| Cars | |
|---|---|
| |
| Directed by | John Lasseter Joe Ranft (co-director, Cars) Brad Lewis (co-director, Cars 2) |
| Produced by | Darla K. Anderson (Cars) Denise Ream (Cars 2) |
| Written by | John Lasseter (story, Cars and Cars 2; and screenplay, Cars) Joe Ranft (story and screenplay, Cars) Jorgen Klubien (story and screenplay, Cars) Dan Fogelman (screenplay, Cars; and story, Cars 2) Kiel Murray (screenplay, Cars) Phil Lorin (screenplay, Cars) Brad Lewis (story, Cars 2) |
| Music by | Randy Newman (Cars) Michael Giacchino (Cars 2) |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures (Cars) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (Cars 2) |
| Release Date | June 9, 2006 (Cars) June 24, 2011 (Cars 2) |
| Running Time | 223 minutes (1+2) |
Cars is the second franchise created by Pixar and distributed by Disney, after Toy Story. Cars was released on June 9, 2006, and Cars 2 was released on June 24, 2011.
In 2013, a spin-off series was created by DisneyToon Studios called Planes.
Description
Cars
Cars takes place in a world populated by anthropomorphic transportation. The film begins with the last race of the Piston Cup championship, which ends in a three-way tie between retiring veteran Strip "The King" Weathers, infamous runner-up Chick Hicks, and rookie Lightning McQueen. The tiebreaker race is scheduled for one week later at the fictional Los Angeles International Speedway in California. Lightning is desperate to win the race, since it would allow him to leave the unglamorous sponsorship of Rust-Eze, a rust treatment for old cars, and allow him to take The King's place as the sponsored car of the lucrative Dinoco team. Eager to start practice in California as soon as possible, Lightning pushes his big rig, Mack, to travel all night long. While McQueen is sleeping, the exhausted Mack drifts off and is startled by a gang of reckless street racers, causing McQueen to fall out the back of the truck into the road. McQueen wakes in the middle of traffic, and speeds off the highway to find Mack, ending up in the run-down town of Radiator Springs and inadvertently ruining the pavement of its main road.
After being arrested and impounded overnight, guarded by a rusty but friendly tow truck named Mater, McQueen is ordered by the town's judge and doctor, Doc Hudson, to leave town immediately. The local lawyer, Sally Carrera, insists that McQueen be given community service to repave the road, to which Doc begrudingly agrees. McQueen tries to repave it in a single day, but it turns out to be shoddy and McQueen is ordered to repave the road again, which takes several days to complete. During this time, he becomes friends with several of the cars, and learns that Radiator Springs used to be a popular stopover along U.S. Route 66, but with the construction of Interstate 40 bypassing the town, it literally vanished from the map. McQueen also discovers that Doc is really the "Fabulous Hudson Hornet", a three-time Piston Cup winner who was forced out of racing after an accident in 1954 and quickly forgotten by the sport. McQueen finishes the road, which has invigorated the cars to improve their town, and spends an extra day in town with his new friends, before Mack and the media descend on the town, led by a tip to McQueen's location. McQueen reluctantly leaves with the media to get to California in time for the race, while Sally chastises Doc after discovering that he had tipped off the media to McQueen's whereabouts, not wanting to be discovered himself instead.
At the speedway, McQueen's mind is not fully set on the race, and he soon falls into last place. He is surprised to discover that Doc Hudson, decked out in his old racing colors, has taken over as his crew chief, along with several other friends from Radiator Springs to help in the pit. Inspired and recalling tricks he learned from Doc and his friends, McQueen quickly emerges to lead the race into the final laps. Hicks, refusing to lose, sends Weathers into a dangerous accident. Seeing this and recalling Doc's fate, McQueen stops just short of the finish line, allowing Hicks to win, and drives back to push Weathers over the finish line. The crowd and media condemn Hicks' victory and give praise to McQueen's sportsmanship. Though offered the Dinoco sponsorship deal, McQueen declines, insisting on staying with his current sponsors as an appreciation of their past support. Later, back at Radiator Springs, McQueen returns and announces that he will be setting up his headquarters there, helping to put Radiator Springs back on the map.
