I've watched this movie since I was really young, i never really knew a lot of what was going on at the time but it's always a great watch. It has a lot of nostalgia tied to it and it's story is actually pretty good for something based on something as arbitrary as hotwheels cars.There's a few issues mainly with some of the animations and the dialogue but the movie was made in 2003 with 3D rendering that probably was a bit to get used to especially for a movie about Hotwheels cars. that aside it doesn't remove really a whole lot from the film itself. The main story is really great, the action is fast paced how much of racing should be and it really does well with the characters where a lot of them are extremely likable. It even has some great visuals with the orange colored track similar to what hotweels sets used and the acceleration wheels which they also used. It's also an entertaining watch and is worth giving it a try even with it being as old as it is.
9 Reviews
Lets Go Ballistic!
amiranda-392741 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This was probably my most re watched movie rentals that my parents would get me from the video store, when i was a kid. It was just mind-blowing to me as a kid, it got me into cars and of course Hot wheels. This movie is nonstop action, with creative uses and abilities for cars, especially the NITROX that allows the drivers to speed up to 300 ( In no way related to fast and the furious NOS). All of the action stays solely on the track and not once does the movie get boring, as we watch the racers enter different kinds of dimensions with different environments and dangers.
The Story: For a simple premise as racing car toys, the creators make a very interesting plot. Basically a scientist has discovered another dimension, where aliens created race tracks that resemble the hot wheels toys orange race tracks in order to create the ultimate race, the prize being a ancient source of power called the Wheel of power. And the only way to get it is to win the race. So Tesla assembles the greatest racers in the world and a kid who just got his drivers license with phenomenal scores ( Its dumb but he turns out to be a great racer). As the racers pass a leg of the race each day, a mysterious organization and a racer clad in black begin to sabotage them, so they can steal the wheel of power for themselves. The teams that were once racing against each other, must work together to win the the wheel of power to keep it out of evil hands and of course win the race. There are smaller subplots that add depth to some of the racers and provides their reasons for entering the race, besides that its all racing. The movie is 2 hours long and i have no regrets.
The Characters: According to teslas rules, 5 teams are assembled this includes The Wave Rippers led by Vert, The Scorchers led by Taro, The Street breed led by Kurt Wilder, The Dune Rats led by Kadeem and the Road beasts led by Banjee. The teams are all color coded so your able to tell who is on whose team. The main character of the movie is a surf rat named Vert who enters the race to solely win 5 million dollars and of course the title of the greatest racer in the world, but as the story unfolds he becomes more mature and likeable. The rest of the cast are all fun characters, such as Kurt wilder, Taro, Lani, and Kadeem. Even the villain is cool, Gelorum and her army of robots, providing most of the dangers on the race track. Each character is given enough depth and awesome one liners that they become very memorable and all play their own important roles in the story. The cgi animation surprisingly still holds up after all these years, while the characters look like their from a Barbie movie, many of them have great designs and facial expressions. All in all everyone is likeable, especially when they learn to work together by the end. Their dialogue is 50% one liners, but awesome one liners like. " Im a team of one. Shoot the curl. Ride the wind. Just drive. I'm gonna pass you. When I race, I race. No one beats Kurt wylder". And yet it still works!
This is still one of the most awesome movies that ive seen even all these years later, yes the cgi has aged all that well and the movie could have been truly great if there weren't so many plot holes and if they had completed the story about the Accelorons and gelorum, but this is not the creators fault, they were ordered to keep the story simple and just sell toy cars, which is disgraceful to me. Yes this movie was solely made to sell toys, which i did buy. but with the material they were given, the creators made a amazing story filled with engaging action and fun characters. This movie has heart, great music, and Awesome cars. This movie makes me want to go out for a drive. HOT WHEELS. BEAT THAT!
