Speed Racer (2008)
NETFLIX SYNOPSIS: Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) stars as Speed in this big-screen adaptation of the popular 1960s-era Japanese animated series from directors Larry and Andy Wachowski, the minds behind the blockbuster Matrix trilogy. With the support of his parents (Susan Sarandon and John Goodman), his girlfriend, Trixie (Christina Ricci), and his onetime rival Racer X (Matthew Fox), Speed sets out to conquer a cross-country race known as the Crucible.
REVIEW: As pure spectacle, Speed Racer has no equal. The Wachowski Bros have created a real-life anime, with eye-poppingly colorful backgrounds and ridiculously over-the-top action. The plot doesn’t make a lick of sense, like most anime, and for the most part it doesn’t really matter. Kids will be entranced by the hypnotic visuals (be warned: there is some mild swearing and an extended middle finger, if you’re one of those hysterical-parent types) but most kids will probably get somewhat confused at the jumpy editing, especially in the opening sequence. It won’t matter if you haven’t seen the original cartoon, although there are plenty of references throughout the film to please fans, including the soundtrack, which takes all movie long to build up to the classic “Here he comes..here comes Speed Racer” hook. There are actors in this film too, from what I remember, and I especially enjoyed seeing the recently re- engineered Christina Ricci (we’ll call her Ricci 2.0) who appears to have spent all of her Addams Family residuals at Plastic Surgeons ‘R Us. The film is a bit too long at times, and all the action starts to run together somewhat, but Speed Racer will still blow your socks off. Go Speed Go!!
4.5 stars
HAWK
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REVIEW: FYI – this is an unconventional review from me, in part because I was responding to someone else’s negative review of Speed Racer (his comments are in carets). Apologies for the cross-post, but that said, I have certain of my original thoughts on the film as well. And I really hope you go out in theaters and check out this entirely underrated flick!
Cast Omissions – dude, typical not mentioning the non-Caucasian, household name actors. Where’s Korean singer Rain?
I respectfully agree with the good, but completely disagree with the bad. I think this film is getting a lot more crap than it deserves and is a must-see in theaters (DON’T wait for DVD). My fiance and I saw this at a packed theater (IMAX), apparently the only packed theater in the country – and at the end, we all applauded. I wasn’t alive when Speed Racer was popular, so my perspective is from someone who loves Japanese anime, has seen only brief, multi-second scenes of the original Speed Racer, but has heard of it and the unique American attachment to the TV series.
Between this and Made in Vegas, this is the unique film. I believe this is the first movie that creates a completely artificial universe in which the actors do their thing. And wow, what a universe. On that alone, you should see it.
As to the critics, Ebert & Roeper (the show’s DVR’ed each weekend for me) came over to my side and gave SR the ‘ol two thumbs up. Well, technically it was actually a frequent guest on the show for Ebert, Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune (thank goodness because I really respect the guy’s opinion). Phillips’ written review of SR is very good.
More below….
— In reel_thinkers@yahoogroups.com, “Ed Beecher” <sloweddi@> wrote:
>>The Good: As visual art, the film is breathtaking to look at. The CGI artists behind this film did a fantastic job. The look was consistent and near perfect throughout the entire film. The amount of CGI/VFX magic it took to pull this film off is staggering. The final race of the movie was great to watch. For a film that advertised itself as an action / exciting type of film, it was a great way to end it.
We now know where Fred from Mystery Machine (Scooby-Doo) got his wardrobe.
Sadly, the good stuff ends there.
The Bad: Dear sweet Jesus the acting in this film was horrible. Yes, yes, yes, I understand that the film wasn’t supposed to be Shakespearean in nature and was supposed to be acted in a certain, lighthearted, half tongue in cheek way. but even on that level it failed. >>
Audrey: Disagree. The acting performances were surprisingly solid. In light of the largely negative reviews, we went in with moderated expectations, including re: acting, but everyone puts in a solid performance. Speed Racer was meant to be cartoonish, as in literally, 2-dimensional, and the actors are great at playing this to the hilt without being hammy. It’s a fine line, but when you have actors of this caliber, it’s doable. At the same time, Sarandon’s Mom Racer’s interactions with Emile Hirsch’s Speed Racer elicited tears, yes, tears! Bridle and Chim-Chim were hilarious, the dude playing CEO Royalton was awesomely, cartoonishly evil (think Dr. Evil evil, but with no humor), doing a 180 personality turn on a pin drop, Christina Ricci was fine in her supporting role (”cool beans”) and John Goodman was solid as Dad Racer. Extra kudos for casting the actor who plays the paralyzed quarterback from the underrated and underwatched (hmmm…reminds me of this flick) Friday Night Lights television series as Rex Racer (Speed’s older brother).
<<On the one hand the visual style was done perfectly, HOWEVER. the choice of style they chose to use was the wrong choice. The entire time I felt like I was watching a video game cut scene instead of a movie. And please don’t say “but that’s what they were TRYING to do”. Yes, I understand that’s what they were trying to do. my point is that they were trying the wrong thing because it didn’t work. >>
Audrey: Based on what I’ve seen of the original anime, and the plenty I’ve seen of Japanese anime in general, I’m almost certain the film was emulating Speed Racer, the anime, not some random “video game cut.” That said, I think the style is very successful in that it follows the anime style well, is plenty entertaining, not confusing, and very stylish and modern-looking, not to mention unique to eyes unaccustomed to Japanese anime. If you read Japanese manga (Japanese “comic books”), you’ll see cut scenes like this from block to block.
