Five years after ‘Cars’ captured the hearts of a generation of kids, Lightning McQueen returned to the silver screen with a much bigger adventure. The world of ‘Cars’ expanded far beyond the sleepy town of Radiator Springs and into what might be the coolest fictional racing event ever created: the World Grand Prix.
For kids who grew up loving cars, racing and Hot Wheels tracks spread across the living room floor, watching ‘Cars 2’ was a genuine thrill. It felt like every wild childhood racing fantasy brought to life on the big screen, only bigger, brighter and packed with international motorsport flavour.
The setup is irresistible for a young racing fan. Lightning McQueen accepts a challenge from Francesco Bernoulli, a brash, swaggering and arrogant Italian Formula One car who seems very clearly modelled after Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, at least in spirit. McQueen heads to Tokyo to compete in the World Grand Prix against the top race cars from around the globe.
The field includes LMP1 prototypes, IndyCars, rally cars, sports cars and open-wheel machines. It is a racing event unlike anything in the real world. Competitions like IROC and the Race of Champions have brought drivers from different disciplines together, often putting them in identical machinery. But ‘Cars 2’ imagines something even more exciting: what would happen if completely different types of race cars competed against each other on the same course?
Could a Formula One car handle a rally section on a street circuit? Would its cornering advantage be enough to make up for the time lost off-road? Could a stock-car-style racer like Lightning McQueen compete against purpose-built international machines? For anyone who grew up loving racing, those questions are almost impossible to resist.
Throughout the movie, ‘Cars 2’ feels like a racing fan’s dream come true. It brings new corners of motoring culture into the franchise, while also making room for real-world motorsport icons such as Jeff Gordon, Lewis Hamilton and Speed TV commentator David Hobbs. Dedicated fans will also know that several international versions of the film included race car appearances by Fernando Alonso, Vitaly Petrov and Sebastian Vettel.
For young racing fans, that mattered. ‘Cars 2’ may not be the most focused movie in the franchise, but it might be the one that best shows the wide world of motorsport. Rather than sticking to one series, one country or one style of racing, the movie opens the garage doors to everything.
Of course, it is impossible to discuss ‘Cars 2’ without addressing its bizarre main storyline, which has surprisingly little to do with racing. Instead, the movie follows Tow Mater as he accidentally gets involved with a group of spies investigating a conspiracy against the World Grand Prix.
Mater is pulled into the espionage plot alongside Finn McMissile, voiced by Michael Caine in a clear homage to spy films older than many of the parents sitting in the theatre, and Holley Shiftwell, whose design appears to draw inspiration from the obscure Japanese sports car, the Mitsuoka Orochi.
The conspiracy itself is surprisingly dense for a children’s movie. The organizer of the World Grand Prix is secretly staging the entire event to sabotage the competitors running on alternative fuels. His goal is to discredit clean energy and protect his own crude oil interests, while also giving a voice to the so-called “lemons” of the automotive world: the broken, forgotten and sneered-at cars treated as inferior by everyone else.
For many seven-year-olds in the audience, it is safe to say the fine details of the plot probably sailed right over their heads. Big surprise: children did not arrive at the theatre expecting a geopolitical energy conspiracy involving alternative fuels, petroleum interests and class resentment among defective automobiles.
That may be the central problem with ‘Cars 2’. The movie is about race cars, but much of its attention is given to Mater’s goofy spy adventure. The globe-trotting espionage plot, while imaginative, often pulls focus away from the racing world that makes the movie so exciting in the first place.
Still, there is a lot of quality in ‘Cars 2’, especially for anyone who loves cars and motorsport. The entire Tokyo sequence is pure cinematic brilliance, from the plane ride to the neon-lit drive through the city, all set to ‘You Might Think’ by The Cars. The kickoff party is packed with style, and the race itself is one of the most visually exciting moments in the franchise.
The Italy sequence is just as memorable. Lightning’s evening with Guido and Luigi’s family of Fiats gives the movie some warmth, while the race through the Italian countryside delivers exactly the kind of international spectacle the World Grand Prix concept promised.
Maybe ‘Cars 2’ would have been stronger if it had trusted the racing to carry the movie. Maybe the spy plot was a strange detour for a franchise built around competition, friendship and car culture. But without that strange detour, audiences never would have seen Tow Mater knighted by the Queen of England.
And really, that has to count for something.
I recently binged all of these movies, what a blast from the past.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since ‘Cars’ was released theatrically. It’s had a big impact on an entire generation of gearheads.
I hope there’s a triple feature on June 9 to mark the movie’s debut.