The Fast & Furious film franchise may have begun with a simple street-racing formula of attractive 20-year-olds and NOS-fueled fast cars in 2001, but it has evolved into a billion-dollar, action-adventure juggernaut with no end in sight. The core series may be winding down with the upcoming 2020 and 2021 installments, but the upcoming animated series, Fast & Furious: Spy Racers, looks to pave a new lane in an entirely different format.

The Netflix animated series stars Tony Toretto (Tyler Posey), the teenage cousin of Vin Diesel's Dom Toretto, and his loyal crew of street racers. Instead of sticking with the PG-13 tone of the live-action movies, DreamWorks Animation chooses to go with a younger cast of characters that doesn't diminish the overall quality. Tony's crew consists of Frostee Benson (Luke Youngblood), a 13-year-old tech genius; Echo (Charlet Chung), the artist and natural spy of the group; and Cisco Renaldo (Jorge Diaz), the loveable muscle and bottomless pit.

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Though Spy Racers is geared towards a younger audience, it still contains many of the familiar themes and tropes that fans have become accustomed to in the Fast & Furious franchise. Street races, parties and fancy cars are never in shortage, but if you're going to do a Fast & Furious spinoff -- even in animated form -- these types of things are to be expected, and are quite frankly, welcomed.

Tony and his crew are recruited into the spy game by someone who will be immediately recognizable to even the most casual of fans, but this is where the real fun begins. Fast & Furious' Mr. Nobody is replaced by Ms. Nowhere (Renée Elise Goldsberry) and her loyal secret agent Gary, who need Tony to infiltrate a crime organization called SH1FT3R, led by Shashi Dhar (Manish Dayal). In what is only one of the first Fast & Furious callbacks, Tony has to sneak into and win a SH1FT3R race in order to become a member, similar to Brian O'Conner in The Fast and The Furious, and then pull a job ala 2 Fast 2 Furious.

Circling back around to the cast, Spy Racers assembles an enjoyable collection of good and bad people. Ms. Nowhere may be the disciplinarian, but her interactions with the Spy Racers always delivers a good laugh. From getting her steps in with her fitness watch to verbally demeaning Gary, Ms. Nowhere is one to watch. Out of Tony's entire crew, the person that gets the most screen time is Frostee. We get to meet his younger sister and mothers, who run a local diner restaurant called Salchicas. The fact that Frostee comes from what is considered a non-traditional family environment with two mothers is a reflection of the real world, and how nowadays families are quickly changing from what you'd find on The Cosby Show.

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Speaking of family, it continues to play a major role in this iteration of Fast & Furious. Tony is eager to live up to the Toretto Family name and his famous older cousin. Dom taught Tony how it's "Family over everything," which is a motto Tony takes to heart. It's part of the reason he is drawn to Layla Gray (Camille Ramsey), an underground racer for SH1FT3R. Layla describes herself as a lone wolf, but according to Tony, everyone needs a pack. Also, when one member of the Spy Racers crew is in danger, the rest of the group puts their entire mission at risk to save them.

As for our villain, Shashi may have an understandable vendetta for world domination, but in typical egomaniacal fashion, takes things a step too far, cementing his evil status. Keeping with the Fast & Furious tropes, part of Shashi's plan revolves around the theft of fancy sports cars, even dropping clever nods and homages to the continued talk of the next Fast & Furious films heading into space, car chases on a military base with a humongous freighter jet, and an attempt to jump a car from one building to the next.

Season 1 of Fast & Furious: Spy Racers ends on a clean note, but still leaves the door open for multiple seasons if DreamWorks Animation and Netflix decide to do a reverse course. The success of Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw guarantees there are more stories to tell inside this ultra-popular franchise, but Fast & Furious: Spy Racers shouldn't be underestimated for its animated take. These cars go just as fast and still manage to pull off unbelievable stunts, all in the name of family and saving the world.

Executive produced by Vin Diesel, Neal H. Moritz, Chris Morgan, Tim Hedrick and Bret Haaland, Fast & Furious: Spy Racers arrives on Netflix Dec. 26.

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