Speed Racer on DVD (2008)

wipeout the movie...

badsibot from Glasgow [Highly rated reviewer] , 07/05/2008

first things first...I had no expectations for this movie. The trailer made it look like a confusing, cheesy mess and the waskowski's runied the originality of the matrix with it's dire,dull sequels. So it was with a nagging 'what am i doing here?' that i walked into the imax early this morning to see it.

Some really hammy acting made that nagging grow louder but then the racing started and the pure visual assault of color and speed, especially on the imax screen,won me over...a little bit anyway.

You just can't ignore it, the racing is exhilirating and for the most part not totally confusing which is what i expected to be, there's also some fight sequences which are fun, exciting and original.

It's a kids movie, like whacky races on acid, with caricature charactes painted with a very unsubtle brush, but adults will like the way the tracks all look like wipeout courses and all the references to eighties manga and anime.

If you go expecting rubbish I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, and try to see it at imax if u can...you won't have time to question it if you do.

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Speed Racer

Wynter from Winchester [Highly rated reviewer] , 08/09/2008

A lot of bad things have been said about Speed Racer. Complaints have been made that the characters are two-dimensional, that the narrative is pure bobbins and the script not much better. Whilst these accusations are true (it would be hard to pretend otherwise) they also represent a massive tide of criticism that seems to generally miss the point.

Speed Racer is a live action remake of a Japanese cartoon about a boy who races a car. It is aimed squarely at eight year olds who have ingested too much sugar and, on those terms, it is a 100% successful piece of entertainment. I doubt the target audience really care about nuance and character. They want cars, they want colours and they want fun - and that is exactly what they get for two hours.

Obviously I am not an eight-year old child, so what exactly does it have to offer me? Three things; colour, speed and sheer inventive energy (check out the opening day dreaming scenes). Speed Racer might not be film that requires much response from the viewer but who really needs to respond when you can just sit there and let it’s neon goodness wash over you. Put simply, this film is an utter joy to behold. The colours are fantastic, the racing is involving and I’ll be damned if you don’t feel like cheering come the end.

This is a film that, like The Wachowski Brothers’ last good one The Matrix, feels like something new. When you walk out of the cinema, you’ve had a fantastic time, you’ve seen a film that might not be a classic itself but makes you damn excited about what the future holds.

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feel the need....for speed

MJL from Coventry [Highly rated reviewer] , 10/11/2008

After all the box office mauling this film got......it aint half bad....if you get over the annoying bits in the movie....The film is kinda an original style than most in movies - very cartoony and admit a little bit too aimed at the younger market, as its not very in depth and the story is basically basic. I think abit more added realsim would of added wonders to the movie, but heh - what you expect from a film based on Japanese Animation Series. I agree the computer special effects is probably over done to a degree where becomes confusing and cluttered. But if you like something bit different to the norm - give it a watch.

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Real life anime - nothing more,

Meako from Sheffield [Highly rated reviewer] , 07/05/2008

Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) always dreamed of one day becoming the best racing driver in the world, just as his brother Rex Racer (Scott Porter) had. So when he starts to live his dream, he can only hope not to fall from grace in the same way his brother had - Rex having become a dirty driver, flaunting rules, before dying in a tragic crash. As superstardom beckons Speed is approached by the owner of Royalton Industries (Roger Allam) to race for them, but will he sell out to the corrupt sponsors, or will he prove that true racing is not about money, but about passion. With his family behind him, and a girl by his side, Trixie (Christina Ricci), he sets out to make his mark... but who is the mysterious Racer X?

Speed Racer is a live action adaptation of an anime series, and it doesn't try to be anything other than that. It is bright, colourful, fast paced, and (at times) extremely silly. Anime trademarks such as streaking lines in the background signifying action, or comical sidekicks and animals (in this instance Speed's brother and his pet chimp), are all present, and the film will certainly not be to everyone's tastes. However it is a solid dose of cartoon styled fun which you could feel safe in taking the kids along to without having to worry about the usual innuendos which even cartoons drop into the scripts for the adults. In Speed Racer the only potentially naughty word is beeped out deliberately.

The visual style is frantic and furious, and you find yourself tranced out at times at how much information is being thrown at you. Even the races are intercut with events before the race, or commentators and spectators drifing across the screen commenting or cheering. At times it seems that it may be too much, but then the film flips another gimmick out and gives you something different to take in.

There are moments where it seems a little too long and drawn out, and a small bit of extra editing could have took 10 minutes off the running time without damaging the story in any way, and this is really the only serious flaw. However the rest of the film makes up for it all, and is a wild and crazy ride of a film, with an enjoyable cast - especially Christina Ricci who was born to play an anime character. As stated above, the film will not be for everybody's taste, but kids will love it and anime fans will also. The general audiences, however, will simply be lost in the overkill of visual flair.

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Speed Racer

Wynter from Winchester [Highly rated reviewer] , 08/09/2008

A lot of bad things have been said about Speed Racer. Complaints have been made that the characters are two-dimensional, that the narrative is pure bobbins and the script not much better. Whilst these accusations are true (it would be hard to pretend otherwise) they also represent a massive tide of criticism that seems to generally miss the point.

Speed Racer is a live action remake of a Japanese cartoon about a boy who races a car. It is aimed squarely at eight year olds who have ingested too much sugar and, on those terms, it is a 100% successful piece of entertainment. I doubt the target audience really care about nuance and character. They want cars, they want colours and they want fun - and that is exactly what they get for two hours.

Obviously I am not an eight-year old child, so what exactly does it have to offer me? Three things; colour, speed and sheer inventive energy (check out the opening day dreaming scenes). Speed Racer might not be film that requires much response from the viewer but who really needs to respond when you can just sit there and let it’s neon goodness wash over you. Put simply, this film is an utter joy to behold. The colours are fantastic, the racing is involving and I’ll be damned if you don’t feel like cheering come the end.

This is a film that, like The Wachowski Brothers’ last good one The Matrix, feels like something new. When you walk out of the cinema, you’ve had a fantastic time, you’ve seen a film that might not be a classic itself but makes you damn excited about what the future holds.

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wipeout the movie...

badsibot from Glasgow [Highly rated reviewer] , 07/05/2008

first things first...I had no expectations for this movie. The trailer made it look like a confusing, cheesy mess and the waskowski's runied the originality of the matrix with it's dire,dull sequels. So it was with a nagging 'what am i doing here?' that i walked into the imax early this morning to see it.

Some really hammy acting made that nagging grow louder but then the racing started and the pure visual assault of color and speed, especially on the imax screen,won me over...a little bit anyway.

You just can't ignore it, the racing is exhilirating and for the most part not totally confusing which is what i expected to be, there's also some fight sequences which are fun, exciting and original.

It's a kids movie, like whacky races on acid, with caricature charactes painted with a very unsubtle brush, but adults will like the way the tracks all look like wipeout courses and all the references to eighties manga and anime.

If you go expecting rubbish I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, and try to see it at imax if u can...you won't have time to question it if you do.

Read all highest rated reviews