Cars 2 (2011)
A sequel to Cars.
British spy Finn McMissile infiltrates an oil rig owned by criminal lemon cars to rescue fellow spy Leland Turbo. He witnesses the lemons (cars that never seem to work right such as Gremlin, Pacer, Hugo, and Trunkov)), 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 4th Piston Cup (now renamed the Hudson Hornet Piston Cup after his death), Lightning McQueen returns to Radiator Springs to spend his off-season with his friends. Italian formula race car Francesco Bernoulli challenges Lightning to participate in the first ever 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 (“You Might Think”).
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 (AMC Gremlin) and Acer (AMC Pacer). 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. Mater is abducted by Finn, 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. Lightning and his team meet Luigi’s uncle, Uncle Topolino, who gives Lightning some words of advice regarding Mater: “Everybody fights now and then, especially best friends. But you got to make up fast. No fight more important than friendship. Whoever find a friend, find a treasure”. 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. Mater, Finn, and Shiftwell discover that the lemons ultimate plan is to ignite the racecars during the race to ignite controversy and distrust in Allinol which will cause everyone to fuel and due to them owning the largest untapped oil reserve in the world, they will become the most powerful cars. Due to controversy over Allinol's safety, Axlerod lifts its requirement for use in the final race in London. 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 (a parody of the Big Ben), 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, but 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 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 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 reveals that Sarge has swapped Allinol with his organic fuel, explaining the camera's ineffectiveness on Lightning. 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 ("Collision of Worlds”).
TRIVIA
The team consulted racers regarding what lines they would take during a race; this is most evident in the first lap of the Tokyo race.
Visual Style
The opening race in Tokyo took inspiration from Singapore’s Formula One night race. Having the Tokyo race take place at night allowed them to showcase a really rich and beautiful range of light sources, from glowing lanterns to the amazing neon signs downtown to the chaos of light reflecting on the cars themselves.
After adapting the Grand Prix races to the real cities of Tokyo and London, the filmmakers decided to create the Italian Riviera town of Porto Corsa from whole cloth. Though fictional, Porto Corsa proudly displays the influences of Vernazza, Genoa, Positano, Monte Carlo, and Portofino.
The city of Paris was inspired by vintage photos of Paris’s old central market, Les Halles.
Deleted Scene(s)
A deleted scene reveals that the World Grand Prix was originally 5 races with one taking place in Munich, Germany which would be an all off-road race through Germany’s Black Forest which is based on a village called Wolfach.
A deleted scene reveals that the World Grand Prix was originally 5 races with one taking place in Paris which would be a 24 hour Le Mans-type race and it involved showcasing the alternative fuels that different racers use.