Tear Jerker / Cars

• It's a small moment, but when Harv asks McQueen to name some of his friends so he can send them tickets to the race, McQueen can't think of a single one, and his expression as he realizes this makes it clear how he feels about it.
• The aftermath of the press finding Lightning again. It was like a more painful version of the "Our Town" scene mentioned below, because it essentially shows Radiator Springs coming back to life, seeing the most new visitors and attention it's ever had in over 2 decades with the press alone, and then dying again when Doc Hudson finally gets rid of the press and McQueen. The neon lights shutting off at that exact moment is good symbolism: when Lightning, the first customer in Radiator Springs after twenty or more years, had to leave without saying goodbye to the others (which Mater sadly points out), all the happy atmosphere that was present just a couple minutes earlier was gone with him. No lights on, no hope to see the town get back on the map, just a dark silence like it was always was, only broken by the yellow traffic light.

  Mater: I didn't get to say goodbye to him.

  • To top the scene off, after Sally calls Doc out on getting rid of Lightning, everyone, saddened by Lightning, their new friend, leaving, turns their backs on him and Doc instantly regrets his actions as he is left alone at the blinking traffic light.
    Doc: It's best for everyone, Sally.
    Sally: Best for everyone? Or best for you?
• Doc's "they quit on me" speech. Remember that Cars was the last feature film for Paul Newman (Doc's voice actor) before he died - he even took a break from retirement when Pixar summoned him to have a role in it. The line "There was a lot left in me. I never got a chance to show them," becomes even more heartbreaking.
  Lightning: How could a car like you quit at the top of your game?!
  Doc: [shocked] You think I quit? [He turns on a light illuminating the wall to Lightning's wall, on which there is a framed newspaper with the front page headline "CRASH! Hudson Hornet Out For Season"]
  Lightning: Right... your big wreck in '54...
  Doc: They quit on me. When I finally got put together, I went back expecting a big welcome. Y'know what they said? "You're history." Moved right on to the next rookie standing in line... There was a lot left in me. I never got a chance to show 'em. I keep that to remind me never to go back. I just never expected that that world would... would find me here.
  • Even worse, in Cars 3, McQueen actually watches the crash as it actually happened in an old, grainy 8mm newsreel. Even moreso, Doc looks like he's really in pain. To top it all off, we see a flashback of Doc's speech from the first movie with the same archival recordings from the late Paul Newman. Way to inject us with emotional insulin, Pixar.
• How about the credits? And it's not just the use of that absolute Tear Jerker of a song - 'Find Yourself' by Brad Paisley. Those lyrics are bad enough, but at around the same time they begin (when the credits epilogue ends), the screen just has to display the words 'Dedicated to Joe Ranft 1960-2005'. For those who don't know, Ranft was an artist, voice actor and close friend of the Pixar crew, who died in a car accident. Made more sad by them showing clips, next to the dedication, of the Pixar characters he played: Heimlich (from A Bug's Life), Lenny (from Toy Story) and Wheezy (from Toy Story 2). Made even worse for anyone who watched Toy Story 3 and was wondering where Lenny and Wheezy were ... and it might be bad for anyone who hoped for a sequel to A Bug's Life, as well. So ... heartwarming song + dedication to lost friend + clips of characters we may never see again = Tear Jerker all around.
• The scene where Sally is explaining to McQueen about the glory days of Route 66 and the pleasure of driving not just to get place to place as fast and as efficiently as one can, but to see and explore and have fun on the journey. Until the construction of Interstate 40 caused the town to get bypassed just to save 10 minutes worth of driving and Radiator Springs got taken off the map.
  Sally: 40 years ago, that interstate down there didn't exist. Back then, cars came across the country a whole different way.
  Lightning: How do you mean?
  Sally: Well, the road didn't cut through the land like that interstate. It moved with the land; it rose, it fell, it curved... Cars didn't drive on it to make great time. They drove on it to have a great time.
  Lightning: What happened?
  Sally: The town got bypassed just to save 10 minutes of driving.
  • Doubles as heartwarming: when Sally invites McQueen for the ride, he considers running away for a few seconds before deciding to join Sally instead.
  • The "Our Town" sequence, which virtually anyone who has lived in a small Dying Town in real life can sympathize with. Especially the part where Luigi pushes up the sign that says "We're still open" in the window of his store. It's the "When She Loved Me" of Cars. Even CinemaSins thought so; despite having a low opinion on the movie, Jeremy is compelled to remove a sin for the song no matter what else happens.
  • The sequence hits harder for older viewers, who watched their small towns go through the exact same thing back when the Interstates were being built.
• A small one during the scene where the citizens of Radiator Springs are revelling in their newly-restored town: Lizzie is sitting by the statue of Stanley, wistfully talking to it. It's a small, but sad reminder that Lizzie is a widow and her husband is long dead, and possibly the only thing she has to remember him by is the town he helped build.
• Lightning being distracted in California. He always said over the course of the movie that this race meant a lot to him, but even before it began, he was unable to focus and couldn't think about anything else apart from his new friends, especially Sally. Not only it hammers down the fact that he was sad about the fact that he couldn't say goodbye to them, but it also makes clear that the race now isn't even his biggest priority, and it seems like he was on the point of giving up.
• The scene where McQueen goes back and pushes the wrecked King over the finish line, giving up his victory, but giving The King some final dignity and Chick Hicks karmic retribution.
  • Speaking of that, The King's frame being so mangled from his crash that it resembles not only Doc Hudson's crash but also an actual event that happened to his voice actor, Richard Petty.

---