El Chort
05-31-2008, 02:06 AM
This past week I caught a showing of the Wachowski Brothers' latest film, Speed Racer. As we all know the movie is based off an obscure 1960's show from Japan, which was brought over to American televisions with a horrendous -yet memorable- dubbing. The plot of this adaptation is easy to follow: Speed Racer (Emil Hirsch), a young boy obsessed with racing -no surprise- loses his older brother Rex in an accident. Years later, Speed follows in Rex's footsteps by becoming an almost unbeatable driver in his own right. After gaining some momentum on the race track, big corporate race teams want to recruit him. One day, a slimy big shot named Royalton visits the Racer's home, offering them a tour of his factory/race headquarters.
Meanwhile, the arrest of a mob boss is the mission of the mysterious racing vigilante, Racer X (Matthew Fox) - who surprisingly drives just like Rex. Eventually it is revealed that the corporations involved with racing are all corrupt, and Speed with the help of Racer X band together to stop them- the usual cinema plot.
Personally, I only went to see this film just to kill some time. At first I was bored, but then I started to turn my brain off and be whisked away into all the cartoony craziness of this film ( how can you not laugh as a kid and a monkey rocking out to Lynyrd Skynyrd's Freebird while recklessly driving a factory vehicle?) . The Wachowskis did an amazing job of converting an anime into a fun live-action cartoon. The visuals were good, keeping the tone of a cartoon world. Each of the race sequences were astounding, I literally felt the tension during them. The scenes also made good use of the weird contraptions other drivers used to cheat, and the gadgets that Speed used with the Mach 5. Great fun. Also, the score composed by Michael Giaccino (Medal of Honor, Alias, The Incredibles) adds the final touch that brings the world of Speed to life, even so far as including the famous theme within the music.
In the end, is Speed Racer really that terrible? Yes, but only if one watches it blindly, not realizing that it is mindless entertainment made with everyone in mind. The Wachowski Brothers have yet to disappoint me, and with Speed they did a fantastic job. They kept the spirit and fun of the original cartoon, yet injected it with their trademark style of action and adventure. I highly recommend the film to anyone is isn't a film snob and enjoys a silly fun film once in awhile. All I can say is, "Go Speed Racer Go!"
Grade: B+
Meanwhile, the arrest of a mob boss is the mission of the mysterious racing vigilante, Racer X (Matthew Fox) - who surprisingly drives just like Rex. Eventually it is revealed that the corporations involved with racing are all corrupt, and Speed with the help of Racer X band together to stop them- the usual cinema plot.
Personally, I only went to see this film just to kill some time. At first I was bored, but then I started to turn my brain off and be whisked away into all the cartoony craziness of this film ( how can you not laugh as a kid and a monkey rocking out to Lynyrd Skynyrd's Freebird while recklessly driving a factory vehicle?) . The Wachowskis did an amazing job of converting an anime into a fun live-action cartoon. The visuals were good, keeping the tone of a cartoon world. Each of the race sequences were astounding, I literally felt the tension during them. The scenes also made good use of the weird contraptions other drivers used to cheat, and the gadgets that Speed used with the Mach 5. Great fun. Also, the score composed by Michael Giaccino (Medal of Honor, Alias, The Incredibles) adds the final touch that brings the world of Speed to life, even so far as including the famous theme within the music.
In the end, is Speed Racer really that terrible? Yes, but only if one watches it blindly, not realizing that it is mindless entertainment made with everyone in mind. The Wachowski Brothers have yet to disappoint me, and with Speed they did a fantastic job. They kept the spirit and fun of the original cartoon, yet injected it with their trademark style of action and adventure. I highly recommend the film to anyone is isn't a film snob and enjoys a silly fun film once in awhile. All I can say is, "Go Speed Racer Go!"
Grade: B+