YMMV / Hot Wheels: World Race

• Awesome Music: All of it. Each of the team's themes from World Race were loved by many.
• Complete Monster: Gelorum returns. See here for more details.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Dan Dresden doesn't have any dialogue until the fourth race, but he has his fans for his decent showing in the final race, his cool name, and how he's the one to invite Mark to the race in the first place.
  • Nice Girl Roadbeast driver Esmeralda has little screen time or dialogue outside of the second race and its preamble, doesn't do much besides tagging along with the others, and is neither seen nor mentioned in the sequel series. Still, she has a decent amount of appreciation and fan art.
• Fanfic Fuel: There are 35 drivers in the race, and barely a third of them are shown racing. It's interesting to wonder what the others (who have interesting All There in the Manual backstories) were up to all of that time.
• Fridge Logic:
  • How did the racers besides the Dune Ratz, Kurt Wylde, and the Wave Rippers get past the sand in the third leg of the race?
  • The whole Final Jump to return the Wheel of Power, how was Vert able to get up the ramp despite having less momentum and almost no Nitrox-2 left?
    • Maybe he used the last of his bunch in the last second?
  • Why didn't Vert use any of the three other ramps instead of the one that had just been sliced and diced? Was it because the other ramps would also follow suit because of Gelorum or what?
  • How did the Accelerons build Highway-35 in the alternate dimension?
    • Probably with the help of the Wheel of Power. Alternatively it's just alien tech.
  • How did Dr. Tezla discover the information about the Accelerons?
    • Dr. Tezla said that he came across ancient runes. That was how he discovered the Accelerealms.
  • How did Markie even make it to the Race?
    • According to the cut content, Markie hitched a ride on Dan Dresden's trunk.
  • Why is Kurt's codename Zed-36? There are only 35 racers (him included), and Z is the 26th (and last) letter of the alphabet.
    • Kurt is just another member of Galorum's organization. We don't really know if there are other members but judging by his name, we can assume so. The other numbers might also go to the drones.
  • Why does Kadeem feel bad about turning Kurt Wylde in?
    • He probably sees it as a Necessary Evil. Just because he's turning in a criminal it doesn't mean that he has to feel good about it.
  • Why was Tono out of Nitrox 2, and how did he get back on land after falling in the ocean?
    • Kurt and/or CLYP may have removed his nitrox for themselves, since Kurt wasn't going to get another supply from Tezla. As for getting back on land, this was probably meant to be one of the plot points that got cut from the final draft. But if you want an explanation... The Silencerz? A well-timed grapple?
• Funny Moments:
  • After Kurt does his Heel–Face Turn he says that he "just took the wrong road for a while". He says this in a driving movie. Ha ha.
  • At one point, Vert checks in on Lani and asks her if she needs help fixing her car.
    Taro: (pulls out from underneath her car) ''NO.''
  • Anytime Banjee speaks, he usually does or says something hysterical at some point.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Banjee's rebuttal to Tezla about not letting drivers into the Realms without practice is really uncomfortable to listen to after what happened to Banjee offscreen in Acceleracers.
  • Vert giving Kadeem his prize money to help his people becomes really upsetting to watch after what happens to Kadeem in Acceleracers.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In order to open and reach the portal into Highway 35, the driver must make it up to 300mph. In 2003, reaching such a speed in a car was science fiction, until very recently in 2019...
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Vert goes back to save Lani, thinking that Taro might not be able to save her by himself.
  • Vert gives his prize money to Kadeem, knowing that Kadeem needed it more.
• Inferred Holocaust: When the Wheel of Power overloads while "providing energy all over the country", Vert asks what happened, and Dr. Tesla responds with this:
  Dr. Tesla: I'm not positive, but I think I just blew every fuse in North America.
• Magnificent Bastard: See here.
• Moment of Awesome: At the very end of the movie, Vert gives his prize money to Kadeem. He earned that money, but he still gave it to a friend who needed it more. That could've easily been left out, but it most certainly wasn't.
• Narm Charm: Yeah, it's about a bunch of guys who take driving way too seriously, but a lot of people love the characters, premise, and racing scenes nonetheless.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Many characters can feel under-utilized, given the large number of racers who have fascinating All There in the Manual backstories and/or interesting introductions but don't do anything in the movie (only twelve of the thirty-five get any dialogue and several drivers don't even get to be background characters in the crowd scenes). Realistically, the movie couldn't heavily feature too many characters, but it's still disappointing about how many of them get the short end of the stick.
  • Skeet and Esme could have been shown developing their skills throughout the race legs after being latecomers like Mark, but they barely have any screen time after the first leg they compete in and don't get much Character Development.
  • Dan Dresden's performance in the last leg makes it seem like he might be a good 11th-Hour Ranger during the main cast's final fight with the Racing Drones, but his car is knocked on its back within seconds. He lampshades this by saying "short race".
  • The interactive garage describes Alec and Vert as having a Friendly Rivalry, but they don't show any rivalry onscreen and Alec doesn't affect the plot much.
  • Wave Rippers Felix Sharkey and Fluke are extras who don't do a single thing of note in the whole movie, even though both are experienced racers who could have been shown struggling with the idea of having the untested Vert as their team leader and/or being Hypercompetent Sidekicks.
  • Vesuvius has an All There in the Manual backstory where cheating is his Berserk Button, but he never interacts with The Mole who is sabotaging everyone.
  • In the comics released with the toy line, former motorcycle courier Toño and former stunt driver Harrison Lau are also recruited by Gelorum to act as spies, but this isn't shown in the movie itself. Harrison just gets background scenes smiling like a Nice Guy. Toño gets one short scene where a problem with his car makes him miss the final leg (which feels doubly disappointing since his skillset would have been useful for navigating the maze during that race).
  • Roadbeast drivers Jerry Boylan (who specializes in driving over felled trees), Cajun driver Pete Karris, and former stunt driver Yucatan could have had interesting scenes in the jungle race but aren't featured at all, with the film acting as though Banjee, Skeet, Esme, and silent background character Maximo are the only Roadbeast drivers in the race.
  • Charlie Raffa's videogame profile describes him as a mechanic who makes sure the Dune Ratz cars can operate in the desert, but the film itself doesn't show this.
  • Heralda (who is supposedly a bad team player who has the potential to cause conflict), Toni, and Mojave are all described as having unique desert driving styles, but aren't shown doing anything in the desert leg of the race.
  • Street Breed driver San Jay Khan's All There in the Manual navigation skills aren't utilized when his team goes through the maze.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Some of the characters make... strange faces due to the animation level not reaching the same quality it will in Acceleracers.