Speed Racer

There’s a massive level of expectation that comes with a Wachowski Brothers project. Having redefined how we view movies with The Matrix and its sequels, and delivering a comic geek-approved adaptation of Alan Moore’s V For Vendetta, the thought of them giving beloved ’60s anime Speed Racer a big screen tune-up was literally too good to be true. Armed with a $120 million budget, Andy and Larry unquestionably put their money to good use visually, imagining the cartoon as a live action extravaganza. Simply put, it’s one of the most stunning-looking movies ever, to the point where you’re constantly checking your vision to see if you’re actually wearing 3-D glasses. Penned by the Wachowskis, the script is a pretty basic "good battles evil” tale based on the characters’ moral fibre. Speed (Emile Hirsch) is an up-and-coming, death-defying driver haunted by the memory of his brother, Rex, who perished in the gruelling race known as the Crucible. Driven to carry on the legacy, Speed rejects a lucrative endorsement offer from the crooked Royalton Industries, a move that puts him squarely in the sights of his new enemy. With the help of the enigmatic Racer X (Matthew Fox), his family (including pet monkey Chim-Chim) and indeterminate girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), Speed fights to win the coveted Grand Prix in his tricked out Mach 5 and clear the tarnished name of his pop’s mechanic business. If there’s a flaw to the film, it’s certainly in the storytelling and, well, just about everything else. Hirsch just barely stands out, playing a protagonist that feels slightly human, but everyone around him comes off as irritating caricatures by comparison (even the chimp). And then there are the nauseating racing scenes. Using a special Sony F-23 camera, the Wachowskis meant to give this film a shot of turbo-charged adrenaline but instead went completely overboard with the digitalization. It’s breakneck and exciting but most of the time your head feels on the verge of exploding. That said, I can see Speed Racer earning itself a cult following, going down as an overblown, perhaps even misunderstood classic, much like Xanadu or Showgirls. Crazier things have happened. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the Wachowskis skip out on the commentary, leaving us to fend off an exasperating behind the scenes tour with Speed’s little brother Spritle (Paulie Oliver), one of the most annoying characters ever created. There’s also a useless featurette on the imaginary cars developed for the races.