I have to say, this was a great Summer for movies. There were a ton of great or interesting films in theaters this year! Some of them, I wish I could have seen a few more times, like “Iron Man”, “Dark Knight”, “Hellboy 2″, and of course “Kung Fu Panda”. Others I never got the chance to see at all, such “Wall-E”, “Indiana Jones”, “Wanted”…..and “Speed Racer”. Now that these films are starting to make their way onto DVD, I’m getting the chance to see what I missed out on…and boy did I miss out. As some of you know, I recently rented “Speed Racer” (which I now own, thanks to a very generous mother. Love you Mom!). Most of you probably heard about this movie, and know that it’s based off a very old and popular anime series (which has been remade several times, I believe). What those of you who haven’t seen this movie might not realize though is that this is probably the best live-action reinterpretation of an animated series ever (yes, including Transformers…please don’t lynch me!). While Transformers was a fundamentally new take on the franchise, “Speed Racer” holds on strong to its animated roots. The graphics, tone, and characters themselves all seem like they’ve popped straight out of a cartoon, and it works wonderfully.
First, let’s start with the bad. The movie is long, and a lot of the dialogue scenes are drawn out to the point where some people may decide to screw it and go grab a snack. Many of the characters’ personalities seem to be rather two dimensional at first glance…which actually sort of makes sense, considering the old cartoon vibe the movie is going for. A lot of the plot details are a bit difficult to understand, what with all the talks of big corporate takeovers and rising stock prices and such…it can all be a bit hard to keep track of. In addition, the tone of the movie tends to shift a lot, going from dead serious to cartoonishly wacky at the drop of a hat. Finally, the character Spritle (Speed’s little brother) and his chimpanzee (yes you read that right) seem a bit out of place at times. This can be forgiven though, as both are obviously comic relief characters, and I’ve gotta say the boy playing Spritle does a good job with the role.
Now that all that’s out of the way, let’s move onto the good. The “two dimensional” characters I mentioned before are actually a bit more fleshed out than that, once you give them a chance. John Goodman does an excellent job as Speed’s father Pops, and really manages to flesh the character out. Speed’s mother is just as impressive, and some of her lines are delivered so well and with such emotion that it’s almost impossible to view her as anything other than a real human person. Speed himself is done remarkably well, and was perfectly cast with Emile Hirsch. Racer X is Awesome incarnated, and Matthew Fox does an amazing job in the role. The point is, almost all the characters might seem like stereotypical cartoon characters at first, but often prove themselves to be much, much more.
The story, which is admittedly confusing on occasion, is still rather simple and predictable. Nevertheless, it’s still easy to get sucked in, and I have to say there were a few unexpected twists and turns! There’s a lot of heart in there, if you look for it.
The soundtrack works well, usually managing to match the tone of what’s happening on-screen. They’ve managed to work segments of the various themes from the anime into the score in several places, which really does a lot to add to the nostalgia factor. The music played during the last five minutes or so of the film in particular worked wonderfully, and really brought the amazing scenes to life.
None of the above really matters, however, when you get to where this movie truly shines: the graphics. Everything in the movie is colorful and vibrant, and rendered with incredible detail. There are a few times where the CG doesn’t move as smoothly as it could, but this is usually a result of the animators attempted to pull off a cartoony feel (and the trick usually works). Usually though, everything is sleek and polished, and I’ve gotta say I’m impressed.
These CG details abound throughout the film, but it’s races themselves where things really pick up. The cars, tracks, and backgrounds all look amazing, and are each artistic masterpieces in their own right. The actually races themselves are beautiful, perhaps the most gorgeous examples of special effects and CG chorography I’ve seen in any film, ever. Again, sorry Transformers fans. The cars are more cartoony and not as detailed as the bots from said flick, but the way they move and leap around the screen more than makes up for it. Watching these cars race is more like watching a dance. The first couple of races are beautiful, but these are just teasers. Every time it seems there can’t be any way to take things further, this movie rises up to the challenge with gusto. The final half of the last race in the movie in particular hits an adrenaline high like no other before, and I start grinning like the happiest guy on Earth every time I see it. Seriously, it brings tears of joy to my eyes (I tend to get emotional with these sort of things).
In conclusion, this movie is way underrated. The graphics are like nothing I’ve seen before, and it’s more than worth at least I rent just to ogle the pretty scenery. The races themselves more than make up for any lag in dialogue, though the characters are so well acted that even the non-racing scenes can be remarkably entertaining to watch. I recommend this movie to…well, just about everybody. There are a couple moments of swearing (”Get that weak shit off my track!”), a quick shot of Spritle flipping someone off (the guy deserved it though), and one scene with a bit of not so cartoony violence, but other than that there’s really nothing to offend anybody. Kids might get a bit bored with the longer dialogue scenes, but the races and occasional fight scenes will more than make up for it. Basically what I’m saying here is everybody should enjoy this movie, whether it’s for the characters or (more likely) the awesome races. There’s plenty to love here, and it’s worth watching just so you can ooh and ahh over the graphics. This movie certainly didn’t get the appreciation it deserved. It’s now one of my favorite all time movies, and you can be sure that whenever I’m down or depressed I can now just pop in the DVD, watch that last race, and turn it off with a smile on my face. Go Speed Racer Go!
Anyways, point is whenever I hear this quote I get a shiver of joy down my spine. It’s geeky, I know, but I like it. Maybe next Cool Vid I’ll like to a clip of him saying it, who knows? Again, might not mean much of anything to the uninitiated, but to those of you into comics and cartoons (Yo Bro!), you might get some entertainment out of it. See you all next time folks! 
