Written and directed by Ross Venokur, Rally Road Racers is a straight-forward, high-stakes car racing film aimed at very young viewers. The movie features a star-studded voice cast and lots of comic relief, but the themes get muddled with outdated cultural stereotypes and thin character development.
The protagonist, a slow loris named Zhi and voiced by Jimmy O. Yang, dreams of being a racecar driver. However, his community, especially his Granny Bai, voiced by Lisa Lu, believes in slow living, practicing tai chi, and finding your Tao. Granny Bai believes Zhi will never find his Tao, his purpose and center, because he is obsessed with racing, which is in direct conflict with their natural way of life.
The slow loris village is soon threatened by none other than Zhi's racecar hero, Archie Vainglorious, voiced by John Cleese. This villain, with a name that is a little too on the nose, is a large toad who is also a business tycoon. Vainglorious wants to tear down the slow loris village and build a resort for amphibians titled Muddy Meadows. Zhi must defy his granny's wishes and makes a wager with the villain to save his family home.
What follows is a four-day race to Shanghai titled, The Silk Road Rally. With the help of a goat mentor named Gnash, voiced by J.K. Simmons, Zhi enters the contest. Simmons, who's known for his serious live action and voice roles, employs an unidentifiable accent in this film, which can be quite distracting for adult viewers. However, Gnash proves to be resourceful and helps Zhi find his way.
During the race, Zhi gets to know the other competitors, especially an Italian seahorse couple, who are expecting bambinos any moment. It's clear that the couple serves as comic relief throughout the film, featuring the "pregnancy" of the male seahorse as much as possible. Most of the other racers are thinly developed, but the audience is supposed to believe they have become a family after just a handful of scenes together.
Rally Road Racers is a classic underdog story, in which Zhi begins as an outcast who must go on a quest to save his community and then finds himself along the way. The plot is familiar with nothing new or inventive introduced. However, as with any underdog story, it's always satisfying to see the antagonist get what he deserves while the hero comes out on top.
All of the race scenes are fast-paced and enjoyable to watch. Young children may also enjoy the huge-eyed Zhi and his romantic interest Shelby, voiced by Chloe Bennet, but older kids and adults may find themselves feeling like spectators at a real competition, just waiting around for the greenlight and the next race to begin.