The Grand Prix of Europe, featuring Ed Euromaus & Edda Euromausi

Most Americans have never heard of Ed Euromaus and Edda Euromausi, but the Europark mascots are beloved (or at least well-liked) in German. However, the unstated dark secret of their animated film debut is that their race cars are probably fueled by Russian oil. Of course, there is no mention of geopolitics, but there is a fair amount of globe-trotting in Waldemar Fast’s The Grand Prix of Europe, which opens today in theaters.

Euromausi aspires to a career grand prix racing, but she defers her dreams to work in her family’s struggling amusement park, out of loyalty to her widower father, Erwin. Learning her father is in debt to loan sharks, Euromausi travels to Paris, the first leg of the European Grand Prix, hoping to promote their park. However, she is distracted by her idol, Euromaus, and his car.

Through a cartoony set of circumstances, Euromausi crashes his car and sprains Euromaus’s shoulder. Ed would be disqualified if the borderline-psychotic race director, Cindy (a Fox), knew he was injured, so Euromaus reluctantly agrees to let the bundled-up Euromausi pass for him, until his shoulder heals.

Of course, she gets off to a rocky start in Paris. Yet, the legs through Italy and the Swiss Alps are even more dangerous, because of an unknown rival driver’s sabotage attempts. Naturally, her suspicions fall on Nachtkraab, because he is a crow—but to be fair to Euromausi, he has a nasty habit of sneaking up on people (more like animals, but you get the point).

Grand Prix of Europe is bright, colorful, and upbeat, but not very deep. The critter-characters are generically cute, but it lacks the artistry and heart of the recent Stitch Head (which in turn falls short of quality expected from GKIDS’s finest). However, it is safe for young viewers, because it never incorporates any mature or questionable ideological subject matter.

Obviously, animals racing cars is a kid-friendly concept. Hanna-Barbera’s Wacky Races and Yogi’s Space Race were successfully built around similar ideas. Probably the most distinctive voices are those of Colin MacFarlane as Nachtkraab and Lenny Henry as Erwin. However, the film cries out for the vocal stylings of Terry-Thomas and Buddy Hackett, because they really knew how to milk corny jokes (and they were no strangers to goofy racing movies). It is perfectly fine for youngsters, but serious animation connoisseurs will be underwhelmed. Nice but disposable, The Grand Prix of Europe opens today (11/7) in theaters, including the AMC Empire in New York.