The Wachowski brothers have gone head over heels in this adaptation of a popular cartoon series. "Speed Racer" is a bore fest, a high speed action film that willthrill the kiddies and their parents who remember the 1960's breakthrough cartoon. The original TV series already had a campy, naive feel to it amd this film plays that up with all the technical wizardry that Yoshida didn;'t have at his command way back when gas was 50 cents a gallon. The Wachowskis transmit a LOT of raw energy to screen.  Clearly aimed at younger audiences, "Speed Racer" has many elements to keep their attention like choppy editing, overlappuing frames and saturated primary colors. However, adults in the audience will find themselves blitzed by the visuals and snoring at the incredibly painful dialogues. This is clearly a young generation flick with overtures towards the hard core fans who are not in their 50's and 60's.

Based on the classic children's TV cartoon series that introduced a generation of Americans to Japanese anime style, our live action Speed Racer ( Emile Hirsch ) is an exceptional boy with natural racing instincts and whose goal is to win The Crucible, a cross-country car racing rally that took the life of his older brother, Rex Racer ( Scott Porter ) then beat the fixed super race The Grand Prix and beat the syndicate. Speed is fiercly loyal to the family race car business. Speed also has a good support team behind him, including his mom (Susan Sarandon), dad Pops (John Goodman) and childhood girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci) who flies a chopper and also can handle a race car with the best of them. There is also a younger brother Spritle (Paulie Litt ) and Chim-Chim a pet chimp. Pops designed Speed's car, the Mach 5 and later the Mach 6,  with his able assistant Sparky (Kick Gurry ).

When megalomaniac Arnold Royalton (Roger Allam) the owner of Royalton Industries and controlling criminal in the fixing of many races with his underworld conenctions, makes Speed and his family a lucrative offer which Speed rejects, Royalton vows to ruin his life and the family buisiness as well. Speed, workingwith the mysterious Racer X ( Mattehew Fox ) and Inspector Detector, an investigator for the racing commission, uncovers the true fact that Royalton and his cronies like Cruncher Block ( John Benfield ) are fixing races and cheating to gain profit. Speed is very depressedt o find that even his idol , champion racer Ben Burns ( Richard Roundtree ) won in a fixed race, but finds support from his parents, Trixie and enters The Crucible in a partnership with Taejo Togokahn (Rain ) a Japanese racer who wants to save his family's nbusiness as well and the mysterious, masked Racer X - who may be Speed's presumed dead brother!   Hurtling down the track is a dizzying maze of CGI generated roads and obstacles, Speed Racer is a natural behind the wheel. He has no choice. The only way for Speed to save his family's business and the sport he loves is to beat Royalton at his own game. The Wachowsky Brothers have successfully taken a good animated series pumped it up  and churned out  another blockbuster of a film.

Note: Peter Fernandez, the voice of Speed Racer and Racer X in the original cartoon series, plays the Race Announcer in this movie.

Other Reviews of this Film

GO SPEED GO!!!  By Monis Rose I needed to go to the doctor after I saw Speed Racer.  My retina’s needed a diabetic shot.  They consumed so much eye candy throughout the film that by the time Speed’s Mach 5 shut down I thought I was seeing blurred rainbows of Skittles and M&Ms.  My eyes wanted something sweet to look at and Speed Racer was the right medicine for them.  It’s too bad that both of my pupils overdosed.  When Speed Racer starts it never stops.  The guys who made The Matrix Trilogy and are used to writing heavy philosophical dialogue, gore, grandiose firestorms, real looking (yet digitally made) worlds, changed their gears into the family film business.  Their PG rated Speed Racer has dialogue almost as simple as the “I Am Sam” and “Dick and Jane” books from nostalgic times.  When fights occur between Speed, his family, and everyone who wants to steer him off of the track, they always remain comical and there’s a minor cut or two.  The explosions are a colossal burst on confetti, and the world that Speed lives in is more eye-popping bright than any racing video game I have ever played.  Speed Racer is not an enhancement, just a retelling of the cult cartoon from the 1960s about a kid whose purpose in life is to race his family’s car, the Mach 5.  The cartoon was aired again in the 90s, and I had the honor of watching it.  The movie has all of the same characters: Speed, Pops, Mom, Trixi, Sparky, Spritle, and Chim-Chim (the Chimp).  Having more heart and a much better moral compass not to sell out to the big corporations like the Shake and Bake Ricky Bobby, Speed is blacklisted from the racing circuit and has to drive all over the world from a roller coaster track in Fiji to the Saharan desert in order to earn his racing stripes back.  Though Speed Racer is a live action movie, the filmmakers never want you to forget that beneath its candy coated shell, it’s a cartoon at heart.  The Mach 5 and all the rest of the cars featured have enhanced booby traps to thwart other drivers; jump like Lightning McQueen did in Cars, and can do 360s in the air, come down, and stop on a dime.   Speed Racer might be too bright for some, but the pacing is quick and will not let any youngster or adult leave their seat. I give Speed Racer FOUR out of FIVE Roses.   FASTER,FASTER!! by CJ Henderson Okay, let’s just say it. Get ready, geeks and freaks, this is going to be the greatest summer ever. We started out with "Forbidden Kingdom" where they gave us Jackie Chan and Jet Li together for the first time. Then, they brought on "Ironman," one of the three best superhero movies ever made. And now, now Hollywood has gone and unleashed the best anime-to-live action effort ever produced. Yeah, I’m not kiddin’ ya.  "Speed Racer." It’s good. Real good.

