As a kid, I've been a fan of the anime series (the original), "Speed Racer," the story of an amazing (and baby-face) racer with the lack of a creative name, and a car with special gadgets to overcome any obstacle. It was made in the 1960s when English dubbing was not the best that it can be (mouths would open and close but the speech won't match with the movement) and the audio and theme songs sounds like it's from a 1960s radio show. I just realized that they have both seasons on youtube. (http://www.youtube.com/show/speedracer?s=1)

I just finished watching the recent movie portrayal by the directors of the Matrix trilogy. Does it fit the fan's concept of a feature length movie? or does it crumble to become another cheesy wannabe.


Visuals: B
The look of the movie is very very close to the anime. Fans of the tv show would be satisfied of the costume design. Sure, it may look cartoony for the different colors for each person, but that is how they look. The iconic Mach 5 car is identical as well and the designs of the rest of the cars are like what the anime are. To add on to that, the actors who portray the characters were on par. Dad was fat and had a mustache, kid was annoying and sneaky, and the chimp is...well, a chimp with clothes. Trixy might look a little over the top with the costumes, but it's ok.

I said I was ok with the Racer family have different colors, but then they made EVERYTHING with different colors is a little over the top. There was a scene at the teacher's office. There is literally every color in that room. Even all the folders are in different colors. The setup of all can sometimes be very distracting. Overall though, the high tech and modern look of the city and the race track is a fresh look.


Special effects: C
It is a trippy experience. That pretty much sums it up. To add on the multiple colored setting, the CGI goes nuts with the colors. This is not a movie suitable for those who could have seizures from lights. To me, I don't really like this setup. The way the colors are mushed together just makes me struggle to watch the movie rather than peacefully enjoy the story.

The transitions of the movie causes more distractions. It will be noticeable that the director is very into what I call "using heads of the characters as faders." From one scene to another, they use heads of the characters to move from left to right and out comes another scene. This effect is great for the background stories and the building of the Mach 6, but the scenes of the car factory and the racing itself does not need those faders and are distracting. It just makes me laugh at how obsessive the directors were on this film.

Finally, the driving scenes. There were very good driving scenes, but there were also over-the-top car scenes. I have never seen a car maneuver that deals with having the car spin 360 degrees to knock a car off the track. In fact, in the entire movie, it seems the only way most people can knock people out is to spin their cars in a circle. The jumping from the cars are also very excessive. It almost seems that all the cars have that jumping feature, when it should be unique for the Mach 5 itself. The scenes do make it seem fast.


Soundtrack: A
The background music is suitable throughout the entire movie. Most of it is high paced racing. There is no place to put a legendary-composed score anyways.


Plot: B-
If I remember correctly, the tv show was more about Speed racing against different racers and criminals. This movie, however, made a greater enemy: The auto stock holders. The idea of evil rich men makes sense, but it takes out the idea of rivalry against racers. In fact, there were too many main enemies of Speed. You have the stock company, then you have some random criminals that show up here and there, and then you have the legendary racer at the end of the movie, and you even have the Asian company not keeping their part of the deal and betray Speed. There are too many enemies that prolongs the movie and makes the plot jumpy. This goes with the inconsistency with the Asian racer. At first Speed and Racer X helps him, then he betrays them for stock, and then he was cheering for him at the Grand Prix.

Also, I felt that the last race was less climatic than the cross country race. They should have rearranged it with some changes to the race itself to set it up as the ultimate race in the end. Instead, most of the daring racing where from the cross country race and the last race was just Speed facing off against a legend that only appeared near the beginning of the movie and him zooming through the rest of the course. Racer X did not even race in the Grand Prix. More importantly, the cross country race looked more exciting and takes more skill than the Grand Prix. It just seems more fitting for this race to be the last one.


Acting: B
The acting is ok for the most part. Half of the movie is just people sitting in race cars looking intense, which they at least got that right. There are some moments that may be forced a little, but for the most part was alright. Emile as Speed Racer was not bad himself. He has a good mixture of passion and loyalty in his character. A lovable character that values his family the most. There are some lines that are very corny ("cool beans"), but for the most part, it flows. I actually think the best actor here is the chimp itself. Some of its actions fit right with the humor. My least favorite were the mechanic Sparky and the Asian racer. Sparky just looks useless in the movie and made it almost seem like he is not needed, even though he should be in the cast. The Asian racer seems over the top with his emotions, and just doesn't seem believable.

With all of this and the effects, it's hard to decide whether one should take this movie seriously or not. The extra and unnecessary lines from the bad guy and the dad about stocks, racing integrity and engines went way over my head, for these comments were not spoken in easy language, nor did they slow down the pace of the conversation. Those who are serious movie watchers, don't come for the specific details, because they will just flow by. To add to that, the serious scenes did not even. I always feel that there would be something funny that would show up when a serious scene shows up. It just seems mostly out of place because of how many humor scenes this movie has.

The fighting scenes seem real but childish due to the added Japanese effects with the punches. It really is not necessary and it made me feel like I am watching a cheap movie. There is no divide between a real-life and a cartoon in this movie. It just seems all of it mushed up together.


Miscellaneous: It's hard to tell what age this movie is really appealing to. For one it is a cartoon portrayal, yet there is vulgar language (both censored and uncensored LOL. The S-Word was censored and uncensored in the same movie), but the action scenes were very cartoonish, and yet there are topics of stock. It seems that the directors are trying to suit it for all ages, but putting both child and adult elements together, mixing them unevenly.


Conclusion: The directors tried too hard to make the movie like cartoon. This film is laughable at some parts but is still enjoyable to watch. This could have been an excellent portrayal of the series, but with the cartoonish elements, like swinging lines when punching, and the bright, colored, special effects, make it feel corny and unrealistic, which gives me an unpleasant reminder of the movie, SpyKids 3D (only better than that). It could have been worse for any other movie, for which this is from a cartoon. It is at most, acceptable, but could have been better. Fans of the series would enjoy it better than new viewers. I would watch it again, but not immediately.

FINAL GRADE: B-

What do you think? (100 Viz for the best comment on the movie by Monday Midnight E.T) Winner: MichaelVash7886

I actually really liked the movie. They made the racing and fighting far more intense than the series did. The only parts I didn't like were with Spridle and Chim Chim, they got a bit annoying, but I can see why they were in there as they were a bit part of the show.

Overall very solid movie particularly for an anime made to live action. Much better than the DB Evolution movie.....