Mater and the Ghostlight
Mater and the Ghostlight is a short film created for the Cars DVD. Mater is playing pranks on the townsfolk, including scaring McQueen by fooling him into thinking he was behind some oil cans. When McQueen approaches the oil cans, Mater jumps out of nowhere revealing that the "Mater" behind the cans was a decoy, scaring McQueen. Mater jokes that McQueen looks like he just saw "the Ghostlight", when Sheriff tells Mater not to mock the Ghostlight and tells the townsfolk the story of the Ghostlight. After the story everyone hurries away to their homes leaving Mater alone in the dark and scared as he drives home. He is approached by a light and thinks that it is the Ghostlight, but it turns out to be just a lightning bug. Another blue light appears behind Mater and he speeds away trying to run from the Ghostlight. Eventually Mater realizes that the "Ghostlight" was only a lamp that McQueen and Guido hooked on his tow cable to trick him, and the townsfolk tell Mater there is nothing to fear except his imagination, and the Screamin' Banshee. The townsfolk speed away again leaving Mater in the dark once more. After the credits, Mater encounters the Screamin' Banshee, but has no idea who he is and warns him about the Screamin' Banshee and then drives away, leaving the Banshee puzzled.
Cars Toons
Cars Toons are short stories featuring the gang from Radiator Springs that started airing in 2008. Most of them were called "Mater's Tall Tales", where Mater tells various stories ranging from him being a firetruck to a monster truck wrestler and much more. McQueen doesn't believe him but something happens to suggest that the events in Mater's story was true. These shorts were Rescue Squad Mater, Mater the Greater, El Materdor, Tokyo Mater, Unidentified Flying Mater, Monster Truck Mater, Heavy Metal Mater, Moon Mater, Mater Private Eye, Air Mater, and Time Travel Mater. In 2013, three new shorts called "Tales from Radiator Springs" aired, revolving around the other townsfolk. These shorts were Hiccups, Spinning, and Bugged.
Cars 2
Cars 2 is the twelfth film from Pixar. The story is about Lightning McQueen competing in the first World Grand Prix, a three-part race set in Japan, Italy and England that will determine the world's fastest racecar. His rival in the race is Italian Formula One car, Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro). Along the way, Mater is mistaken for a spy by British spy car, Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and falls in love with McMissile's assistant Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer). The three of them uncover a plot to sabotage the race led by Professor Zündapp (Thomas Kretschmann) and a group of lemon cars, including Grem (Joe Mantegna) and Acer (Peter Jacobson). When the race reaches its conclusion in England, Mater figures out that Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard) is the mastermind behind the plot to sabotage the race, since he started it in the first place and had intended for cars everywhere to run on oil as revenge for the lemons' reputation as being "history's biggest loser cars," implying that Axlerod is also a lemon. With the plot foiled and the villains defeated, Mater is knighted by the Queen of England (Vanessa Redgrave) and a new race is held in Radiator Springs. Mater is offered to join McMissile and Shiftwell on another mission, but he chooses to stay. He does, however, get to keep the rocket engines he acquired as the two agents take off in Siddeley (Jason Isaacs), the British spy jet.
Cars 3
Cars 3 was confirmed alongside The Incredibles 2 on May 18, 2014.
Disney Infinity
- There is a Cars Play Set with Radiator Springs as the setting.
- Lightning McQueen, Holley, Mater, and Francesco are playable.
- Chick Hicks, Fillmore, Finn McMissile, Flo, Guido, Luigi, Pace Car, Ramone, and Tractors appear as NPCs.
- Carla Veloso, Shu Todoroki, and The King appear as NPCs exclusively as racing opponents.
- The Cozy Cone Motel, Fillmore's Organic Fuels, Flo's V8 Cafe, Luigi's Casa Della Tires, the Radiator Springs Courthouse, Radiator Springs Curios, Ramone's House of Body Art, Sarge's Surplus Hut, and Tow Mater's Impound Lot appear as Buildings.
- Lightning McQueen, Holley Shiftwell, Mater, Francesco, and Finn McMissile appear as Paint Jobs, the car equivalent of Costumes.
- The battle races and turbo boost packs are based on Cars 2: The Video Game.
- Some music and sound effects also originate from Cars 2: The Video Game.
- Max Schnell and Raoul ÇaRoule, while not making a physical appearance in the game, appear on pictures inside buildings in the playset.
- Grem appears in concept art, but does not appear in the game.
Disney Infinity: 2.0 Edition
- Luigi appears as a Paint Job.
Disney Infinity: 3.0 Edition
- The Radiator Springs Stanley Statue is one of the objects that can be put in the INterior.
- A Mater Hat is one of the hats available for decorating a sidekick.
