I'm a fan of indie sci-fi flicks, and apparently so are director Robert Brosseau and the Hyper Image production company, because the 2007 film they released is a surprisingly ambitious stab at an animated adventure aimed at the PG-13 crowd. RACE is not the most original space opera ever made and is not without its share of glaring problems, but the tendency of the filmmakers to make the extra effort shines through in most of the features' aspects and makes this one worth chancing for particular sci-fi fans.The story: In a distant future wherein a shaky interplanetary alliance is maintained by the popularity of a dangerous vehicular sport, a ragtag human racing team uncovers the plot of a sinister ruler to seize control by shattering the alliance.Despite its cartoonish design and unrated status, RACE is clearly a movie for a slightly older crowd of kids, given its salty dialogue, high level of violence, and sexual undertones. This works well enough for an action feature, and the movie definitely has some good adrenaline scenes going for it. The entire racing aspect is a clear lift from THE PHANTOM MENACE – right down to the first contest taking place on a desert planet – but the filmmakers have a knack for creating thrills and craft three surprisingly excellent race scenes, bolstered by a handful of shootouts and dogfights. Most promising of all is Brosseau's direction: even though the animation sometimes dips into cheap video game quality, the editing and camera-work gives this one a surprisingly professional edge, to the point that it's easy to imagine it being filmed in live-action.Disappointingly, the film's weaknesses weigh heavy on its enjoyability. The screenplay by Rhonda Smiley is intricately detailed - possibly too much so for some viewers. The extensive cast and complexity of the plot's politics are more akin to DUNE than anything George Lucas ever created, and it may be a little excessive for a casual audience. It might seem more involving had the characters been more intriguing, but from the cocky protagonist to the crotchety team manager and the doomed best friend, don't expect many surprises or opportunities for these guys to grow on you. Additionally, the heavy sexualization of female characters is wearying: I challenge anyone to find even a handful of female characters – even in the background – who are not revealingly dressed or designed with enormous breasts.Nevertheless, RACE is unique enough of an experience to take note of, and in that regard, it's disappointing that it's so obscure. Without a doubt, this is the niche film of someone who has yet to discover it, and the feature is strong enough to make it worth checking out – just in case you're that someone. Rent it if you're interested.

This movie was on Showtime today and I decided to give it a chance. I then looked on IMDb to find some terrible reviews. Then I saw some good reviews that didn't seem to make sense. So here is a REAL REVIEW.This movie is not good, but it is not bad either, it's just okay. It has too much cussing for a kids movie and the women are not exactly accurately portrayed physically at least. (huge breasts with visible nipple bulges on almost all women, super skinny waists, skimpy clothing etc...) It also has some violence that probably isn't the best for younger kids, but some of the stuff they show these days is a lot worse so I suppose that's just to be expected in this day and age.Now the good, It had a fairly unique plot, or rather it mixed up some semi-familiar stories and made them it's own. I liked the general theme of space and the future and the 'universe' it created. All this was cool but could have been far better explained.Overall I feel this movie could have been far better if it had been produced by a larger company or at least with a larger budget and a fuller explanation of the universe and improved quality of the animation. Maybe it's just style but it looked like one of those cheap cartoons that are being produced these days rather than a full budget "movie".

I put a spoiler tag, but there really isn't much to spoil.This film is labeled on Netflix as a PG 'Children and Family' movie. Please for the love of god do not show this film to children. I wouldn't subject the entirety of this film to anyone, and I'm a man who forces friends and family to watch 'Mac & Me' annually.There is frequent pointless profanity throughout the film, which was unexpected and jarring considering the sophomoric quality of the writing which lulls you into thinking the film was intended for idiot children. The truth is the film is apparently intended for idiot adults. Unless you want your kids hearing the protagonist shout a word that sounds like 'shift' over and over again, you'll probably want to mute the television.Unfortunately muting the TV wont protect your tykes from a scene where a guy flips off an alien and subsequently has his middle finger ripped off and fed to a creature that really enjoys human flesh. (There's a whole pointless scene where these creatures discuss how much they want to eat human flesh, while messily eating slabs of bloody raw meat.) Or a humanoid alien having it's neck sliced open and then subsequently shot to death by a stupid-looking mustache villain.If you think that these things sound awesome, then I have bad news for you too. The animation is intensely terrible. So intensely terrible I thought I was watching another badly localized foreign film. To my shock and dismay I was wrong. The fact that the directors of this garbage have been working in the animation industry for so long makes it that much worse.oh also there's a really interesting subplot about how the protagonist really likes females of any species, just not the one he works with. She even dresses up like a slut for him, but he leaves the bar/nightclub with an alien chick because shes more slutty-looking. But don't worry, he inexplicably makes out with her after winning the race in the end.Showing this to your kids is an example of bad parenting.EDIT: ooh heres a fun game; Look at all those one-paragraph positive review about how much people's "boys" loved this film! now look at the dates those reviews were posted. HMM!also netflix apparently changed the rating some time after this review, they should have issued some kind of apology for carrying the film at all though.

SPOILERS MAJORI am a fan of indi and bad bmovies but this is was an insult it was not painful or awful just so Cliché'd the only thing that even seems to have a budget was the race scenes. Even those are literal ripoffs the animation made it feel like I was watching a show by Tonka. The supposed plot had more holes then swiss cheese and the acting is sad.I have seen tons of bad movies including painful ones but this the Racers are basically a pod racer the is Driven like an Extreme G bike (game) the courses are copy and pasted out of Star wars and Extreme G 1-3 The aliens are just borrowed from every thing. They have a direct Mass effect ripoff and I mean direct. a Race called the Protheins that looks just like the Protheins from mass effect. I am aware originality is hard to come-by but Copy and pasting isn't lacking originality its plagiarism. The star gates plot is literally thrown at you left and right like a passing comment. The unbiased hatred of Humans is never explained or why 2 races of living energy need boobs, clothing, and detailed forms when it would be easier to do a simple humanoid form. OR even how Living Energy forms that can exist in space can have a mortal wound. The whole team earth not having a sponsor is BSed at you since if the RACE is so politically powerful I am sure the Earth government would be fronting money rather then letting their own team scrounge for stuff. They try to pass it off as not wanting to be corporate but that is so weak it doesn't work..The characters a literally Horrible Cliché's I mean really really horrible.They never explain half the stuff like how a stick of Liquid energy can be registered or un registered by a machine and still be able to tell. The only part to even bother watching is the Races the rest is garbage since yes it looks like crap but that has the only effort in it.