Product Details
- Released on: 2008-09-16
- Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
- Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
- Formats: Color, Widescreen
- Original language: English
- Number of discs: 3
- Running time: 135 minutes
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
An over-the-top, sensory overload experience determined to replicate its frantic, television-anime origins, Speed Racer is wild enough to induce a headache or wow a viewer with one dazzling effect after another. Adapted for the big screen as a live-action feature, Speed Racer is written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, the sibling team behind the intensely satisfying The Matrix and its busier, less interesting sequels. Where the rich mythmaking of The Matrix was entirely accessible, however, Speed Racer's overwhelming and gratuitously complicated story exposition is an enormous challenge to follow, let alone embrace. After a while, one simply surrenders to the unbroken din of dialogue concerning corporate chicanery, corruption in the sport of racing, and a value conflict between racing as a family business versus multinational cash cow. At the same time, the film's hyper-real equivalent of the old Speed Racer cartoon's great whoosh of color, motion, and edgy production design--such as inventive uses of scene-changing wipes, bold framing, shifting perspectives--are more overbearing than fun.
Emile Hirsch plays Speed Racer, younger brother of a deceased racing legend, Rex, and son of car designer Pops (John Goodman). The latter invented Speed's Mach 5, and is singularly unimpressed by an offer from a giant conglomerate that would lock Speed into exclusive racing services. Speed opts instead for family loyalty, incurring the wrath of the conglomerate's unctuous head (Roger Allam). With family honor on the line and the affections of girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci) behind him, Speed hits the track in hopes of fulfilling his destiny as a master racer. The cast is largely enjoyable, including Susan Sarandon as Speed's mom, Matthew Fox as mysterious Racer X, and a pair of chimps as the irrepressible Chim-Chim. All well and good, but in a movie that lives or dies by the excitement level of races that look like computer-animated Hot Wheels action, Speed Racer is a dreary adventure. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Good, could have been better
I thought the second half of this movie was just great. Fun and loads of action. I loved John Goodman in this film. He pulls the character off perfectly. He's really the shining light in the film.
The first half of the movie bored me to tears. They WAY over complicated the story. I felt like I was in a college lecture class at times. Way too much talking that just seemed to go on and on. I don't care about the history of blah blah blah. This is Speed Racer. The main character's name is Speed. And he races. Why over complicate that?
That aside, I loved the races, I loved Racer X, and I really want a Speed Racer jacket.
Groundbreaking, eyefilling entertainment with a heart
Woefully underrated and misunderstood by many, but a film for folks of all ages who have the background to get it. Works as both an apotheosis of the original and as a story where "it's what's under the hood that counts". Chris Pandolfi's detailed featured review is spot-on. As per the movie's closing koan: "Go Speed Racer. Go Speed Racer. Go Speed Racer - Go!"
I refused to take my kids (ages 9 and 11) to this movie when it was in the theater due to the negative reviews. What a mistake! We got this movie yesterday and have watched it twice. My daughter loves it as much as my son. It is an exciting and visually enticing movie. It has a strong story line emphasizing family ties and following your dreams. I really hope they make a sequel.
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