Written & Directed by: The Wachowski Brothers
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon
Let me say at the start that this movie is not good. I admit that. However, I also have to admit that I kind of liked it. It is a live action Japanese comic book with elements of “Tron,” modern video games, bad kung fu, and oddly enough, an A-Ha music video. It is cheesy, corny, silly and annoying but at times it was also wonderful, fun, and the good kind of cheesy. The movie is seizure inducing not just because of the flashing lights but also because the whole picture is at war with itself.
Adapted from the Japanese animated show from the 1960’s, “Speed Racer” is the story of the Racer family. Pops makes race cars and his sons Rex and Speed drive them. After a family tragedy, Speed must live up to and surpass his brother Rex’s legacy, but in order to do that, he needs to grow up and face the injustices of the “real” world. Although the physics alone in this movie made the “real” world of Speed Racer far less real than even the average video game, it is still an intriguing world of 1950’s charm and old fashionedness behind all the glitz and bright shiny lights. Perhaps this is why this movie looks so much like one of the best video game adaptations I have ever seen. Now “Speed Racer” isn’t a video game (that I know of) but if it were, this movie would be a remarkable feat. As just a movie though, it is still pretty inventive and different.
The tone and comedy of the movie seem more suited for kids (except for a handful of very adult jokes), and that is both a strength and a weakness to the movie. For example, some of the funniest and most groan worthy moments come courtesy of Speed’s younger brother Spritle and his chimpanzee Chim-Chim. Now, having grown up on a steady diet of Chimp classics such as “Lancelot Link” (and to a lesser extent the Orangutan oeuvre of “Any Which Way but Loose” and the dreadful Tony Danza “classic” “Going Ape!” which seemed to be the only movie on HBO at one point in the 1980’s), I have always loved comedy bits with Monkeys and Apes. I can appreciate some cheap laughs from the chimp. However, there were also moments that were just preposterously stupid. One gag would make me giggle and the next one would make me want to leave the theatre.
For me the whole movie was like that. Parts I would just adore and at other times I would just totally loathe the movie. The art direction and color schemes were just spectacular. The casting and wardrobe were magnificent. However, then you have the races that were sometimes exhilarating and at other moments it gave you a “will this chase never end?” déjà vu that I haven’t experienced since the pod race sequence of Episode I of “Star Wars.” If he were alive, even H.B. Halicki would have argued that there were too many car chase sequences. At the same time, the races were almost more interesting than the actual plot.
The movie is all over the map, but ultimately it was an interesting experience. I don’t know if I would ever want to see it again, but I can say that it was inventive and I kind of dug it. I think few would get the cornball charm of this movie, but for the few who feel the way I do, the highlights might outweigh the movie’s detractions.
YOu had the same reaction I kind of had with it.
The first half was a drag though.
Great review!!