated that they made enough racing scenes to where the movie could've been an entire racing film.
Some World Grand Prix racers didn't have speaking roles in the movie, but they have speaking roles in Cars 2 the video game and Cars Fast As Lightning.
John's father, Paul Eaul Lasseter, passed away during late production of the movie.
Goofs[]
Comparison of a shot where Lightning has his correct wheels, with the scene where he has the wrong wheels.
For the Tokyo race, Lightning McQueen logically has his racing wheels on. However, in one scene, when the start lights are showing, McQueen is seen with his party wheels on instead of his racing wheels. In the rest of the race, he has his racing wheels on.
When Mater was at the airport entering the terminal, you could see a mark on his side that showed that his symbol was scraped off. But when he was going through the gate, the mark wasn't there anymore.
The black Mercedes-Benz on this image can be seen going half-through the floor.
Some cars in the crowd attending the Porto Corsa race have sunk through the floor.
Shot of McQueen forming the World Grand Prix logo
Although Lightning McQueen had not joined the World Grand Prix yet, you can see him forming the globe in the ad on The Mel Dorado Show. However, it could have been finished with every racer that was invited before Lightning declined the invite. But even then, it is inconsistent that he appears with his World Grand Prix customizations, that he hadn't then. It could be that they had McQueen's World Grand Prix customization planned before he declined the invite.
In the bathroom scene, when Mater enters the bathroom, none of the stalls are open except the one he goes into. When Rod Redline comes in, they are all open except the one Mater is in. There is only about 15 seconds in between Mater and Rod Redline, so it is very unlikely that all the cars had exited their stalls by then. However, it could be that the cars exited their stalls when Mater sees the toilet and before he went into his stall, as well as that when a blue car exits the stall Mater goes into.
After Lightning McQueen, Mater, Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell confront Professor Z, you can clearly see that he is attached to Finn. But right before Holley tazes him, he is not attached at all. But it might be that Finn unattached Professor Z while the bomb was taking a minute off.
When Mater goes to hook up to Victor Hugo from Karl Haulzemoff, he attaches his hook to the front left wheel. As Mater pulls him in to the back room of the casino to join the rest of the cars, the hook is attached to the front right wheel. However, it is possible that Victor made Mater change wheels.
In the Radiator Springs Grand Prix, Lightning had his Allinol sign when he introduced Francesco to Sally. But when he backed up, you can see it's not there.
When Holley, Finn and Mater are trapped in Big Bentley, it is emphasized that they move closer to their death every minute, starting at the top of the hour. Later, when the clock is being reversed, it shows fifteen minutes had passed. Originally, when Holley and Finn were moving closer to the gears, they only moved a few times, suggesting only a few minutes had passed.
At the World Grand Prix welcome party, Francesco Bernoulli appears during a short scene with different wheels, with gray wheel trims and no inscriptions.
The shot where Francesco bears different wheels, compared with another appearance with normal wheels.
When Mater was on the phone, he was not on screen on the TV. But when Francesco was being mean to McQueen, he somehow knew that Mater was a tow truck even though he wasn't on screen. However, it could be that Mater said that he is a tow truck before McQueen and Sally came in. Another explanation is that Francesco thinks that all tow trucks sound like Mater, and so he calls him one as well. The most likely explanation of this is that McQueen is world-famous and thus various details about him, including his friends, are widely known as is the way with celebrities, although Darrell Cartrip said that he doesn't know Mater when he actually did in the Cars video game.
After the bomb was deactivated, two police cars surrounded Miles Axlerod. One of them was black and the other one was grey/gray with blue and green squares. After Mater opens Axlerod's hood/bonnet to show his engine, the black police car then changes, matching the other one.
When Mater wakes up from his nightmare, the time on Big Bentley says 3 o'clock, but it chimes 5 times.
When Guido tries to take the bomb off Mater, the time on it said 2 minutes and about 38 seconds. But when Mater bows to the Queen just before the guards notice the bomb, the time on it said 1 minute and about 52 seconds. McQueen and Mater's conversation and them flying to Buckingham Palace took more than a minute between these scenes.
When the bombs on Tony Trihull's magnet explode, the explosion was big enough to kill Finn McMissile and Professor Z. However, in the following scenes, they were still alive. Although, it is likely that the two were able to escape the detonation range before it exploded.
In the credits, there was a paper revealing that Mater was knighted on Tuesday 15 July 2011. In real life, 15 July in 2011 was on a Friday, not Tuesday.
In the scene right when Mater and Lightning enter Buckingham Palace, look in the background. There is a mountain there. Then the scene shows Finn and Holley entering, then it has Lightning and Mater moving closer to the Queen. In that scene, the mountain is a now a big building.
When Mater was driving away from McQueen due to the bomb, Darrell Cartrip says he doesn't know Mater, even though he does in Cars: The Videogame.
When Mater was driving through London using the rockets, and had McQueen holding on to him, there was a blue Gremlin telling Grem and Acer that Mater and McQueen are coming their way. Beside the blue Gremlin was a sign on a wall which was mentioning about some drinks in a café, including oil teas. One of the words on the sign was "favorite", which was spelled "favorite" on the sign, even though it was being shown in London (and showing the British name for gasoline: "petrol"), as the UK spells "favorite" with a "u", spelling it as "favourite".
Although Tokyo Mater ended with the villain Kabuto being stripped of his modifications after losing to Mater in a drift race, in his appearance here, he can be seen with his modifications again. However, it could be that was another car that looks like Kabuto, perhaps the story never happened, or it is most likely that Kabuto got his modifications back after the story.
