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Directed By
Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Written By:
Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski, Christian Gudegast, Patrick Read Johnson, Tatsuo Yoshida, John Lau
Cast:
Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Fox, Scott Porter, John Goodman, Hiroyuki Sanada, Richard Roundtree, Rain, Benno Fürmann, Roger Allam, Melvil Poupaud, Kick Gurry, Peter Fernandez, Yu Nan, Ariel Winter, Karl Yune, Moritz Bleibtreu, Anatole Taubman, Nicholas Elia, Peter Fernandez, Melvil Poupaud, Werner Daehn, Cosma Shiva Hagen, Christian Oliver, Paulie Litt, Joon Park, Nayo Wallace, Joon Park, Fi-Ber-Leader, Ralph Herforth
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Speed Racer (2008)
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Movie Review by Mitch
September 13th, 2008
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So Speed Racer didn't get much love upon release and I don't get it. I'm no Speed Racer fan, having never seen a single complete episode in any incarnation so I can't compare them. I enjoyed all of the Matrix films (of course they went downhill after the first one, but I still dig all the action). V for Vendetta was a great movie. So you see, I don't hate the Wachowski Bros. NO, I'm not gonna spew gushing amounts of love for Speed Racer all over you readers, but I really don't see why it has been slammed by so many critics and reviewers. Sure, the story is a little thin, but it IS based on a Japanese cartoon. And anything that has a chimpanzee as a main character is not going to require a whole lot of brainpower to enjoy. In fact, I think the Wachowski's only real flaw was to try and add too much seriousness to a film that should have been just a wild romp through a cartoon world.
Speed Racer succeeds in blending cartoon with live action. Blending may be the wrong term. The world of Speed Racer is brought to life in all of it's garishly bright, psychedelic hyper reality cheesiness. But it works, seriously. The races are phenomenal. The tracks are otherworldly with twists and turns and jumps and weapons and helicopters and spikes and etc, etc. Not only do these cars race along the tracks, they use "Car-Fu," as it has been dubbed, utilizing the aforementioned weapons and acrobatics to try and knock each other out of the race. The cars themselves are just bad ass. Imagine some of the more "interesting" designs of Hot Wheels that you have seen on steroids. Spiked balls, oil slicks, tire blades are just a few of the modifications these cars have.
What can you say about a cast that includes Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, and Christina Ricci? All I can say is that all of them were upstaged by Paulie Litt as Spritle, Speed's younger brother. This kid hams it up in every scene and while he's being goofy as hell, he seems older than his thirteen years. I swear, he makes the price of admission worth it alone, especially if you see it at the "dollar show" as I did.
At times the story seems a little simplistic and yet, at others over complicated. Let me explain. For the most part Speed Racer is the story of one kid who just wants to race. It's all he knows how to do. It's all his entire family does. So he races and races and (Spoiler alert?) wins the big race (No surprise there, right?). Where Speed Racer tries to be mature is the idea that all the races are fixed and that it's all about Big Business. I understand what the Wachowski's were trying to do, I just think that Speed Racer isn't the film to do it in. Speed should just be pure fun through and through, nothing else. Especially with the style they chose for the film.
I tell you, at the very least, Speed Racer will be worth the price of the DVD or Blu-Ray if you were only to use it as a test for any home theater system. With bright colors, a booming soundtrack and hardcore CG, it will put your system to the test.
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