<<The story of the film was so wafer thin that wasn’t any refuge to be found in it. **SPOILER** If you didn’t know that Racer X was actually Speed Racer’s supposedly dead brother almost immediately, then you’ve never watch a movie before **END OF SPOILER** The characters are all completely 1 dimensional (either totally 100% pure as snow or 100% pure evil) with nothing driving the story at any point. >>
Audrey: Funny, most of the critics when complaining about the plot actually say it’s too confusing, going off on too many tangents. The kids sitting next to us followed it. As to your comment on the thinness of the story, certain films heralded as classics have been done with less plot (from Disney films to flicks mentioned recently on this thread, Amelie – a girl who does good things, or Kamikaze Girls – a buddy flick).
Whether a film is worth watching doesn’t hinge on the simplicity or complexity of plot, just as it doesn’t hinge on characters being completely good or evil (I don’t think anyone here would argue with Night of the Hunter being a fantastic film), or on predictability (your spoiler alert). You tell a story well and that’s it.
<<The humor in the film was terrible. The small amount of chuckles was not enough to save the film. It all fell flat. And dear heavens don’t get me started on the monkey. >>
Audrey: My fiance and I thought it was very cute. (For the record, I dragged my fiance kicking and screaming to this – so he would be the first to let me know if it sucked. He liked this much better than he thought he would, teared up on different parts, laughed at different parts, and on the whole, he was very entertained and really liked it.) Keep in mind also that the film is meant to be family-friendly. No love for Bridle wearing Paul Frank jammies while Chim-Chim is wearing the human print jammies? Come on! 
<<At 136 minutes, it is 76 minutes too long. This was a 20-minute cartoon expanded. When you have a weak story line, and almost all of your scenes call for CGI you might want to rethink the movie. I waited through the credits hoping for an Easter Egg but all I got was a really long scroll of digital animators. >>
Audrey: As I said, disagree on the “weak” story line. Disagree on the length also – this goes towards the point I made earlier about the different plotlines. You need some time to tell those stories. There’s also time to build in three races, from the first race to the cross- country trek to the grande dame Grand Prix (all of which are unique in their own right, aid the different plot lines and will leave you breathless). I’d also add that when CGI meshes as harmoniously with the live actors as Speed Racer does, there’s nothing to rethink. This is cutting edge. The end credits were awesome! Definitely stick around for those, as most in our theater did.
<<Cristina Ricci is NOT naked. >>
Audrey: As a straight woman, doesn’t bother me. But as a straight woman, LOVED the sweet outfits she wore.
<<They try to glamorize the new auto sport of “Drifting”, badly. >>
Audrey: Doesn’t need to “try to glamorize.” Plenty of movies already do this (Fast and the Furious etc.) And it already looks cool on screen, way cool. In fact, the races, the way the cars are driven, and the cut- away screens from Speed in his driver’s seat, to Trixie in her helicopter seat to competitor racers in their respective seats are absolutely exhilarating, thrilling, scenes, with competitor racers using maces and chains, the cars and competitor racers trussed out in all types of eye candy outfits and colors, and the race tracks taking you from environment to environment (the desert, the ice tunnels etc.) and from varied track to varied track (spikes, loop-de-loops) – all kinds of cool craziness.
<<Explosions have no loss of life. Everyone escapes in custom foam bubbles (just like in Demolition Man). >>
Audrey: Not everyone if you’re watching the races (though I thought the foam bubbles were a cool concept). Otherwise how would Rex Racer have been able to die in the cross-country race? And the Mongol-looking racers were shoved off over the icy precipice, resulting in explosions and, from the expression on that guy’s face, an untimely end. I also reiterate that the Wachowskis wanted to create a family- friendly film, but I imagine that partly because of scenes like these, the MPAA gave it a PG (instead of G) rating, which incidentally may have hurt the movie’s box office.
Additional thoughts: As this wasn’t mentioned, I thought it very progressive that a blockbuster Hollywood film like Speed Racer would incorporate Asian actors for major roles, a nod to the non-American origins of the original anime, but perhaps also to the increasingly global world we live in. I also think the Wachowskis are just very thoughtful in this regard, and have contributed immensely to helping Asian actors and Asian culture be more accepted in the U.S.
For instance, *SPOILER ALERT!!*, just when I thought the movie was going down the path of making one of the Asian actors the villain, another Asian actor (unpredictably imo) saves the day! *END SPOILER ALERT!* Cool beans. There is a very international sense to this film, from the Asian actors with major roles to the hilarious reporters from all around the world, flush with exhilaration reporting on the various races, excitedly screaming into the mikes in their respective languages.
<<OVERALL: Speed Racer is a film that got a lot of people very hopeful, but ultimately ends up running on completely flat tires. Wrong choice for visual style, poor acting from an otherwise impressive cast, weak story, poor humor and a lack of thrills up until the final race of the movie all leaves you wishing you went to see Iron Man again instead of wasting your money on this one. Overall I give Speed Racer a 2.5 out of 10. >>
Audrey: OVERALL: I’ve seen Iron Man (and really liked it), but Speed Racer is as entertaining as Iron Man while offering the unique (and imo successful) vision of the Wachowskis. Iron Man is good (simple story there, predictable, but like I said, good movies don’t hinge on this), but Speed Racer is unique. In sum, I’d rather see this again! I reiterate: this is a must-see in theaters – do not wait for DVD!
4 stars
Audrey