When Acer and Petey Pacer discover that Finn is still alive when they try to get Mater, Finn was holding a fire extinguisher and shoots foam onto their eyes. Acer and Petey Pacer then couldn't see where they're going. Petey Pacer and Acer were driving in the same direction until Petey Pacer turns left and runs into a police car while Acer went on straight ahead. In the shot when Petey Pacer starts to turn left, Acer is driving towards the poles holding the crowd and past the pit building. But in the shot when Petey Pacer runs into the police car, Acer is then shown driving past some buildings. Wrong place. However, it could be that when Petey Pacer is driving left, Acer was driving left as well, and Petey Pacer drives left again before Acer goes on straight ahead.
On the race track in Tokyo, the road leading to Rainbow Bridge seemed to have a few mistakes. In reality, the road has a railway in the middle. However on the race track in the film, the railway track isn't there. Two roads connect to Rainbow Bridge. In the film, the road that was part of the race track goes over the other road on Rainbow Bridge. But in reality, the two roads are the opposite.
According to Nathan Stanton the team did some "cheating" to make the track work.
When McQueen says that he will still use Allinol in the final race in London, he mentions about Mater, which Mater had his eyelids pointing up. In the next shot, when Brent Mustangburger mentions to the audience what McQueen said about still using Allinol, Mater's eyelids then suddenly change their position, so it should be that it might have skipped a bit.
When Grem uses the pulse generator to try to kill McQueen in the last race, the racers seem to be driving across Westminster Bridge and past Big Ben/Big Bentley. However, when Mater got free and drove out of the clock tower, it looks as if there is traffic on that same road leading to Westminster Bridge.
In the introduction before the first race in Tokyo starts, when the announcers mention Lightning McQueen, there was a box showing McQueen from on the track when the rest of the screen shows an aerial view. Miguel Camino is between McQueen and Nigel Gearsley, which all of the racers are turning side to side in the test before the start of the race. Camino is only seen once on the box showing McQueen from his front, and only Gearsley is seen on it for the rest of the time that it is being shown.
When John Lassetire (John Lasseter) is in his World Grand Prix customization, his eyes were brown. However, when he changed it after the World Grand Prix, which he was green with wooden doors, his eyes then changed to blue, which is actually Lasseter's eye color.
During the introduction before the race in Porto Corsa, when Darrell starts talking, the DVD and Blu-ray subtitles accidentally say Brent's name when it shows who is talking when that character's mouth is not shown.
The circuit of the London heat of the World Grand Prix goes through the middle archway of Admiralty Arch. In reality, this archway is opened only for (rare) State occasions, and only the Royal entourage is allowed through it; in everyday traffic use, only the other two arches are used. However, it could be that in the film, they were allowed permission to use the middle archway in the circuit.
Before you see Finn McMissile at the party, on a bridge, there is Kabuto, but his eyes were brown instead of green. However, it may be due to the fact that Kabuto was probably wearing green contacts in Tokyo Mater, and that being of Asian origin, that brown is actually his normal eye color.
Despite the above, Ramone and Flo, despite being implied to be Latino and African American judging by their accents, actually both have blue eyes.
When Grem and Acer leave Big Bentley, they use a lift/elevator. In real life, the Elizabeth Tower does not have a lift/elevator (though one will be added during the tower's restoration from 2017 to 2021). This is most likely artistic license; unless cars in the Cars universe have abilities we haven't seen, there's no way they could drive up or down the narrow, steep and winding staircases in the real-life version of the tower.
Denise Beam in the men's bathroom.
In the international version of the DVD/Blu-ray, several instances of written English text have been replaced with universal symbols or removed. However, on several occasions, they switch back to the original appearance, or that the original appearance is shown, then the new appearance. For instance: The World Grand Prix racers' names on the wall of the pit building and the box with text showing when McQueen is talking about what fuel he will use in the final race in London.
The red telephone boxes in London are still human-sized in the Cars world, making them not big enough for the cars to get in.
When Mater goes into the bathroom, Denise Beam can be seen leaving the bathroom. This is a mistake because Denise Beam is a female, but she was in the bathroom for males.
In the subtitles for the audio commentary on Cars 2, John Lasseter describes Mater with "two miniguns" but the subtitles say "two many guns".
In the subtitles for the iTunes and Apple TV versions of the film, Stephenson's name is misspelled as "Stevenson."
At the World Grand Prix race in Tokyo, there is a short dirt track section of the course during which Francesco loses his lead and is "brought to a screeching halt." However, at the end of the film when the racers compete in Radiator Springs, Francesco does not seem to have any trouble driving or turning on the dirt.
Tony Trihull was shown when Finn McMissile starts chasing Professor Zündapp. It also shows the scene when Tony is using his magnet. When it was used, Finn's equipment was pulled by the magnet, which also includes his bullets. The bullets were colored black when all of them were going out. However, they turn gray when they are pulled onto the magnet.
When Mater tows Otis onto the road, Otis' tire seems to go through the oil leaked by him. However, no oil trail was made by it.
When Mater and Shiftwell are talking in the corridor, Mater's reflection is cast on the wall. However, Shiftwell's reflection isn't.
When Mater is scared after Professor Z says that McQueen needs to die, there is no one behind Victor Hugo, however in the later scene a black Hugo suddenly appears behind him, and it would not be possible for him to have appeared so quickly.
