May 9, 2008

Movie review: "Speed Racer"

By Stan Dyer

It was a bit embarrassing asking for a ticket to a kiddie movie, but I did it anyway. Even though I was still embarrassed to be seen walking out at the end, I have to admit that the two hours and fifteen minutes inside were a lot of fun. This movie is unlike anything I have seen before. It is a fresh, exciting and new version of the classic story of good versus evil and root for the underdog that actually had me pulling for Speed Racer to win in the end. No matter what you may or may not believe about this movie, I still loved it.

The story begins in some mythical place where the most important sport in the world seems to be "full contact" auto racing where, just as in an arcade game, the cars can fly high, hit the wall, spin out, crash into each other and suffer little damage. It is also the story of a boy named "Speed Racer" who is growing up in a racing family and has serious difficulty keeping his mind on anything but racing. His main goal in life is to grow up and win "The Grand Prix".

Speed Racer's older brother, Rex, is one of the top young racers of the time. Yet, for some unknown reason, he walks out on the life he knows and enters a dangerous race called the "Casa Cristo". Rex does not finish the race. He is lost in a fiery crash and dies. His family is devastated. Now, jump forward to the time when Speed Racer is old enough and joins the racing circuit.

After he displays great talent and shows a lot of promise for the future, many racing teams seek to sign Speed Racer. Arnold Royalton takes the entire Racer family on a tour of his team's facility and offers Speed a contract to race with them. Speed cannot sign. He feels he must stay true to his family, and they do not trust either sponsors or promoters. Royalton is furious and promises to destroy Speed Racer's career.

After failing to qualify for the Grand Prix, Racer is approached by Inspector Detector and Racer X to join the Togokhan team in the upcoming Casa Cristo race, the same race that claimed the life of his brother, on the promise that Togokhan will turn over incriminating documents against Royalton at the finish. Despite the wishes of his father and his family, Racer and his girlfriend, Trixie, tell the folks they are going skiing, but, instead, go to join in the race. The Togokhan team wins the race, but they have no documents to give. It was just a ploy to gain the assistance of Speed Racer and Racer X, win the race and raise the price of their company stock before selling. Everyone on the Racer team is disappointed, but it is not over yet.

After the stock price goes up, Togokhan sells to Royalton and agrees to bow out of the Grand Prix. Since Racer was part of the Togokhan team that won the Casa Cristo, he is entitled to the vacated spot and acquires the invitation from a female member of the Togokhan family. In the exciting final fifteen minutes of the movie, Speed Racer wins the Grand Prix and discovers that Racer X is actually his brother who faked his own death and had plastic surgery to conceal his identity. Go, Speed Racer!

At the risk of my reputation, I grade this movie an "A". Directors Andy and Larry Wachowski do an excellent job of directing this film. Yes, it looks like a video game gone wild, but they do an outstanding job of foreshadowing, tying everything together and keeping the level of excitement up. We go to the movies to be entertained and this movie does just that. I also enjoyed the comic relief of Spritle and Chim Chim. My only concerns are that a younger audience will not understand what "I P" infringement, stock price fixing and conspiracy are all about, that some of the language is unusual for this type of movie, and the amount of fighting and violence are too great. Despite being a "kiddie" movie, the intensity in this movie is high throughout. I would caution against taking children under 10 years of age.

Title: Speed Racer

Directors: The Wachowski Brothers

Genre: "Cartoon Turned Movie" action adventure

Runtime: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Cast: Emile Hirsch as "Speed", Christina Ricci as "Trixie", Susan Sarandon as "Mom", John Goodman as "Pops", Scott Porter as "Rex", Mathew Fox as "Racer X", Kick Gurry as "Sparky", Paulie Litt as "Spritle" and two chimpanzees, Willy an Kenzie share the roll of Chim Chim.