15 Years Later, Cars 2 Is Still One Of The Wildest Animated Sequels Of All Time - MCE Notices | California State Portal

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Pixar’s first Cars movie was a heartfelt story about a race car who learns to slow down, discovering that there’s more to life than just fame and glory, while also providing a heartwarming showcase of the forgotten beauty of Route 66. However, Cars 2 is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, a sequel very few likely saw coming.

While 2011’s Cars 2 brings back Owen Wilson’s Lightning McQueen, Larry the Cable Guy’s Mater, and many more characters from the first movie, the sequel was a pretty dramatic changing of gears. There were still races to be won for McQueen. However, the primary story was instead an international spy thriller starring none other than Mater, featuring some surprisingly intense action sequences and high-stakes missions.

Understandably, Cars 2 remains one of Pixar’s most divisive films, and I totally get why. However, I also can’t help but admire what was easily one of the studio’s boldest creative swings. Even 15 years later, few animated sequels come to mind with more unexpected and bizarre premises than Cars 2.

15 Years Ago, 2011’s Cars 2 Drastically Changed The Tone Of The Entire Cars Franchise

In Cars 2, Lightning McQueen participates in the World Grand Prix, an international race meant to showcase an alternative fuel technology. However, the racing quickly becomes secondary to a completely different (and crazier) story. For the bulk of the movie, Cars 2 shifts the spotlight to Mater as the leading protagonist, accidentally finding himself caught in an international conspiracy after he’s mistakenly identified as an American spy by British intelligence agents Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer).

From that point on, Cars 2 goes full James Bond, defying what many audiences were likely expecting from a sequel to 2006’s Cars. After all, the tonal shift is pretty extreme, featuring spy gadgets, gun attachments, hidden bombs, flying cars, and more. There’s even outright car murders as Mater and his new allies close in on the nefarious forces behind the World Grand Prix.

As a result, such a significant change of tone and wildly different premise is largely why Cars 2 proved so divisive. While some appreciated the franchise trying something new, others missed the charm of the original movie. Without a doubt, Cars 2 comes completely out of left field, and that’s part of what makes it such a fascinating movie to revisit 15 years later.

You Can’t Say That Making Mater An Accidental Spy Wasn’t Bold

If audiences are willing to embrace the movie’s unusual premise in all of its glory, Cars 2 actually becomes a pretty entertaining spy comedy. Mater works surprisingly well as the film’s lead, operating completely out of his depth while also discovering his greatest strengths. Likewise, Mater’s enduring confusion throughout the movie becomes one of Cars 2’s biggest sources of humor. Some of Larry the Cable Guy’s best performances as Mater come from this sequel.

At the end of the day, the concept of Cars 2 deserves credit simply for its boldness. After all, it’s pretty difficult to think of another Pixar sequel that differs so dramatically from the movie that came before it. While that same uniqueness and divisive reception likely played a part in Pixar pivoting back to a more racing-focused story with Cars 3, it doesn’t change the fact that Cars 2 is still so fascinating simply because it exists in the first place.

Is Cars 2 bizarre? Absolutely. Is it one of the strangest blockbuster animated sequels ever made? No doubt. However, that’s also why it’s worth revisiting 15 years later, if only to serve as a reminder that Pixar once looked at a franchise about talking race cars and decided the logical next step was international espionage.