"Speed Racer" movie review

The Brothers Wachowski recently wheeled out their first post-Matrix directorial effort. The surprisingly family-oriented Speed Racer(PG) stars Emile Hirsch in the title roll. He is supported by an ensemble cast including Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Christina Ricci, and Mathew Fox.

Ryan: At best I would consider myself a fair-weather Speed Racer fan. Although there was a six-week period sometime in high school where I was really into the cartoon, Im by no means a Speed Racer apologist. But nonetheless--contrary to the negative buzz surrounding this film—I found Speed Racer to be not that bad of a summer flick. Granted Speed Racer has its issues, but overall its an entertaining and eye-catching movie.

Andy: At the very least, Speed Racer is an interesting film. The Wachowski’s are obviously effects fanatics, so transposing a cartoon to live action film seems right up their alley. There are definitely parts of Speed Racer that are well done. Some of the visual experimentation of the film enhances the story and the emotional connection to the characters (young Speed fantasizing about racing in a crayon-drawn car, for example). At other times, however, the effects go into overload and it becomes tedious.

Ryan: Part of the reason that Speed Racer stalled at the box-office is the films tone. As opposed to the vast majority of summer blockbusters, Speed Racer has a PG rating, not a PG-13 rating. Hence it’s aimed at a younger audience. For all intended purposes its a family film. Because of that the movies kid-centric tone alienates the lucrative post-13 (age) audience. Family films can be cash cows as well but a live adaptation of a 1960s era cult cartoon is not going to have a large built-in audience.

Andy: I’m a little surprised that the film didn’t have a better opening weekend than it did. For a large portion of the movie it seems like you are experiencing a video game (specifically, MarioKart) and that seems to be something that would draw a pretty hefty young audience. This video-game world the characters inhabit ultimately makes the movie have a bit of a creepy feel that I don’t think the filmmakers were going for, as it really made it harder to connect to the story or the characters.

Ryan: Speed Racer is one of those films that for every positive there's an adverse negative. The film's look is amazing (honestly The Wachowski Brothers have created an original and vibrant world) but sometimes the CGI effects are overwhelming like with some of the racing sequences. For a movie based on a cartoon the performances are quite respectful but on the same token considering the talent involved one could have hoped for a little more. There's also no doubt that the Wachowski Brothers know how to make a highly energetic stylized film but they also sometimes don't know (how) or when to end a movie. Speed Racer cracks the two hour mark. That's just flat out way to long for a film this amped up.

Andy: There are definitely some good moments, and I did enjoy a perfectly cast John Goodman, who somehow put humanity into a character named “Pops Racer.” In the end, Speed Racer is just a little too much of a sensory overload. As Ryan said, if this had been about 30 minutes shorter it probably would have seemed a lot better.

Speed Racer has moments of clarity, but mostly it is too much movie too fast. Final grade: C+.