Driller Engine Grand Prix (film)

"Get ready to qualify. Mario Kart is here!"

- Official attention grabber

Driller Engine Grand Prix (ドリラーエンジングランドプリー) is a 2006 Japanese-American sports live-action/anime film directed by Susumu Takajima and distributed by Toho in Japan and Walt Disney Pictures internationally. The film follows the story of a racer named Mark Edret as he makes his way into the championship at the Light Grand Prix tournament in Anaheim, California. However, a stranger named Captain Hostile begins to lose popularity after he isn't getting people to buy his new game. To prevent his company from being shut down, he orders a group of five students, all of which are junior-high and senior-high aged, to find and capture Drillimation characters to use for future games. However, the Drillimation characters refuse to accept their decision and challenge them to a game of Mario Kart to win their freedom back. To make things worse, they use Polyjuice Potion to impersonate five of the most famous Driller Engine Grand Prix racers from Edret's school. After Edret enters the Drillimation world from a warp pipe, he asks the Drillimation characters to ally him in the championship.

Plot
The film begins with Guyish kart racer Mark Edret racing his way to hit first place on the Light Grand Prix Master tournament in Rouz, RG. Right before he's about to cross the finish line, a hissing from a spiny shell is heard as he skillfully evades the shell and crosses the finish line, winning the tournament. He then moves onto the championship as a direct result of winning.

However, in a secret base in Patricia Martin's homeland, a stranger and independent game programmer named Captain Hostile begins to lose popularity after he receives poor sales from one of his recently released games and while he is sitting around at his computer, a group of five students, calling themselves The Squeebles, walk up to him and says they would like to help him. After a girl from the group tells Hostile to make a game based on Drillimation, he goes on Crunchyroll to learn more about Drillimation. After watching a few episodes of the anime and playing a few of their games, he decides to capture them as new entertainment.

The Drillimation characters live in an animated world in Japan (as the reason The Squeebles are animated), and Hostile issues a challenge to The Squeebles, with the goal of capturing Susumu and his friends and to implement them into Hostile's game. The Squeebles then fly to Japan to find Susumu and the others. When they arrive, Konata greets them and the Squeebles then make Konata fall into their trap by saying they will capture her and her friends to put them into Hostile's game. Susumu then arrives at the scene, where he denies their request and challenges them to a game of Mario Kart to win back their freedom.

Susumu along with others think The Squeebles would be easy to beat due to the fact they aren't experienced in Mario Kart and that they don't know how to drive a go-kart. Irritated, The Squeebles head to the Republic of Guy and grab the hairs and talents of five famous Driller Engine racers, and place them inside Polyjuice Potion. When they return to Japan, they drink the polyjuice and transform into monstrous versions of themselves, being ten years into their futures and have the talents they stole.

While Edret is practicing for the championship, Edret falls off the course and into a pit that leads him to the Drillimation world. When he arrives, Konata shows up and meets Edret for the first time. Konata explains to Edret their problem and that Edret should team up with the Drillimation characters to defeat The Squeebles in the championship.