Anime stylings come to life
Wachowski brothers' 'Speed Racer' is fun but not intellectually challenging
By Phil Villarreal
Pvillarreal@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.08.2008
Most reclusive film auteurs who wait five years to make their next project do so because they have something to say.
"The Matrix" trilogy maestros Larry and Andy Wachowski are no different. Their message with "Speed Racer" is "We give up."
The underdog racing movie, adapted from the Japanese cartoon series, is a breezy, fun watch but something that could have been slapped together by any focus-grouped team of androids with enough money to splash onscreen and a hired-gun film-school grad. There's not a touch of the philosophy or intrigue of "The Matrix" movies, which didn't always succeed at blowing viewers' minds but at least went full throttle.
"Speed Racer" is a lazy Sunday drive with the top down. It blows back your hair but leaves your brain untouched. The movie is about as intellectually challenging as an episode of "Thomas the Tank Engine." The screen throbs with kiddie-flick clichés. There's a chimp who's always good for a kid-pleasing reaction shot, a couple of crotch hits and a big race at the end that will solve everyone's problems, if only the hero can win.
Forget the filmmakers' reputations and it's easy to appreciate the swift-paced effects bonanza for the silly fun it offers. Without irony or glibness, the movie commits on its ridiculous world.
The Wachowskis toss you the keys to a rocketlike Mach 5, driven by a goodly young hotshot called Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch), who certainly wasn't named to grow up to be an oral surgeon.
Speed is ready to enter big-time pro racing, and eschews the advances of the calculating sponsor Royalton (Roger Allam), a race fixer who becomes Speed's sworn enemy, dispatching scads of racers to knock Speed off track.
At home, Speed hangs with his parents (John Goodman and Susan Sarandon), little brother (Paulie Litt) and his chimp, who are always scampering off on misadventures, and his unfulfilled girlfriend (Christina Ricci), who wishes the oblivious Speed would handle her the way he does a steering wheel.
There's a pall over the family due to the absence of eldest son Rex, who stormed out of the house in a rage to take part in a dangerous rally race from which he never returned. He may or may not be connected with Speed's friendly rival, Racer X (Matthew Fox), who seems to know a lot of Rex's old moves.
The Wachowskis try for a little sentiment with the Rex side story, which doesn't quite jell with the slapstick comedy and gear-jamming race sequences, where the movie really slams on the nitro.
The races resemble the "Mario Kart" video game come to life, with impossibly twisty courses and speed-jumps, populated by competitors who smack one another around as they powerslide their way past one another. The cinematography makes the competition tougher to follow than a cricket match, but no matter. The pictures are pretty and the CGI-enhanced imagery blends seamlessly with the live footage.
"Speed Racer" is truly anime come to life. And very possibly a sign of the death of the Wachowski brothers filmmaking team as we knew them.
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