The Story: For a simple premise as racing car toys, the creators make a very interesting plot. Basically a scientist has discovered another dimension, where aliens created race tracks that resemble the hot wheels toys orange race tracks in order to create the ultimate race, the prize being a ancient source of power called the Wheel of power. And the only way to get it is to win the race. So Tesla assembles the greatest racers in the world and a kid who just got his drivers license with phenomenal scores ( Its dumb but he turns out to be a great racer). As the racers pass a leg of the race each day, a mysterious organization and a racer clad in black begin to sabotage them, so they can steal the wheel of power for themselves. The teams that were once racing against each other, must work together to win the the wheel of power to keep it out of evil hands and of course win the race. There are smaller subplots that add depth to some of the racers and provides their reasons for entering the race, besides that its all racing. The movie is 2 hours long and i have no regrets.
The Characters: According to teslas rules, 5 teams are assembled this includes The Wave Rippers led by Vert, The Scorchers led by Taro, The Street breed led by Kurt Wilder, The Dune Rats led by Kadeem and the Road beasts led by Banjee. The teams are all color coded so your able to tell who is on whose team. The main character of the movie is a surf rat named Vert who enters the race to solely win 5 million dollars and of course the title of the greatest racer in the world, but as the story unfolds he becomes more mature and likeable. The rest of the cast are all fun characters, such as Kurt wilder, Taro, Lani, and Kadeem. Even the villain is cool, Gelorum and her army of robots, providing most of the dangers on the race track. Each character is given enough depth and awesome one liners that they become very memorable and all play their own important roles in the story. The cgi animation surprisingly still holds up after all these years, while the characters look like their from a Barbie movie, many of them have great designs and facial expressions. All in all everyone is likeable, especially when they learn to work together by the end. Their dialogue is 50% one liners, but awesome one liners like. " Im a team of one. Shoot the curl. Ride the wind. Just drive. I'm gonna pass you. When I race, I race. No one beats Kurt wylder". And yet it still works!
This is still one of the most awesome movies that ive seen even all these years later, yes the cgi has aged all that well and the movie could have been truly great if there weren't so many plot holes and if they had completed the story about the Accelorons and gelorum, but this is not the creators fault, they were ordered to keep the story simple and just sell toy cars, which is disgraceful to me. Yes this movie was solely made to sell toys, which i did buy. but with the material they were given, the creators made a amazing story filled with engaging action and fun characters. This movie has heart, great music, and Awesome cars. This movie makes me want to go out for a drive. HOT WHEELS. BEAT THAT!
Highway 35 Rocks!!!
Vitamin-O23 February 2004
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?
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?
This ain't Nascar baby
RNMorton13 March 2005
They have this listed as a TV series. I saw it on DVD as a movie, and a pretty long one at that for a cartoon feature. The plot, if you can call it that, is that Doctor Tesla has discovered Highway 35, a series of inter-dimensional racetracks that lead to the Wheel of Power. It's the new millennium's version of Speed Racer. The good doctor believes the Wheel "is a source of immeasurable power". He proceeds to recruit a group of international drivers who he arms with high tech cars in the hopes they will navigate the route to get him the Wheel. There's more but whatever. It's a good enough excuse to send a bunch of hot cars on layouts that could be on Mars (and that do look suspiciously like high-end Hot Wheels layouts). The graphics are really well done and there's dimension to the various drivers, once you watch it enough to be able to tell them apart with their helmets on. Hot Wheels has (incredibly) blown this great marketing opportunity, as it is virtually impossible to pick up Highway 35 cars anywhere. But my 3 year old loves it, so take a ride on Doc Tesla's Highway 3-5. 9 out of 10, docked a point only for running too long. Beware of the absolutely dreadful "Acceleracers" sequels to this wonderful animation.
Good Kid's Movie
cdseehafer5 March 2017
I grew up watching this movie. It's nothing more than a fun kid's movie selling hot wheels to kids. Plenty of cool environments and lots of unique cars make this movie a fun ride. Not as much a movie for adults, kids into toy cars will certainly be into hot wheels world race. Check it out!
Even today, holds up very well
battlecryonyt25 April 2022
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!
One of the most interesting movies I have ever watched
donnieskibiski12 November 2022
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.
Definitely a hot ride!
de_sertmo_on10 January 2004
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!
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!
Just about right for a six-year-old
dland26 December 2003
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."
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."
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