Hot Wheels Highway 35 World Race

I was pleasantly surprised at the evident effort that went into the design of this film: although it is pretty obviously computer generated, it has something of a hand-drawn look. The action is pretty much constant, and there is just enough story to hold it together. My six-year-old "Hot Wheels" fan, (recently graduated from Thomas the Tank Engine), ate it up.

Plot summary: a sort-of-mad scientist opens a portal to "Highway 35," a futuristic orange-paved race track built ages ago by the "Accelerons." The scientist picks a handful of racing pros and at least one 16-year-old skater dude. The racers travel through volcanoes, ice-caves, deserts, and other assorted dangers in search of the "Wheel of Power."

I love this movie. Its not complex, its not confusing, and its not going to win an Oscar. What it is though is a straight forward action movie centered around the fastest cars in the world and the race to be the fastest driver in the world.

Its all five episodes on one disc without any noticeable commercial break spots (such as when Vert is approaching the lava flow on the Episode 1 disc). The World Race is more than a race to see who's the fastest driver in the world. It is also a place that reflects life. Team Building, betrayal, and redemption all occur on Highway 35. The action never lets up and actually intensifies in the later episodes when a double-blind is pulled on one of the drivers, a new menace is presented, and the World Race turns into one big, fast free-for-all that culminates in a battle at the mecca for racers.

The animation is gorgeous and is by Mainframe, responsible for ReBoot and Beast Wars/Machines: Transformers. The sensation of speed is incredible and many times when the cars make a shock-destroying landing the sense of mass is conveyed perfectly by the screen shudder. Though it isn't long enough for all 35 drivers to be given a roll the drivers that are presented are interesting though only a hand full outside of the 5 team leads are given many lines, not counting Rick Handy's "Whoa", of course.

The DVD contains all 5 team videos, a video for Smash Mouth's "Hot" and a section with all 35 cars w/vital statistics, along with a short driver biography. Kind of like the ones that come in the mini comics.

Believe me, this movie is about the race and the race only! With an interesting story, and someone who actually says Taro's line ("I'm going to pass you.") to the Scorcher's leader and does it. Its in a class all to itself, a World Class!

Both Hot Wheels Highway 35 and Acceleracers were such amazing movies and made 4-5 year old me so happy and wanting more and more of the car models. I personally, for some reason I don't know, prefer Highway 35. But Acceleracers is still very good and gives me so much nostalgia, even at 20 years old now. Definitely worth a watch, even if you are an adult that grew up with Hot Wheels, even if it wasn't around the early 2000's. It is not perfect in any way, but still so amazing for being a kid's series. Though Acceleracers in particular, even watching now, got disturbing and uncomfortable at times, it was dark in a good way. Especially dark for being something aimed towards children. That being said, even if you're an adult, you can still find enjoyment from it. Highly recommend both to kids and even adults who love Hot Wheels!

This movie is somehow a chaotic mess and a masterpiece all at the same time. It really brought me back to my childhood with its early 2000s look and feel (mainly due to the fact that was when it was from) however this also made it incredibly difficult to watch for the TWO HOUR RUN TIME. That is one of the most shocking parts of the movie. This movie feels like it could honestly be over in maybe 30 minutes if the pacing was appropriate but it is not in the slightest. The story jumps around continuously and this movie has more abrupt transitions and cuts than Jeffrey Bezos has dollars in his bank account. Every time I begin getting into a plot point a flaming tire flys across my screen and we're on to the next one. Building upon this the movie never really goes anywhere, with a lot of details added in that don't actually have anything to do with the story. The movie also has a very poorly implemented diversity aspect. Unlike some of todays movies that include poorly implemented diversity this one just has a very strange and somewhat unsettling feeling. For example, characters such as the drivers from Puerto Rico and, what I'm assuming is one of the African nations, feel overdone and a little awkward. Although honestly, this could really be said for every character which feels like a in one way or another an over the top stereotype of what they are supposed to represent. For example, the main character Vert feels like an overly done stereotype of the typical Californian surfer and the only woman driver seems to exist just as a companion to some of the other male drivers rather than a true standout character. Looking at this from a motorsports and Hot Wheel lover perspective is also incredibly difficult since, even though it is very obvious this isn't real racing, they stop on track every five seconds making the whole competition aspect of the story not fit at all. With all of the negatives out of the way though, I did actually enjoy parts of this movie. Even though I began playing a game where I refused to look at the remaining runtime of the movie about thirty minutes in, since I was tempted to stop watching every time I realized I was less than halfway through the movie, I had a good time and got invested in the plot every now and then. Honestly for little kids I'm sure this movie would be an amazing watch and actually for the older crowd out there I would still recommend a watch. However if you are part of that older crowd I would highly encourage you to play a drinking game or some other equivalent for every time you see a flaming tire used as a transition or a car be saved by a parachute when it flies off the track. Trust me the movie will become infinitely more better after applying that technique.

My 5 & 3-year-old sons can't get enough of this movie. Mainframe has really done their homework on Hot Wheels culture. Having the drivers race entirely on that distinctive orange track is brilliant, and the cars move just the way you would expect them to. If you've ever thrown a Hot Wheels car into a cop turn on the kitchen lino, you'll know what I mean.

The Reboot-style CG may be oh-so-1994 to animation snobs, but this film looks incredible. Desert Moon nails it when he mentions the sensation of speed, and the well-used screen shudders. The camera angles that Mainframe come up with will make your head spin.

And there's even a STORY behind all the action. A brisk story on the surface, but one with thought invested in it. There are themes in this movie that will RESONATE with parents (again, see Desert Moon's review). The only other production house that tells a story this well FIRST, then wraps it in kick-ass animation AFTER, is Pixar.

Dinky cars will never get a better treatment than this. HIGHLY recommended.

Trivia point: Look closely at the one team's bird-like helmets. Are the creators giving a nod to G-Force? Anyone else remember that 80's flatoon?