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STUDIO: Warner Brothers
MSRP: $28.98
RATED: PG
RUNNING TIME: 135 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Spritle in The Big League” Set Tour with Palie Litt
“Speed Racer: Supercharged!” Profile of Racers and Tracks
The Pitch
Japanimation gets a big budget and blows it.
The Humans
Emile Hirsch, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox and Rain
The Nutshell
Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) has spent a life dedicated to fast cars and early-onset ADHD. When his brother Rex died under dubious circumstances, it was up to Speed to save his family’s name. The young man grew into quite a speedster, as he zipped around the globe winning various Cups, titles and whatever else. Everything’s going great until a robust businessman and the mysterious Racer X enter his life. What is to become of the young man that can’t slow down?
Geof Darrow really needs to quiet designing shit for the Wachowski siblings.
The Lowdown
Speed Racer is an achievement how little it takes to piss off fandom. The Wachowskis took the heart of a crudely made fifty-two episodes of a mid-60s anime show and then they magnified it. It’s one thing to watch a girl use a heli-copter to give racing advice to her boyfriend in a cartoon. It takes on this weird visual disconnect when applied to the Lucasian world of CGI that the Wachowski have crafted for themselves. That concept of disconnection is something that plagued me throughout my viewings of the film. Hell, my theatrical experience was soured by it.
You don’t fuck with the Colbert.
The
film plays into the Wachowski Siblings’ attempt to merge Eastern entertainment firmly into the asscrack of the Western hemisphere. But, the overabundance of CGI and plush color to embrace the Asian origins of the show is jarring. You’re never able to buy into the fantasy of a situation, if everything is hyper-exposed to ridiculous levels. Some people are going to say that I’m reading way too much into this. But, it’s a film. You’re supposed to be able to accept and understand the narrative onscreen.
Act III: Speed enters the Stargate.
Anime is a steadfast industry and I respect its achievements. It’s just that Americans haven’t figured out how to make that shit translate to the big screen. Casshern was fun and all, but that claptrap isn’t going to sell in America. Four months after the film’s release, I take a look at whom the film impacted. Animation students, laidback filmgoers and small male children all seem to have dug the flick. Where did this film fail?
Speed Racer is
a film that could’ve been twenty-two minutes long. Racer X is really Speed’s brother, racing shouldn’t be corrupted and family matters more than all. Throw on the world’s catchiest theme song and you can cue the credits. Everything else is directed nuance and over-cooked fetish. But, what the fuck do I know? Adam West is my favorite Batman.
The Package
Speed Racer comes
to
DVD with a packed release. Well, the packed release is the second disc of the major special edition. What I reviewed was the 1-disc release that will probably be filling the Previously Viewed DVD bins at your local video store. The single disc only sports some special features that get Spritle to show off the world of Speed Racer to the kids watching at home. There’s also a handful of profiles of the racers.
The A/V Quality is amazing for standard definition. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is clean and shows a dynamic range across your Home Theater. The desert race was amazing, as the Viking racers had their various gadgets pushed to the back speakers while Speed’s action took place in the front. I love it when that environmental audio from the theatrical experience translates well to the Home Entertainment front. This is a fun release and I recommend it.
Three stills of perfection.
22 comments
This is a fun release and I recommend it? 7.9? Did you not spend the bulk of your review shitting all over this movie? Now I know why you're getting the quality assignments, Troy, because you're obviously so talented.
Wrong, dunderhead Troy. Bringing the cartoon to the big screen necessitated the colors and faux-anime live action. The movie NEVER takes itself too seriously. A drag you were so wrapped up in "serious movie critique" to understand that. Now, go pop in a sub-titled French movie, light your pipe and drink an expresso.
What the fuck is up the the squished screencaps? If you're going to critique a film (of which you seem to completely misunderstand), couldn't it at least be in its proper scope aspect ratio?
It's a kids movie made for two grown men. That's where the discord comes from, but oddly as a child of 80s excess movies, this fit right in. It's a last starfighter of our times. Maybe it'll develop a cult following.
The only people who didn't like this movie were professional film critics. Everyone I talked to loved it, nothing was as much fun this summer.
Everybody's entitled to their own opinion, clearly, but I really don't get why it's getting so much hate from critics. And honestly, either you shit all over a movie, or you give it a good rating, but you don't do both…
Yup… REALLY glad these are back. What a wonderful addition to the site. Good one Nick.
Loved this flick…Favourite of the summer.
Loved this movie, rented it not knowing what I was going to get. What I got was an acid trip. Is it cheesy, sure. But was I entertained? You bet your ass. Shame this movie didn't get the cred it deserves. Maybe some other flicks this will be respected in time.
I am so glad my daughter dragged me to see this. I never had any interest and almost every critic ripped it a new hole. I left the theater with a smile on my face. One of the best summer movies to come out in a long many years.
Worst screen cap titles ever. Troy, how hard is it to capture the monkey doing a hollow man impression? Three stills of perfection? You fucking dickhead.
The way you talk bad about this movie makes me want to see it even more. Your arguments are trite and you sound like an old grumpy bastard.
This must have taken all of six minutes to write. I don't come to CHUD for capsule reviews!
This review makes you sound like an ass. Great movie, ingnore this middleschool book report of a movie review.
Troy- I hope there was some mistake when you gave this movie a 7.9. If there wasn't then you've lost any credibility you may have had. I haven't seen this yet and your bi-polar review doesn't help me decide whether I should.
Your review is bad and you should feel bad.
<i>That concept of disconnection is something that plagued me throughout my viewings of the film. Hell, my theatrical experience was soured by it.
</i><p>So, if I'm reading this correctly you went into the movie without knowing what it was, and once you found out you couldn't rationalize the stylistic choices the Brothers Wach made? Okay, I'll buy that. But if that's the case why not discuss that in the review. I had a hoot at this film, and count it the second best experience of the summer (TDK in Imax being #1).
Great family movies are hard to make- I can count the amount screened in the past two decades on one hand and Speed Racer made the cut. A story with heart, a whole bundle of nutty characters, inventive animation, wild music and sound design… Did anyone else notice the way the performances were stylised around anime techniques? Very clever… I recommend if you guys want to be taken seriously as film journalists you should review your reviewers. Missing the point on this one is a major error.
Are we doing this talkback thing again? Fuck your mom.
One of these days I might actually watch this. Good review Troy!
glad to see this movie getting the love it deserves in the talkbacks.
Great movie. Shit "review" which brings absolutely nothing to the discussion. Someone should send Troy some Chim-Chim cookies.
A decent, unfairly maligned movie which needed more of one thing: Chim Chim.
I also think it's funny that in that last stiill Chim Chim is playing with himself.
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