Welcome to the environmentalist's wet dream.

In eX-Driver: The Movie, gas-powered vehicles are a thing of the past. Everyone gets around in electric, computer-driven cars, and the ability to drive is rare. The only people who are trained to drive are eX-Drivers, who keep the roads safe from those who would abuse them.

In this movie, the Japanese eX-Drivers are in Los Angeles, where eX-Drivers from every nation compete in the World Class Race, the lone version of NASCAR that this future world holds.

But just as soon as the eX-Drivers from Japan arrive state-side – Lisa, Lorna, and Souichi are their names – the young drivers are forced into action, chasing a runaway AI car on the highway.

The chase, and who the eX-Drivers "rescue" from the car, throws the group into the center of a gambling conspiracy (like reality TV, gambling on the eX-Drivers is illegal), and a mob war between the Italians and Chinese.

This movie is a short hour (there's more in the bonus features) so something had to be sacrificed: plot or character development. Wisely, the characters are gleaned over, and the movie spends most of its time on the story, see-through as it may be. There's maybe one surprise during the entire film, and even it wasn't all that shocking.

Still, eX-Driver: The Movie was never slow, in the story or in the chases. Even simple drives without the speeding are enjoyable, thanks to the CG animation of the vehicles.

This was my first eX-Driver experience, so maybe those familiar with the previous stories can watch this movie without needing to know more about the main characters. In the movie, they're introduced very quickly, a little too quickly.

eX-Driver: The Movie makes no attempt to avoid overplayed stereotypes. The Americans are sexist and seem too stupid to police their own streets and keep their underworld in check. The Italians eat nothing but pasta and drink nothing but vino. The Chinese are presented as not-so-bright (and that may just be the creators being mean, not a stereotype). To be fair, our Japanese heroes aren't flawless either: Souichi seems lost half of the time, and Lorna keeps forgetting which side of the road we drive on here in America (which was actually funny both times she screws it up).

In all, this was a fun ride, if a bit short. It's obviously a tale better supported with previous eX-Driver stories, but it's easily digested by the young and old fans alike. A fair way to spend an hour if you've overplayed your Speed Racer DVDs.

It's a sharp looking picture (anamorphic 16:9 widescreen) and though some say there's minor edge enhancement (I don't doubt it), I failed to notice it or other digital problems.

Other than a couple of the cars, there's not much outlandish in terms of color usage. It's pretty dignified, and not that racy at all for an anime.

Also, hearty props on the L.A. backgrounds. They were sharp, and blended well with the action in the front.

Hey, engines across the channels…very cool. There's DTS 5.1 Japanese, and 5.1 Dolby Digital surround in English and Japanese.

Many English dubs primarily use the center for dialogue, and it was nice to hear voices on the sides, where normally all you get is the background music during those contemplative discussions that fill the audience in on what's going on.

Both voice tracks are actually quite good, with few odd breaks or translations.

There's nearly a half-hour long featurette, following two eX-Drivers from the OVA, Nina and Rei, called Danger Zone. The episode is pretty cool, with the two young women tracking down an obsessed man, who's using a series of radio controlled mini-cars to shut down Tokyo's streets (in eX-Driver tales, all cars on the road pull over the side when a unauthorized vehicle is on the road).

The crazed controller is seriously hung-up on Nina, even creating miniature replicas of her to drive the cars.

The quality and sound on the featurette is of similar quality to the movie.

Also included in the extras are three slightly cheesy "Illustration Theater" shorts, Geneon trailers, and textless opening and closing animation.

It's most surely worthy of a rental for the casual fan. It's an easily Recommended purchase for the car racing anime fan.