This thing is wild. I know this to be a franchise that outdoes itself in terms of scale with each installment, but for a starting point, this is already pretty intense. The racing sequences are so damn cool. I loved the completely out there, almost cartoonish effects used to simulate just how fast these people are driving. It's stylish in a gaudy, almost tacky way, but there's something about that I find charming. What makes it work, too, is how…

I was a rather sensitive child (and am currently a rather sensitive adult), but I feel like this would’ve upset me. There’s a startling amount of animal cruelty and scenes of the horses in danger that would’ve been very scary for me. There also are far fewer jokes and way less music than I would’ve expected, so overall, I don’t imagine this going over well for most young audiences.

The story itself is familiar, yet still very strange. Our protagonist…