Michel Vaillant

.....Here they come Heroes on Hotwheels.....Defined what Cartoons in the 90's Were!!! This show played on a station called the Family Channel in NYC which later became Fox Family Channel in the late 90's.

It was about a Hero race car driver named Michael Valiant which was based on a famous French Comic strip. In France Michael is an icon kind of like Darth and Char Aznable are iconic in America and Japan.

He was a goody too shoes race car driver and the best in the world. He did not win every race and neither did his team which made the story fun, and fast paced...plus we got cars....

Back before games, kids played with Hotwheels and Matchbox and other cool toy cars. Getting some Toy Cars that were just like Michael Valiant in the cartoon was a thrill in the 90's.

Sadly only episodes were released on VHS....but if you search, you can find them on the internet to watch.

Michael, his dad, Quincy the Mechanic, Steve Watson and crew were his compadres in his races across the desert, off road, on the race track and other adventures to save the day.

This is a MUST WATCH...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

A cult animated TV-series, based on the famous French comics. Michel and his team of daring racers use all kind of vehicles - in the episodes you can see cars, F1, motorbikes, jets, monster trucks and so on. Their opponents are the corrupt team Leader. The series were big hit when I was a kid and I really enjoyed the new motion picture, it keeps the spirit and the actors are great - they look just like the animated characters! High speed races, very nice animation, great characters, a lot of fun. I wonder why I can't find it neither on VHS nor on DVD. If you want something similar - go watch Nascar Racers on Jetix, but Michel was far more better

I'm not sure why everyone likes this show. It's just a huge ripoff of Speed Racer. Think about it, it's about a guy being the best racer ever, and traveling the world and winning EVERY race. The mechanic is an obvious ripoff of Sparky. Also, Micheal acts like Speed, and even LOOKS like Speed. I also saw a car at the beginning of the opening that VERY suspiciously looks like the Mach 5. The whole opening screams "Huge knockoff of Speed Racer Here!" Also, the show is so terrible that they couldn't dub it as it was. They decided it was so bad they would turn it into another advertisement for toys. So instead of "Michel Valliant" it became a Hot Wheels advertisement. But that is not the worst part. As you can clearly see, it's just a dumbed down version of a beloved classic anime, which we loved so much, and ruined it big time. I shall respect those who like this. But being a devoted fan of Speed Racer, I just can't support this obvious ripoff. It's even based on a comic strip like Speed Racer was! HUGE THUMBS DOWN = NEGATIVE 100 out of 10.

I wish it was easy to find now so that I could review it from an adult perspective. However from a 6-10 year old child's perspective, someone who adored animation and would and still does watch anything to do with it, I loved Michel Vaillant, and that some time in the future I hope it gets the recognition it deserves. The animation I found good, it was a unique style with the characters sharply defined in how they looked(almost as though they stepped right out of a comic book) and the backgrounds fluid. The music was also great with a catchy intro, the writing was funny and quite intelligent, the races were high-speed and often thrilling to watch and the stories with the conflict and such were engrossing. The characters were all likable with great personalities, and the voice work from a talented cast was solid.

In conclusion, a fun and underrated series though I hope it does get shown again or released in some way so that I can judge it properly instead of from retrospect. 10/10 Bethany Cox