I had a lot of fun with this movie. It offers pure escapism--a quick moving plot with plenty of jokes that never takes itself too seriously. The time-travelling plot never stays in one place for too long, quickly and efficiently mining each place and time period for its comedic value before moving on to the next. The movie features appearances from historical figures as diverse as Robespierre, Leonardo da Vinci, King Tut, Agamemnon, and Bill Clinton. Some of the comedy comes from the real life aspects of these characters, making it even funnier for those who get the joke.
The movie does have the obligatory emotional storyline alongside the main plot. It's handled fairly well; the emotional beats are spread out and it doesn't feel shoehorned into the plot like it would in many other animated films. Its resolution near the end is perhaps a bit too heavy handed, but that's a minor quibble, and is made up for by the humor that results. The film is high quality family entertainment.
I have mixed feelings about this film. It started off on shaky ground and eventually got better, but it had one major issue that I was never able to get past.
The film's first problem was that it took too long to get started. It spends an awful lot of time setting up the characters and situation before jumping to a couple years later and moving into the bulk of the story. Most films featuring such a time jump early on would find a way to set everything up in a fast-paced opening sequence. "Need for Speed" takes about half an hour or so to set everything up, during which we have two car racing scenes and lots of unnecessary exposition. I was getting bored waiting for the film to really start.
Fortunately, once the film finally does get going, it gets going pretty well. The characters are given just enough motivation to justify a plot that features several inventively staged car chases. It's impressive how each manages to feel fresh, given that there are so many of them. The film also adds the element of a ticking clock, ratcheting up the tension. As long as you can suspend disbelief, there's a lot of fun to be had during most of the film.
This brings me to the major problem with the film, the one I just could not get past. The main character's motivation throughout the film is to get revenge for a friend who was killed during one of the races during the film's setup. Even putting aside the fact that said friend was really annoying and I would have shaken the bad guy's hand for ensuring I didn't have to put with him for the full movie, I just couldn't muster any sympathy. During the racing scene, all three drivers, the ill-fated friend included, are shown to be enjoying themselves, having a blast. This is despite the fact that their antics cause several innocent motorists to crash into each other or run off the road. I wonder if any of these people were injured. The friend clearly didn't. He just kept driving and laughing. So I found it really hard to care that something bad happened to him during an illegal street race that he was a willing participant in, when he didn't spare a thought for any of the innocent people who may have been hurt. Somehow the film expects us to only view the "bad guy" as responsible for what happened. While I did enjoy the bulk of the film, this left a bad taste in my mouth, and made it impossible for me to ever be entirely on the hero's side.
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