The New Yo"The original Cars was not greeted with exceptional warmth," said The New York Times, "but the sequel generated Pixar's first truly negative response."[46]
Critics generally criticized the G-rating, the focus on Mater and felt the film lacked warmth and charm, while also feeling the film was made as an exercise in target marketing.[47][48][49][50] Reviewing the film for The Wall Street Journal, Joe Morgenstern wrote, “This frenzied sequel seldom gets beyond mediocrity."[51] Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman said, "Cars 2 is a movie so stuffed with "fun" that it went right off the rails. What on earth was the gifted director-mogul John Lasseter thinking – that he wanted kids to come out of this movie was [sic] more ADD?"[52] Although Leonard Maltin on IndieWire claimed that he had "such high regard for Pixar and its creative team led by John Lasseter" he said he found the plot "confusing" and felt that Mater's voice was annoying, saying that he'd "rather listen to chalk on a blackboard than spend nearly two hours with Tow Mater."[53] Considering the low reviews given to the Pixar production, critic Kyle Smith of the New York Post said, "They said it couldn't be done. But Pixar proved the yaysayers wrong when it made its first bad movie, Cars. Now it has worsted itself with the even more awful Cars 2."[54]
Conversely, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the movie 3½ stars out of four, and said that "the sequel is a tire-burning burst of action and fun with a beating heart under its hood." He also praised its "fluid script" and called it a "winner".[55] Roger Ebert was the most effusive of the more positive reviews, praising Lasseter's channeling of childhood playtime for the film's spirit and writing, “At a time when some ‘grown-up’ action films are relentlessly shallow and stupid, here is a movie with such complexity that even the cars sometimes have to pause and explain it to themselves.”[56] Justin Chang of Variety commented, “The rare sequel that not only improves on but retroactively justifies its predecessor.”[57] Ticket buyers also gave the film an A– in exit polls, on par with other Pixar titles.[46]
A central current of the negative reviews was the theory that Cars 2 was forced out of Pixar by its corporate parent, the Walt Disney Company, out of greed to drive merchandising sales.[51][58] Lasseter vehemently denied these claims, which he attributed to "people who don’t know the facts, rushing to judge."[46] Some theorized that the vitriol was less about the film but more about Pixar's broadened focus to sequels. The New York Times reported that although one negatively reviewed film would not be enough to scratch the studio, "the commentary did dent morale at the studio, which until then had enjoyed an unbroken and perhaps unprecedented run of critical acclaim."[46]
Cars 2 grossed $191.5 million in the USA and Canada, and $370.7 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $562.1 million.[2] Worldwide on its opening weekend it grossed $109 million, marking the largest opening weekend for a 2011 animated title.[59] Overall, Cars 2 became seventh biggest Pixar film in worldwide box office among the fourteen released.
Cars 2 made $25.7 million on its debut Friday (June 24,
Cars 2 made $25.7 million on its debut Friday (June 24, 2011), marking the second-largest opening day for a Pixar film, at the time, after Toy Story 3's $41.1 million. During this time, though, it was the third least-attended opening day for a Pixar film, only ahead of Up and Ratatouille.[60] It also scored the sixth largest opening day for an animated feature.[61] On its opening weekend as a whole, Cars 2 debuted at No.1 with $66.1 million,[33] marking the largest opening weekend for a 2011 animated feature, the seventh largest opening for Pixar,[62] the eighth largest among films released in June,[63] and the fourth largest for a G-rated film.[64] In its second weekend, however, the film dropped 60.3%, the largest second weekend drop ever for a Pixar film, and grossed $26.2 million.[65] At the end of its theatrical run, Cars 2 became the lowest-grossing Pixar film in North America since A Bug's Life.[66][67] As of 2018, it is Pixar's fourth lowest-grossing film in this region.[68] It was also the least attended Pixar film ever until 2015's The Good Dinosaur.[69][70]
Outside North America, it grossed $42.9 million during its first weekend from 3,129 theaters in 18 countries, topping the box office.[71] It performed especially well in Russia where it grossed $9.42 million,[72] marking the best opening weekend for a Disney or Pixar animated feature and surpassing the entire runs of Cars and Toy Story 3.[73] In Mexico, it made $8.24 million during its first weekend,[74] while in Brazil, it topped the box office with $5.19 million ($7.08 million with previews).[75] It also premeiered at No.1 with $5.16 million in Australia,[76] where it debuted simultaneously with Kung Fu Panda 2 and out-grossed it.[71] It is the highest-grossing film of 2011 in Lithuania ($477,117),[77] Argentina ($12 million).[78] It is the highest-grossing animated film of 2011 in Estonia ($442,707),[79] Finland ($3.2 million),[80] Norway ($5.8 million).[81]
Cars 2 marks the first Pixar film not to be nominated for an Oscar.[82] It is also the first Pixar film not nominated for Best Animated Feature since its introduction in 2001.[83]
