Are We Too Hard On Race Against Time? (Movie Breakdown)

After nearly three years, I take another look at Race Against Time.

To be clear, I'm not calling anyone out in particular, nor am I renouncing my Diamondbolt collab or anything crazy like that. I simply wanted to run this film through the Breakdown method to take it more seriously. This film can be really fun, and I feel that's what is important.

Intro/ Outro Music: Noxi (NoxiMationsArts)

_______HOW MY BREAKDOWNS WORK:

THE REVIEW
I watch each episode with my own commentary, often pausing the scenes to get my words out without having to talk over the episode, and also to point out and analyze the show's art and animation. I have seen each episode already growing up, so these reviews are to compare and contrast the five categories listed below.

PLOT (Scaled from 1 to 5 Points)
The foundation of the episode. Uniqueness and overused tropes are taken into account, but it is also judged on how well it tells the story of the episode. An episode can score a 5 even with a basic/ cliche plotline as long as it has good pacing, worthy use of its tropes, and feels well-polished. An episode can lose points due to plotholes, uneven storytelling, and relying too heavily on cliches to do the work for it.

CHARACTERIZATION (Scaled from 1 to 5 Points)
How well the characters are written. Do they feel like themselves compared to the grand narrative of the franchise? Are the supporting or one-off characters interesting, or pure plot devices? Did the humor land? Did the actions and character motivations make sense?

VISUALS (Scaled from 1 to 5 Points)
Basically, everything that happens on-screen. Character Design. Animation. Backgrounds. Creative mechanics and solutions. If there is CGI or digital effects added, how well do they blend into the show, and were they used as an enhancement, or a crutch?

IMPORTANCE (Scaled from 1 to 5 Points)
This includes, but is not strictly based on, how important the episodes are to the current story arc (if there is one) or the general narrative of the Ben 10 Franchise. Points can also be awarded for how impactful the episode was, or how favored/ important it is to the general Ben 10 fanbase. I ask myself, "If I skipped this, would I be missing out on the 'Ben 10 Experience?' "

ENTERTAINMENT (Scaled from 1 to 5)
Pretty much the most important part of developing a tv show. You can be perfect in all four of the previous categories, but the episode can still be boring. On the flip side, the episode can be absolute garbage, but still an enjoyable watch. How likely would you be to put this episode on if you were in the mood to watch Ben 10?

[vaggos]

1:20-1:30 10 seconds of Kuro saying something that needs to be heard. Seriously, for a while I thought I was alone in thinking that it was irritating having to give some positives or negatives about a piece of media just so my opinion can sound "fair and unbiased". Kuro, thank you.

[gamingapocalypse]

Imagine how terrifying fourarms would've looked in this movie, or even stinkfly.

[thegoblin]

"It's their first live action film, everyone know live action is better than cartoons!"
-Actual line by Ben 10 in Ultimate Alien

[HaydenWood-ucyb]

The reason the Rustbucket looks like it does in the show is because it was based on the model of RV used in this movie. It’s a 1973-1978 GMC Motorhome.

[miguelfrancescohogar]

Eon Minion Theory: He starts with the Time Slaves but upon meeting Ben, he started kidnapping alternate versions of Ben to try and counteracting Ben. When Ben himself found out, he used robots

[erikm]

He mentioned the Omnitrix's exact ten minute time limit, but my personal belief is that it's like how -40 degrees C is the same as -40 degrees F, where the original time limit simply happens to perfectly line up to a common interval of earth time, and on pretty much any other planet it would be some annoying decimal like 3.46223546645 (insert alien unit of time)

[PMJ]

Kuro's hair in the begging represents his sanity after months of Ben 10 breakdowns

[StanHanrahan]

20:59 this used to scare the heck out of me as a kid.
But for real completely agree with you here man, both of the live action films where great movies to me especially as a kid

[Serkoid]

It definitely has flaws, but I also definitely enjoyed it.

[Couch_Banana]

9:28
I love that she called him Heatblast. It shows that Ben's hero names aren't just known by Ben's friends and family, but are actual codenames, just like any other superhero.

[jetstreamjackie]

That scene with Ben having to bike away from a moving car stuck with me for my entire life. Every time I rode a bike for years I was paranoid there was a car ready to run me down, and whenever there was a car, I was absolutely horrified. What an effective scene, it really plays into childhood fears.

[thepanelbiter]

11:07 okay I’m so glad we talk about this. This movie’s version of Ben’s parents is my favorite because their passive, hands-off parenting totally explains why Ben can be selfish, stubborn, or bratty, considering they might just let him get away with Everything and always get his way. So when Max imparts actually lessons in maturity to Ben, he sometimes lashes out, but ultimately learns from Max.

[sweet_]

I think that Eon couldn't use his time powers directly on Ben because of an effect similar to the sotobro effect.
Ben and Eon were linked at one point in time causing Ben to have some level of understanding of what happens when time is manipulated keeping him from slowing down or freezing entirely.

[Outflex]

People give this movie so much hate and I never understood why. Yeah the effects are a bit wonky but the movie is still amazing!

[HiperPivociarz]

Also, if we assume Verdona did some parenting before leaving to space, it kind of make sense that Carl would turn into this chill, free spirit type of parent. At the same time, it makes sense why Gwen's dad would be completely opposite of that if he had a worse relationship with her than Ben's dad did.

[romulofigueroadiaz]

As for Eon’s consciousness transferring into Ben, maybe Chronians are like Ectonurites that way, their DNA carries their consciousness too

[ghostspider]

Eon was partially inspired by Darth Vader. The actor who played Eon stated that he was eager to play him as he’s a huge Darth Vader fan.

[ghostspider]

It’s stated that Eon’s race were imprison for misusing their powers, this is similar to the Time Lords from Doctor Who.

[pytha]

When I was younger I really wanted an Omnitrix toy with the exact model used in this movie, I feel like that was a big missed opportunity - all the little extra details added really make it feel like something that *could* exist in the real world

[bismarsyauqie]

Speaking of Eon heres my opinion of every version of Eon in Ben 10 :

1.) Race agains time Eon:" Scary Eon"

2.) UAF Eon:"Menacing Eon"

3.) OV Eon:"Lame Eon"

4.) 5yl Eon:"𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗧 𝗘𝗢𝗡"