If you’re a fan of “Oban Star Racers,” or “Speed Racer,” movie 4 of the “Acceleracers” series will please tween boys with bright animation, epic car races, and stories simplistic enough to keep their attention. This final installment involves the Acceleracers devising a plan to save one of their kidnapped team mates Wylde brother of the hero Kurt. To do this they have to open the Cosmic Realm, a dimension of twists and turns and infiltrate Racing Drones Headquarters, and the action beefs up for this last go around. Are you excited?! I sure am! Even though I have no idea what I just wrote! Can you get your son to explain to me?
One redeeming aspect of “The Ultimate Race” is the rather wonderful animation courtesy of the team at Mattel. And even though the film is just a vehicle to promote the toy line, it’s still a good way to kill an hour with meteors, a race in the vein of “Ben-Hur” and people in bright costumes driving amazing cars back and forth. I’d hate to think how lost these people would be if their cars broke down on the space course. Logic be gone! To watch a film like this you have to put yourself in the mindset of the target age, and just enjoy the sights and sounds.
Granted, it was a bit of a struggle to understand anything here, but I guess you had to watch the first three to catch up. “The Ultimate Race” is a crisp and entertaining bit of action escapism for the young boys in the family, with colorful odd characters, and a villain worth remembering. Gotta love… cars…? Do kids still play with Hot Wheels? Man, I’m old. It’s a one hour commercial, sure, but let’s not pretend this type of fodder didn’t exist in the seventies, eighties, or nineties. “Acceleracers” is a fun movie for the boys in the family, and I put myself in their mind set for an hour.