The Review of: Speed Racer

Speeding into theatres last weekend in a disappointing opening, was Speed Racer. The minds behind the Matrix movies adapted the story to the big screen. I would say they adapted it to a live action movie, but that would be stretching it a bit. I don't know that anyone in this movie actually moved, or if they just moved the CG around them. Either way, I caught an afternoon Matinee on Saturday at a local theatre, and here's what I thought.

So, we'll start with the bad, so we can go out on a good note. My main problem with the movie was it's length. It dragged at times. When the action was rolling, I was in the zone and ready to go, but the other parts of the movie lagged a bit, and I felt myself getting bored more than once. Noticeably towards the end, where Speed has a flashback that basically recaps the entire movie. I had no problem with the movie being done with so much CG, because that's the only way they could have done this movie 'right.' The seizure-enducing colors and lights didn't really bother me either. But the length really bothered me.

I also got confused a few times, as to where the story was heading. Particularly when he's turns down the sponsorship offer, what I thought was a what if sequence, ended up being flashes of something actually happen. It was a crucial part of the story, being the bottom of the pendulum swing of the story, but they didn't really give that part of the story the time it needed. Maybe they should have disposed with some of the boring talk, and shown that race more, instead of showing it while some guy told him what would happen. After that scene was over, I found myself scratching my head like, 'Oh, wait, that was actually happening?' It was minor, but it kinda took me out of the story for a moment.

I've compared this movie to two others, to give people a good idea. I compare it to Iron Man as a 2008 summer movie, and I compare it to Transformers as an 'old school cartoon' adaption. Unfortunately, both of those movies were better than Speed Racer. I'll give the Wachowski's credit, Speed Racer was certainly better than the 2 Matrix sequels, but sadly that's not saying much. I just didn't feel Speed Racer was as exciting or action packed as Transformers or Iron Man. I didn't find myself bored at all during either of those movies, but there were definite lulls in Speed Racer. Hopefully they're easily skipped n the DVD version.

Now, to be more upbeat. Much in the same way I praised Iron Man, the casting for this movie was spot on 110%. I think every actor fit the part very well, but I was notably fond of John Goodman and Matthew Fox in their roles as Pops and Racer X respectively. I believed every character wasn't an actor, but the actual character. I was pessimistic about Matthew Fox, and the actor that played Speed... but I loved them both in the roles. The ninja scene was pretty cool, and all of the races were amazingly spectacular. I thought of someone trying to adapt something like Mario Kart or the old Wacky Races cartoon to a movie, and I see neither of those working as well as Speed Racer did. I really felt the Wachowski's captured the feel of the cartoon when it came to the races and the action. The 'Car'ate was amazing, and had me captivated throughout it. It was quite satisfying to watch those cars spin, flip, and explode their way across the screen. The scenes were epic and beautiful, and fit the feel of the movie very well. If anything, consider this movie as a gorgeous work of CG art, if not an entertaining flick.

Even the story was good. I liked that they gave the story some depth, but kept it to the point that it's still an accessible movie. Clear cut good guys and bad guys, and it wasn't all "fast and furious' style, where the hero has to win the race so he can prove that he has bigger cajones than his opponent. I imagine that if I was about 10 years younger, I would be utterly obsessed with Speed Racer after seeing this movie, at least until the next Iron Man commercial I saw.

Surprisingly I didn't hate the little kid or the monkey either. They both fit in well, giving some comic relief, and they're part of the story that shouldn't have been left out. Granted, I found myself rolling my eyes a couple times, including them running around after eating a bunch of candy, but nonetheless it didn't take away from the flick for me.

Overall, I recommend grabbing this at a matinee, or at least buying the DVD. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't end up seeing this movie at some point. It's a worthwhile flick, that I imagine will be fun to watch from time to time, when I'm in the mood for something a little whacky. I went in expecting nothing, and came out surprised. It was quite a bit better than I thought it would be, and find myself almost excited to watch it with a more intense eye once the DVD comes out.

Final Score- 8.5/10
Better Than- Fast & Furious, Fast & Furious 2, Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions
Not Quite- Transformers, Iron Man, F&F: Tokyo Drift