National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Cars 2 was released by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios in June 2011, the studio's twelfth feature film. A departure from the original Cars, the sequel leaned into globe-trotting spy thriller territory, taking its characters from Radiator Springs to Tokyo, London, and beyond. It represented Pixar at a particular crossroads — a beloved franchise extended into new genre territory, with John Lasseter directing for the first time since the original Cars in 2006.

This cell captures Finn McMissile in a low-angle close-up, the framing lending the silver British spy car a sense of authority and presence. The confirmed title places Mater within the scene, and traces of an orange-brown form visible at the lower edge of the frame suggest the two characters share this moment together — a quiet piece of one of the film's central partnerships preserved across three nearly identical frames of 35mm.