2025 Show
Jordan Gershowitz & Melanie Shannon · United States of America · English
A shiny and colorful toy commercial attempting to be a children's TV show
Children’s TV doesn’t always require a great story, nor does it need to break free from a repetitive pattern to be good. But there’s still a difference between an episodic kids’ show that places its focus on learning and good morals first, and one that’s blatantly designed to generate interest in purchasing physical toys. It feels like so much of Hot Wheels Let’s Race is spent showing off different models of cars, explaining their special abilities, and presenting various tracks on which they can race, that any moral lessons they do shoehorn in barely make a dent in the grand scheme of things. And the show’s characters aren’t endearing enough or fun enough to make up for it, despite the admittedly kinetic racing scenes.
Six young hopefuls at the Hot Wheels Ultimate Garage Racing Camp learn the skills they need to become the next generation of amazing racers.
Six kids attend a prestigious racing camp to fulfill their dreams of becoming elite racers.
If you're only here to watch CGI cars race against each other, Hot Wheels Let's Race actually does a good job putting these scenes together. The animation isn't the smoothest in the world (as is common for many children's TV shows), but the art direction on display is creative and the sound design really helps sell how fast and furious the action is meant to be. Interestingly, the sound mix is never overwhelming, when kids' shows can easily go with the maximalist option and overload the audience's senses. Here, there's clearly much more consideration that's been put into the technical aspects.
They might as well throw up price tags on the screen.
Emil Hofileña is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. He also writes as a theater critic, with work published in Rogue and Out of Print, among others. He’s probably crying over a movie or an episode as we speak.
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