Note: The following review contains some spoilers. If you don't want to know anything about the film if you haven't seen it yet, skip to the final paragraph.
As I'm sure some of you know, I've been struggling to find a film to revisit (haven't revisited a film since Jurassic Park 3). I've considered films such as Tim Burton's Batman and Superman Returns, as well as non-superhero films such as Avatar and JJ Abrams' Star Trek. At the same time, I was interested in rewatching the 2008 Speed Racer film again, since it's been a while (it was a favorite of mine when I was younger). So I decided to put two-and-two together, and make Speed Racer my next revisit. I'm also using a new format in my reviews for the first time, if you guys can give some feedback on it, that'd be great.
Speed Racer (2008)
Rating:
Starring:
Emile Hirsch
Matthew Fox
Christina Ricci
John Goodman
Susan Sarandon
Roger Allam
Scott Porter
Running time:
2 hr. 15 min.
Synopsis:
Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is the kind of driver that every wheelman wishes he could be: a born winner whose unbeatable combination of aggression, instinct, and fearlessness always finds him crossing the checkered flag with a comfortable lead. In Speed Racer's mind, the only driver who could present him with any real challenge is his late brother - the legendary Rex Racer. Rex died in a heated cross-country rally known as The Crucible many years ago, and now his younger sibling is driven to fulfill the legacy that Rex left behind. To this day, Speed Racer is fiercely loyal to family. It was Speed Racer's father, Pops Racer (John Goodman), who designed the unbeatable Mach 5, and even a lucrative offer from racing giants Royalton Industries isn't enough to get the young ace to break his family ties. Upon turning down Royalton's (Roger Allam) astronomical offer, Speed Racer makes the shocking discovery that the outcomes of the biggest races are being predetermined by a handful of powerful moguls who pad their profits by manipulating the drivers. Realizing that his career would be ruined if word of the fix gets out, Royalton vows that the Mach 5 will never make it to another finish line. Now, the only way for Speed Racer to save the family business and beat Royalton at his own game will be to win the very same race that claimed his brother's life so many years ago. In order to accomplish that formidable feat, however, Speed Racer will not only have to rely on his family and the aid of his longtime girlfriend, Trixie (Christina Ricci), but form a tenuous alliance with his longtime rival -- the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox) -- as well.
I've always enjoyed the
Speed Racer anime series as a kid. While it wasn't a series that I followed as closely as say,
Pokemon or
Justice League, I remember enjoying the episodes I watched and always wanting to see more. When I heard that a live action film was being made, I was actually excited about it (despite the horrific reviews). The first time I saw it was when it came out on DVD three years ago, and I just adored it. I've rewatched it off and on over the years, and I decided to watch it again last night. While it definitely wasn't as enjoyable as I remembered, but it's certainly a film that I can keep on watching.
One of the things
Speed Racer has going for it is that it offers a lot of character development, to where you actually care about most of the characters. I've heard complaints about it being full of eye candy and not much else, but I don't get that. Sure, there's all kinds of eye candy, explosions, etc., but it still offers time to dig into the characters (most of them, anyways), especially Racer X, Royalton, Pops, and obviously Speed himself. While a handful of other characters could've been developed a little more (such as Trixi, Taejo, etc.), the story still offers quite a bit of room for them to breathe.
Another thing that the film excels at is solid acting. Emile Hirsch is excellent as the title character, I can't imagine anyone else who would've done as good of a job. Matthew Fox is perfect as the mysterious Racer X, he does a phenomenal job bringing the character to life. John Goodman and Susan Sarandon are good as Speed's parents, while Christina Ricci is mostly decent as Trixi. Roger Allam does a good job as the villainous Royalton (while a bit predictable at times), while Scott Porter is pretty good as a younger Rex Racer.
The effects for the film are absolutely awesome. While at times the fact that it's merely CGI is rather obvious (and fake-looking), the racing scenes are blood-pumping and adrenaline-rushing. The main plot - going against the underground racing trade that sets up who wins the Grand Prix, etc. - worked very well too. Speaking of which, one of the flaws of the film is that the tone seems rather uneven. In some scenes, it's all bright, goofy, light-hearted, etc., while in other scenes it's dark, gritty, and at times rather violent (not as in car-on-car action violent, violent as in fist fights, piranhas chewing someone's finger off, etc.). While I understand that they may have wanted to include something for everyone in the film, I can't say it really works well. They should've just gone with an in-between tone and stuck with it.
Another flaw in
Speed Racer is actually one of its strong points - the CGI. As stated before, the CGI looks rather fake at times (such as in scenes showing the skies and all the cars being CGI). In fact, it suffers from a similar flaw that this summer's
Green Lantern had - too much CGI. I don't think it would've been too hard to just paint the right colors on the cars (unless it'd be too much to build a car that has the same shape as say, the Mach 6). Regardless, the rest of the CGI is excellent, especially in the racing scenes. Finally, at about 135 minutes, I think some scenes could've been cropped/edited (such as the more kiddy scenes), over two hours is a bit too much IMO.
In the end, however,
Speed Racer is far from perfect, but still a thrill ride from star to finish. Full of strong acting, adrenaline-rushing action, and definitely some heart, this is definitely a step up from other cartoon-to-live-action films (I'm looking at you,
Scooby-Doo and
Alvin & The Chipmunks 2), and it's a shame that a sequel will more than likely never happen (as I would've loved to see the story continue). Still,
Speed Racer works fine as a stand-alone film, and a good one at that.