SPEED RACER by jaiskizzy

the gist: speed racer can't think of anything else but racing and his older brother, rex. tragedy strikes the family when rex dies in a race crash. speed then grows up to continue his brother's legacy and becomes the most sought-after driver in the land. he receives a very sybaritic offer from a powerful businessman named royalton but turns it down for his family's sake. realizing that the past races were fixed, speed revs the mach 5 up to victory and joins forces with the mysterious racer x to finally put on the breaks to the evil mogul's schemes.

even with the wachowski's cinematic aptitude, translating an anime series into a 2-hour live action movie is no fraction of pastry. book adaptation, although a burden in itself, is in a way easier because you only rely on the text and let the imagination soar. but for cartoons, you have to be able to siphon its essence and inject it into flesh without destroying it. the wachowskis have managed a nigh-perfect transition and the result is a frenetic display of screaming aesthetics no other directors haves ever attempted. from beginning to end, you are optically assaulted with colors and effects that do not fail to dazzle. the races are just epilepsy-inducing graffiti painted with a palette of skittles. there's fight scenes with anime-ish motion streaks, all with seamless multilayer wipe editing. and this is probably the first time ive seen a scrolling end credits with pulsating colors. speed racer is, put simply, a visual exercise in pushing the proverbial envelope.

that is, of course, expected of the film. but plotwise, it doesn't really have the same edge. no matter how perilous the tracks are or how brutal the racers are, you bet your ass that speed racer will win it. the dull story, however, is balanced out with humor, care of almost-annoying spritle and the great chimpanzee chim-chim, and heart, that if you could stay awake through the lengthy conversations, which i guess were inserted as breather scenes from all that racing razzmatazz, you'd figure out why this is marketed as a family movie. other than that, contain your nitpicking nerves for a while and just enjoy the show. the trick is to shake off your academy award druthers and allow it to take you for a spin.

speed racer could have been anyone who had the boy-toy looks since it's kind of a no-brainer role. be cute, have angst, drive fiercely. emile hirsch did okay but he didnt really own that role as much as tobey maguire did peter parker. but it was great to see him in the blue-shirt and red bandanna outfit. it would have been nice if they made racer x even cooler and not seem like just some x-men reject. matthew fox looked kinda lost (pun not intended. really). rain (hate that name) looked cool kickin ass in his white racesuit with dragon print and scary in girl's clothing. and the 'stached john goodman in red shirt and blue jumper looked like super mario. surprised to see seibei samurai, btw, even though he was underused. but if there was one cast member who made this live-action anime movie a darn live-action anime movie it was none other than christina ricci. she's never been this cute since wednesday. she is so cute that if a carebear and a kitten mated, their offspring would cuddle a christina ricci doll in its sleep. also, kudos to the monkey, who looked great in a suit.

finish line: after their directorial hiatus, the wachowskis have returned and machined a vibrant kaleidoscopic movie fueled with the ebullience of anime. it aint no blockbuster breakthrough like the matrix but it sure was one good acid-trip ride.


the good: the visuals, the family values, the monkey!
the bad: prolonged talky scenes, mediocre villain
the ugly: henchman whose finger became piranha dinner
the verdict: 7 chim-chim "cookies"


speed raper.