Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Season 1 Review

December 7, 2019 at 4:00pm
By Jason Stettner

The Fast & Furious franchise continues to grow, and it now heads in a new direction aiming to target the younger audience. That makes perfect sense, and no better place to do so then on Netflix. This is an animated series that is very much tied into the regular world of what the overall franchise has become. It does have a different perspective, with a fun spy angle attached to it.

This works particularly well for its target audience, and it’s basically a bunch of fast paced car races with character development sprinkled in for when they’re not behind the wheel. It definitely feels on brand with what I’ve seen from the main series, and it perhaps goes a bit too global for a first season. That being said, it was enjoyable and I can see people really liking this. It has some heart to it, and carries forward most of the main selling points from the regular franchise.

This initial season focuses on Tony Toretto (Tyler Posey) and his crew as they get recruited for a special mission. There’s a criminal gang that needs to be stopped as they go about collecting mysterious keys. The group’s connection in is Layla Gray (Camille Ramsey) and the two leads have a disagreeing competition bond between them as things develop. Keep in mind this group is depicted as quite young to teens essentially age wise.

The animation work on this was very interesting, the push towards a realism while still being animated was unique. It reminded me of “Into the Spider-Verse” to a degree. It worked well for the visuals on the high speed racers that were in action.

It was a sort of motion blur, it’s hard to describe but it makes the vehicles come across as very fast. This also brings in some fun tech, with a varied cast that should hit many individuals on different levels. The crews have their own unique quirks and I found the focus of their mission to be interesting. They were targeting a specific leader of this criminal gang, and that individual actually had a compelling reasoning behind what they were doing.

I won’t dive into that as not to spoil things, but it actually gave some context into why, and that worked here. Motivation for a sort of villain is important, as it’s often too light. At times this can be a silly series, but that’s also the charm of shows that are focused on the younger audience out there. The voice acting was fine, the leads worked well and this is a varied group.

The Conclusion

Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Season 1 is on brand with the main franchise while being a great option for its target audience. I really felt that those who enjoy the Fast & Furious will find this hits the mark. It won’t necessarily be the exact same, but the core concepts are carried over in an efficient manner. It carries a varied and well set cast of characters. I could see this going far considering the spy focus, but they perhaps went a bit too grand in scale the first time through.

It works well for where the overall series has headed over the years, but I like more intimate stories when things seasons of shows kick-off. A more natural narrative building is better as stakes amp up. That won’t matter to most, it has fast cars and many epic moments. I think it nails the pacing for the younger ones out there and they’ll get a kick out of the cast presented here. The animation style is really interesting, vibrant and focused on the forefront of the action. They could have went further in backdrop details, but that really wasn’t necessary here.

It’s a rich, tech focused universe for them to explore and it fits into what’s been established in the core series. This does stand out on its own, I’d say it’s really good for kids. Some older folks might like it too, just don’t expect anything too groundbreaking story wise. I will say that they did a great job with adding a fair background to the target of this group’s missions.

Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Season 1 Review at Home with Streamed Viewing
Screening was Provided by Netflix

Rating Overall: 7.4