The story: Since birth, Speed (Emile Hirsch) has been interested in only two things--cars and racing them. Although he’s only a teenager, he’s one of the best racers in the world. Indeed, if it weren’t for the memory of his brother Rex who died in a racing accident holding him back, he would be the best. Still, he’s loyal to the family racing business built up from the ground by his dad, Pops Racer (John Goodman). But, when he turns down an offer to drive for the largest racing corporation in the world, he puts that family business, and himself, in serious danger.  It seems the world of big league racing is fixed by the rich and powerful, and if Speed won’t play ball with them, then they will crush him. Can one teenager stand against a ruthless multi-billionaire, his ninjas and the mob all at the same time? Hey, what do you think?  To make a long story short, this is one of the wildest, craziest thrill rides ever filmed. It’s one of those movies where logic is thrown right out the window so it can simply be the cartoon on which it’s based. The movie is pure "Speed Racer," and that’s pure summer fun if ever there’s been any.  First off, fans of the show will be in their glory. The mobsters are straight out of the cartoon. So are the homes, the clothes, the cars, the speed lines, everything. Yes, Spritle and Chim Chim stow away in every trunk in sight. Yes, Trixie is ultra-hot and yet all Speed can think about is racing cars. Yes, Pops is still the world’s greatest wrestler, Sparky is dull witted, Inspector Detector and Racer X are working hand-in-hand, and the crooks drive the big red car!  Of course, how could anyone expect less from the Wachowski brothers, creators of the "Matrix" trilogy, as well as screenwriters of "V for Vendetta," another of the best adaptations ever brought to the screen. As producer Joel Silver told us;  "With ‘The Matrix,’ Larry and Andy (Wachowski) created a visual style that altered your consciousness as you watched the movie. You saw things that you could not imagine happening on film. And with ‘Speed Racer,’ they wanted to change the way you saw movies again. They had a new concept in mind for telling the story with cars flying along the most spectacular and challenging racetracks--fantastic action sequences like nothing you’ve ever seen. It’s a new approach to combining CGI with live action. The brothers love to break the mold. They love to push the envelope."  It’s the kind of quote you usually don’t include in a review because with almost any other film it would be vulgarly self-serving. Not here. Here it’s simply the truth. You want to know how exciting the action sequences were in this film? I’ll tell you. During the second big race I started to feel a little dry. Without thinking, unable to take my eyes from the screen, I reached forward for my drink. The problem with that was, I didn’t have a drink in the theater. I was reaching for my coffee mug in my cup holder out in my car. I was so into the driving moment, for that split-second, I thought I was in a car.  Now, understand, I am not a fan of the "Speed Racer" cartoons. I just didn’t like them. But this film is so filled with sheer exuberance that one has to have a good time. Goodman, along with Susan Sarandon, make the perfect parents for Speed. Christina Ricci is Trixie. The cast is excellent. And the writing they were asked to bring to life is some of the best ever put together for this kind of project.  But, beyond all this, not only do you not want to wait for cable or the DVD, not only do you want to see this one in the theater, you want to see it in IMAX. Do it, people. If you have any interest in this film at all, get yourself to the nearest IMAX theater and see this rocking, high octane motion picture the way it was meant to be seen, eight stories tall and loud enough to break glass.  Our final word: hey, you know it--5 stars out of 5.

The Filmmakers;
Directed by Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski
Screenplay by Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Based on the Japanese animated series created by Tatsuo Yoshida
Released by Warner Brothers Pictures