Race the Sun

1996 "A dream can make all the difference under the sun."
5.4| 1h40m| PG| en
Details

A bunch of high school misfits in Hawaii, introduced by their new teacher, attend a science fair in which they draw up inspiration to build their own solar car and win a trip to compete in the 1990 World Solar Challenge in Australia.

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Reviews

Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!
Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
alexis-368-973240 Interesting idea for a movie: An out-of-this world science fair project being put to the test. However, there are too many events in the movie. There always has to be some kind of issue or dilemma every five-ten minutes, making the movie very tiring to watch. Solar cars are cool, but a full-length feature film about making one doesn't strike me as interesting. The main character cannot work with the rest of the team (annoying) and there is too much DRAMA. I have no doubt that other movies have been made about THE ULTIMATE COMPETITION or WHO IS GOING TO WIN THE TROPHY. Too many movies have used this kind of plot and there is nothing new. There are no interesting scientific facts either about electric cars that make the movie unique.The ending is predictable and the acting could use some work too.
aimless-46 For curious movie buffs, "Race the Sun" is a blend of "Breaking Away", "Walkabout", and "Summer School"; making it quite unique and considerably better than its rating. It's neither ambitious nor technically brilliant; in fact the cinematography somehow manages to NOT capture the inherent scenic beauty of a series of Hawaiian and Australian locations. But the casting and directing are solid and the story has so much charm that you don't mind it being corny and predictable. Halle Berry and James Belushi play teachers at a Hawaiian technical high school who reluctantly sponsor a team of students building a solar-powered car. "Race the Sun" was inspired by a group of Hawaiian students who actually entered the World Solar Challenge in 1980. The film would have been better if the cartoonish corporate villain had been replaced by some actual scientific explanations and a bit of background on the race itself. Speaking of cartoons, the solar cars look like something out of "Wacky Races" but there is no sign of Penelope Pitstop in this entertaining race.The school is in Hawaii, which makes for some interesting cultural details (as does the race's Austrialian setting), but for viewer identification purposes the settings could be anywhere.Thankfully the film avoids a couple of obvious traps. Berry and Belushi end up liking and respecting each other but there are no obligatory romantic sparks between them. Likewise for Casey Affleck and Elisha Dushku-who plays his step-sister.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
cturle when this movie was being filmed on the streets of my Town, Broken Hill. i believe it's the scene where the main kid is offered a bribe and hes sitting under a statue. This movie was a Big Thing and when released they played it for about two and a half months....i seriously thought it was an awesome movie. and saw it three times. but now looking back i realised that it is just a regular story of the lowest rising up to the top. so its regular stuff yet pretty entertaining. mainly cause i knew what "Road Trains" meant. all in all it was an entertaining film. Halle Berry did very well, yet it was just a money spender all the same
israelyang The funnest line in the movie I think is when Steve Zahn says There is a God, then... Well to me it's not really predictable and many times I thought that's yes something new happens, so it never ran out of surprise. I had fun watching it. And my, Gilbert's character is such a whooly-wooly.(meaning, herlarious)