'Speed Racer' film is a colorful, amusing ride
'Speed Racer' film is a colorful, amusing ride

Published: May 9, 2008

Writer-directors Andy and Larry Wachowski don't stray far from the source for their film version of "Speed Racer,” a bizarrely entertaining "live-action anime” feature.

The brothers craft a surreal, candy-colored, retro-futuristic world for their adaptation of the 1960s Japanese cartoon series. In this alternate universe, race cars engage in kung fu-style battles, racetracks are more roller coaster than Formula One, corporations operate out of purple skyscrapers, and a family with a pet chimpanzee sort of makes sense.

Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is a demon on wheels and heir apparent of the fiercely independent Racer racing family, which includes his supportive parents (John Goodman, Susan Sarandon), mischievous younger brother Spritle (Paulie Litt), and Chim-Chim the chimp. His helicopter pilot sweetie, Trixie (Christina Ricci), provides moral and race-day air support.

The Racer family is haunted by the death of Speed's older brother, Rex (Scott Porter), a star driver who died under suspicious circumstances during a dangerous cross-continental race called the Crucible.

As Speed's own star rises, ingratiatingly oily corporate magnate Royalton (Roger Allam) invites the youth to join his race team. When Speed respectfully declines, Royalton hits him with an awful truth: Racing is rigged to boost the bottom lines of its corporate sponsors. He vows to crush the Racer family if Speed won't race for him, but Speed vows to keep racing as an indie.

Honest racing overseer Inspector Detector (Benno Furmann) recruits Speed to work with his skilled undercover driver, the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox), to bring the bad guys to justice.

The inspector's plan involves putting Speed, Racer X and hotshot Taejo Togokahn (Asian pop star Rain), whose own family is feeling the corporate squeeze, on a team to run the Crucible, the race in which Rex died. With his family's help, Speed is determined to survive the Crucible and win the top race, the Grand Prix.

Since it's based on a campy cartoon about a boy who continually saves the day by driving fast, it's tough to take "Speed Racer” too seriously. Everyone involved seems fully aware of that.

The Wachowskis craft a gloriously vivid, action-packed visual spectacle that should delight children and video-game fans despite the two-hour-plus runtime. They inventively and effectively hook you with the opening race, alternating the high-octane action with character flashbacks that impart most of the background.

The brothers aim the movie squarely at children, with a simple tale about the importance of family and the ultimate end of cheaters. Unfortunately, they cram the sparse framework with an overabundance of colorful characters, repetitive boy-and-his-chimp antics and overuse of a swear word that can also mean "donkey.”

While the plot sometimes clunks along, "Speed Racer” offers the visual buzz of a Corvette souped-up by space aliens, making it worth a spin.

— Brandy McDonnell

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