10 Movies That Made You Say 'WTF Were They Thinking'
9. Making Mater The Main Character - Cars 2
It took over a decade to see sequels or prequels for Pixar classics like Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles, but Cars 2 came out just five years after the original. However, the return of Lightning McQueen and Mater was a far cry from what came before it.
Cars is a great movie that takes Owen Wilson's Lightning McQueen on a compelling redemption arc with some genuinely emotional moments. The second instead focused on Mater, and how he found himself working as an undercover spy and ultimately getting knighted by the Queen.
Unfortunately, this movie acts as proof that not all popular side characters need their own story. Mater was great as a supporting player in the first movie, but putting him front and center of an espionage thriller unsurprisingly resulted in Pixar's only Rotten score to date. If anything, 39% is generous.
The sequel could have taken Lightning McQueen in any number of directions. He won several Piston Cups in between movies - why not base Cars 2 around this? Pair it with the loss of his mentor, Doc Hudson, and Pixar could have had an incredible, emotionally-charged story on their hands, instead of bumping Lightning to the side in favour of Mater.