Speed Racer [Blu-ray] [2008] [US Import]

My girlfriend dragged me into the cinema the other day to see this, so I was expecting some kind of shamefully high-budget Hollywood rubbish. What I saw was something completely different from anything else I ever have in this genre... but not particularly in a good way.

I have a bit of a soft spot for arty and unusual films... What I saw here, beneath the layers, was an 'art-house' feature just screaming to get out, and the contrast didn't feel comfortable at all. Amongst the action and special effects, Speed Racer contains a surprising amount of emotional depth, which (as far as I know) is hardly seen within this genre of film.

It tells the story of a young man named Speed Racer, who dreams of one day becoming a star in the extraordinary world of speed racing. The over-complicated plot line involves all the usual oh's and ah's, such as secret corporations hell-bent on bringing him down, mystery characters- never revealed until the end, a some-what touching love story, oh yea... and ninjas (?)

With the exception of the 2005 version of War Of The Worlds, the 2006 version of King Kong, and last year's Transformers, I'd say that Speed Racer contains some of the most brilliant CGI I've ever seen. As an audience, we are taken everywhere from sweeping deserts to beautiful futuristic cities. Some scenes are intriguingly cartoony, but don't worry- this is intentional. About an hour and a half through, when you're just starting to get slightly restless, the movie plummets towards a very flashy showdown of 'good vs. evil', making even the most emotionless audience members raise an eyebrow.

Now all the good stuff's out of the way, it's time for a moan: what I didn't like about Speed Racer, was A) The strange 'strictly-for-children' feel. (For example, there is a bit towards the end in which 2 characters are about to kiss, and the movie pauses so the audience can have a 'cooties warning' from Speed's younger brother.) This slightly put me off. B) The script sags in parts, and you find yourself starting to loose concentration. C) It's far too long.

So any way, even if you think you've seen all the Hollywood nonsense you can handle, try and squeeze in an evening for Speed Racer; though it slightly underwhelms expectations in most departments, it's somewhat worthy of being added to your DVD collection.

I really enjoyed this movie for something completely different.
After the first ten minutes I was thinking "what am I watching" with its flourescent fake background and cheesy storyline but it turned out to be really entertaining. Firstly it is really colorfull and not many scenes are filmed on a real set so if this will annoy you its probably best not to watch it. This is the kind of movie you can pick the hell out of but if you are happy to sit back and be taken to a world of fantasy you might enjoy this like I have.
A lot of its cheesyness comes from the fact it is trying to stay partly faithfull to the original series whilst still making it futuristic. It was not perfect but was pretty good escapism and the special effects team have done a superb job.
Probably not a young childs movie however and maybe thats where people are confused with it. The visuals would seem to suit a young child and might be hard going for some adults but the storyline is suited to an older audience and might be boring for children.

This is a movie based on a popular japanese cartoon series of the 60's that developed quite a following in american when it was shown - redubbed - over there. apparently. because I'd never heard much about it before and thus I was able to approach this movie as a member of the general viewing public rather than a die hard fan.

Speed racer is the name of the title character of the film. and he's a young man who drives race cars for his family race team. not quite over the death of his elder brother after a fall from grace as a driver, speed is offered a role driving for a team run by an industrialist. saying no reveals to him how corrupt the sport is. despite finding he has a few allies out there, it's a long hard road for speed to become a champion and clean up the sport.

the directing and the style of the film tries to make it look like what is basically a live action cartoon. whilst this can be a bit jarring for the first fifteen minutes, not least thanks to some rather obvious cgi backgrounds, you do get used to it after that. the inventive use of editing and some beuatifully coloured scenery only adds to the effect.

The cast are all pretty good - especially the chief villain - and as an adventure story it's not bad. You will find yourself getting quite caught in some of the race action. Yet thie may not quite succeed in grabbing all the age groups. spritle, speeds young brother, and his pet monkey are comedy support characters and are clearly meant to be charming and funny but they're horribly irritating. although if you're of their age group then you'll probably love them. trouble is that age group will want to see fast races and excitiement, and they may get bored during all the character stuff. And there's a fair amount of that, especially in the first hour of the film.

This clocks in at 129 minutes. on the whole it's an enjoyable spectacle, but it may not be for everyone.

the dvd is a rather basic package. It begins with a trailer for the movie get smart. which you can skip past via the next chapter button. and a trailer for a speed racer video game. you can't skip this but you can fast forward through it.

The language tracks on offer are english czech and hungarian.

the subtitles are english czech hungarian and romanian.

there are just two features by way of extras:

spritle in the big leagues has the actor who plays the boy touring the set. it runs for thirteen minutes, and thankfully any attempts at humour work okay. It also is quite interesting if you wonder what goes on on movie sets.

Sooed racer: supercharged!: runs for fifteen minutes and uses footage from the film and a few new sequences of computer graphics to make a documentary suppoesdly from tv in the world of the film about the various drivers and race teams from the races. as a way of filling in background details it has it's moments, but a lot of the technical details of the cars it goes into may not grab you unless you're really into that kind of thing.

And that's the dvd. Okay package. not a bad movie