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Speed Racer (Live Action)

by Jason

While I enjoyed the live action Speed Racer movie, a few things bothered me. Part of it had to do with how the characters were treated. How anime, and it’s fans, were presented bothered me even more. Was it enough to ruin the movie for me though?

Story

Speed has always been in love with racing. He was born for it. His older brother Rex was the best driver in the world and Speed idolized him. After a family tragedy Speed tried to live up to his brother’s legacy, but that may be more difficult than he’d ever imagined.

Can Speed follow in Rex’s footsteps? Would he want to follow him into a world of corrupt sponsors and fixed races?

My Opinion

There are times during the movie where I’m amazed that it was so perfectly done. That perfection was not only in the races, but also during scenes involving the Racer family. Everyone in the movie did a wonderful job. Everyone, from Emile Hirsch as Speed, down to the racers who were only there to be bumped off the track. Matthew Fox was great as Batman… errr, I mean Racer X. I loved the appearance of Peter Fernandez as an announcer at the Thunderhead track. Awesome.

There’s a lot of great stuff in Speed Racer. That made some of the bad moments even worse.

There are at least 2 moments that are so completely out of character that I was shocked and violently thrown out of the movie. Addressing the most grave infraction, I know why it was done. Speed needed a line that made him sound like a badass. Coming from anyone else it would be a good line, but it’s out of character for Speed.

The other problem I had with the movie was somewhat less obvious, but far more insulting. Anime and it’s fans seemed to be portrayed in a skewed manner. It’s like the film makers weren’t concerned with anime itself, but with reinforcing misconceptions about anime.

All of that aside, I enjoyed the movie. I tried to view it the way I viewed the Speed Racer cartoon. It had a cool, but vague, story and lot’s of action with impossible driving. Sounds a lot like Speed Racer to me.

Extras

There are a couple of featurettes, and are pretty good, but that’s it. The Special Features are almost non-existent. Wait a couple of months and there will probably be a deluxe version with more extras.

Is it worth it?

It’s definitely worth renting. If you love it, or if you have to buy everything Speed Racer related, I’d recommend waiting a while to see if a version with better extras will be released.


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Posted in Reviews on October 9th, 2008

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