Dr. Donna's Review

About the Film
“The Biggest Show on Wheels” is a story about ten-year old Bobby Keller's exciting trip to Truck Week with his Aunt Jen. As the winner in a sweepstakes, Bobby's prize is to be the special guest at the series of high speed races in challenging terrains where his hero, Tonka Joe, and the racing team, Team Tonka, are competing. The races offer exciting, wheel spinning challenges such as racing through the heart of the desert and leaping across a canyon, racing across a lake, and finally racing to the top of a mountain to rescue three firefighters from the top of a fire tower. There are ample opportunities for Tonka Joe to demonstrate the amazing power and flexibility of his truck, Axle. By activating the T-Shift, Joe morphs Axle into different machines, e.g. a rocket, an airplane, a jet ski, and a rescue copter, to meet different challenges.

Over the course of three races, Tonka Joe competes with arrogant, self-important, Robert B. Quick of Team Quick. Quick will stop at nothing to win the race. In the first race of the competition, Quick, unseen by anyone, blindsides Tonka Joe and pushes him off the road. Soon thereafter Quick's truck goes into a spin and headed for a collision. Tonka Joe sees that Quick is in danger so he morphs Axle into a plane and bumps Quick's truck in order to prevent the head-on collision. Quick goes on to win the race by default and Joe is accused of bad sportsmanship for bumping Quick off-course. Like everyone else who did not see that Joe's action was an effort to save Quick's life, Bobby believes that his hero cheated in an effort to win. He is devastated and heart-broken and runs off to console himself. Bobby meets up with Quick at the pier. Quick offers to lift Bobby up to high shelf on the pier so he can have a good view of the upcoming race. The pier is damaged during the race putting Bobby in danger. It is Tonka Joe who rescues him but once again Quick wins the race by default. While the teams are preparing for the third and most challenging race, Bobby has the opportunity to communicate with Tonka Joe's on-board computer, SCAN. SCAN shows him a replay of the earlier race and proves that Joe was not guilty of cheating or bad sportsmanship. Bobby is relieved but somewhat ashamed of himself for jumping to the conclusion that Joe was guilty before there was proof. During race three, the Fire Mountain Challenge, Quick's fuel tank is punctured and his truck spills fuel on the road up to the top of the mountain. A spark ignites the fuel and a huge forest fire develops that threatens the village of Biggsburg . Tonka Joe uses his skill, intelligence and his amazing truck to put out the fire, save the firemen, rescue Robert B. Quick and even win the race.

About the Kids
The movie will especially appeal to boys of all ages. And, because there is so much fast action and because the central storyline is touching, it may also have some appeal to girls

Film content and features
There are moments of threat that could be scary to very young children such as the raging fire during race three. Parents need to use their judgment regarding the needs of individual children. Parents who choose to take young children can use the opportunity to talk with children about the difference between reality and fantasy by reminding children that these scenes are part of a made up story.

An interesting side element of the film is that the voice of SCAN, Joe's on-board computer, is the voice of a child. Hearing a child's voice imparting valuable information and serving as an equal partner to Tonka Joe can be empowering to child viewers.

One element of the film that parents may rightfully notice is that neither Tonka Joe nor Robert B. Quick wear helmets at any times during the races even though the other drivers who are seen briefly do wear helmets.

Parents should be aware of the dense presence of the Tonka logo and portrayal of the line of Tonka toys and the prospect of the film spurring requests for the purchase of the toys.

Things to talk about
The central message of the story is that one should not accuse another of wrongdoing without proof. Talk with children about how Tonka Joe was accused and how everyone went along with the accusation, including the newscasters, and no one asked for proof. Ask children to think about how the story might have unfolded differently if someone had stopped to check out the facts. Have them think about how they would act if they or someone they know were wrongly accused of bad sportsmanship or cheating.

Parents could talk with children about the fact that the main characters in the story do not wear helmets while performing such dangerous feats. This may be an opportunity to impart some lessons of “media literacy.” Help children come up with reasons why helmets might have been left out. For example, did someone conclude that because helmets would obscure the faces of the main characters they should be left out? Does such a decision send a particular message to viewers?

Parents may also want to talk with children about the fantasy elements of the story, e.g. that the dangerous driving displayed is impossible in real life – even for highly trained race car drivers. Additionally, parents can help children understand that the amazing power and transformability of the trucks is fantasy – that neither the toys portrayed nor any real trucks have the capacity for such astounding transformations. Parents may wish to encourage their child's imagination by having them talk about or draw a fantastical vehicle of their own.