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(More customer reviews)The story of Vert Wheeler and his racing friends that started on the "Hot Wheels World Race" DVD continues here.
"Vert" Wheeler is now a more experienced drivers with a street racing team called the Teku. The Teku Team have an intense rivalry with another team called the Metal Maniacs.
Both teams are recruited by Dr Tezla to drive in the "Racing Realms", which are other dimensional tracks that test a driver's racing skills to their extreme limit. Whoever reaches the finish line of each realm first receives an "Accelercharger", which grants the user's vehicle a special power (frictionless driving, hyperspeed, etc). Scattered throughout the realms are "Hyperpods", which the driver's car can attach to give it special abilities as well.
Unfortunately, the evil Gelorum has obtained the Wheel Of Power (see the Hot Wheels World Race DVD) and her robots will stop at nothing to obtain all the Accelerchargers!! If they do, they will be able to take over the world, which is NOT a good thing for us humans!
I have mixed feelings about the Acceleracer Series.
First, I (and especially my children) were thrilled to hear that more adventures with the Hot Wheels drivers that started on the World Race would be continued.
Secondly, the storyline is richer with many running subplots that will develop as future Acceleracer DVDs are released
But I have to seriously question several decisions that were made for this story:
- I do NOT support the fact that these drivers are street racers. While I'm sure it adds a "coolness" factor to the characters, why encourage a dangerous activity such as street racing?
- Also, the rival racing teams strongly resemble rival gangs. Again, why make this look fun and attractive to kids?
- The CGI animation for this series is much poorer than what was used in the World Race DVD. The drivers are now completely cartoonish with ridiculously proportioned features (check out those arms!).
- The violence content was seriously amped up from the World Race. My children were literally shocked at the opening sequence of this DVD when Dr Tezla was attacked by the drones, as there was nothing like that on the World Race DVD.
That being said, my children DO enjoy this DVD, and looks forward to the Hot Wheels Acceleracers: Speed Of Silence DVD that will be released in August. I would recommend this DVD for children 7 or older.
The Cartoon Network has already broadcast the third part of the Hot Wheels Accceleracers saga, Breaking Point, and will be airing the fourth episode Hot Wheels Accceleracers - The Ultimate Race on October 1st of 2005. If you missed part 3, they usually rebroadcast them the day before the new episode, so looks for it on Friday, September 30, 2005.
This DVD comes with 4 micro-episodes, that contain racing and plot elements in realms not shown in the main movie (the Lava Realm and the Cavern Realm). Othe bonus features include a gallery of the cars and bios of the drivers.
The adventures of these characters is continued in the Hot Wheels Acceleracers: Speed Of Silence DVD. And an earlier (and more kid friendly) adventure of these characters can be found on the Hot Wheels World Race DVD. See my reviews of those titles for more details.
P.S. - Note the car that Dr Tezla is driving at the beginning of this episode. You might see something like it later....
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