The film version of Speed Racer, a manga and anime franchise held up in our memories by nostalgia, had to stand up to nigh impossible expectations. Our recollection is vague, yet fiercely fond, and no big budget, Hollywood production cooked up by those kooky Wachowski brothers could live up to our beloved childhood cartoon. Couple those sentiments with early reports of a gargantuan price tag and an overly long running time and the film couldn't escape its bad rap. It is unfortunate because Speed Racer succeeds in providing solid family entertainment while skillfully playing on that old nostalgia.
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Reviewers decried the plot paper-thin, the colors headache inducing, and the physics too fantastic. However, re-watching the original cartoon on YouTube, it is all too accurate. Shrugging off the movie as suitable only for ten-year-olds is nonsensical; that's how old we were when we first started singing "Go, Speed Racer, Go!" and if we're too old and cynical to appreciate it now, doesn't that say more about us?
With that said, the movie was far from perfect; some of the lines did fall flat, few were genuinely funny, and the audience is hit at least one too many times over the head with the importance of family values. But, it was sufficiently visually stimulating that I didn't mind the length (a little over two hours) and the biggest plot point of the show was also the focus of the movie: the mysterious Racer X. The vivid, action packed racing scenes were cool, for veritable ten-year-olds and for those of us who are still ten at heart. And as predictable a movie about racing is, it manages to stay entertaining. I caught myself humming the theme song during the climax of the "dangerous race." (You remember, the one that spans two continents and includes volcanoes, a mountain range, and an ice path).
There weren't any earth-shattering performances but again, it's a family movie about racing. Emile Hirsch is a dead ringer for Speed, an excellent choice. John Goodman makes an excellent Pops and Christina Ricci is hot as Trixie. Korean pop-star Rain gets some US exposure and finds a way to appear shirtless more than once, something for which we can all be thankful. His English isn't half bad, either. And Speed's big brother, Rex *cough, Racer X, cough* is fine! Even Spritle and Chim-Chim are spot-on.
I enjoyed Speed Racer and I look forward to watching it again with my younger cousins. I'm glad I waited until everyone was finished talking trash to see it; contrary to most of the reviews, I found it to be a fitting tribute to the classic.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Mach GoGoGo! - Speed Racer Review
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3 comments:
Well thanks a lot! Now I know who Racer X is. Jeez. >:P Way to ruin the movie!
I wonder what someone who saw the new Cinderellas and the new TinkerBell movies would think if years down the line they saw the originals. Think that would see them in their glory or not like them because they aren't like what they knew as kids? Sometimes I wonder about the next generation...watching Cinderlla 3 and Bratz.
LOL. I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not, but the secret identity of Racer X is like the running joke of the series. It's totally obvious that he's Rex, but it's like: "Will Speed discover the true identity of Racer X today or will he be a dumbass and not realize it like every other day?"
You can only hope that parents have enough sense not to buy that trash in the first place. Or at least show their kids the original before subjecting them to the garbage. My beautiful, adopted Asian babies will totally be growing up on the stuff I watched as a child.
Well, I thought of it because Disney came up at Frisbee pick-up and a parent there started talking about how obsessed his kids are with Tinkerbell's movie and went on to talk about all the different fairies. Like Tinkerbell is a "Tinker" fairy and all the other fairies have corresponding names to their fairy species. But the point is that as far as I could tell, his kids were watching these crappy sequels and not the originals, partly because they were still being released, so they were "new" and exciting. But I wonder, will those kids realize how much better the originals are or go around with a ridiculous idea that the sequels are much better, being totally at the whims of their rosy childhood memories?
PS I can see your asian babies now. Watching disney, dancing and singing to hip hop, speaking japanese (and 3 other languages), reading the nytimes and playing smash bros. Damn, they sounds adorable!
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