Movie Review: Hot Wheels: World Race

Starring Andrew Francis, Kathleen Barr, Doron Bell, Michael Benyaer, Michael Donovan, Brian Drummond, Kaj Eriksen, Cusse Mankuma, Scott McNeil, Kirby Morrow, Kevan Ohtsji, John Payne, Will Sandersen and Venus Terzo.

Directed by Andrew Duncan and William Lau.

Not rated with a running time of 110 minutes.

Made for TV movie released in 2003 inspired by the tv series.

I hear racing cars in my sleep.

It's because my almost 2 year-old son has discovered the world of Hot Wheels. And my husband discovered Hot Wheels: World Race, the movie.

One fateful day, my husband, Josh, rented this movie from a local movie store and ever since then, that is all that Cainan, our son, wants to watch. We rented it repeatedly until we finally broke down and bought it for him for Christmas. (Thank you Amazon!)

We watch it a minimum of twice a day. It's the first thing he wants to watch when he gets up in the morning and the first thing he wants to watch when we get home for the evening.

Even though I could recite the entire movie without fail, it has saved my sanity.

I'm not the mom that sits her kid in front of the tv for a few moments of silence (although I bet we all do it every now and again). But it is a lifesaver when I am trying to get dinner ready and Cainan is hanging onto my leg. He doesn't just veg out in front of it either. Oh no. He's very into it, a Hot Wheel in each hand, racing right along with the characters in the movie.

I have to admit, I'm not too old for cartoons.

This animated movie centers around a teenager, Vert Wheeler (voice of Andrew Francis), who just turned 16 years old. He's "a team of one" in surfing, skateboarding and once he's recruited for the world race, driving.

Vert is thrown into a fantasy world of hot wheel ramp inspired racing in an alternate dimension with a handful of other drivers from around the world. Their mission: to retrieve the "Wheel of Power," the greatest source of energy the world has ever known, for Dr. Tezla, sponsor of the race. This brings about the attention of the bad guys, an army of robots trying to keep the "Wheel of Power" out of Tezla's hands.

Besides really cool racing and car tricks (that yes, even my husband and I get hypnotized by), the movie follows Vert as he starts to realize the significance of being a part of a team, doing what's right, being responsible and helping others. Other characters in the movie learn to make decisions that teach the audience why good will always prevail.

This movie is not rated, but it does not contain any profanity or nudity. After watching it once with our son, I have no problem letting him watch it as much as he wants. There is a series of Hot Wheel movies that we are looking into purchasing as well.

For more information on this movie, visit http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377191/.

Another really cool and fun Web site to visit with your kids is http://www.hotwheels.com/index_hwkids.aspx.