Sensory Overroad

Last night was the final night for Speed Racer at the budget theater, so I decided to check it out before it drove off into DVD land. After it's disastrous run at the box office, I felt charitable and decided to give it my business. Now that I've seen it, I can say that while it's not great, I'm not quite sure why it was such a bomb. If I had to pinpoint a reason, I would say that the Wachowski brothers just couldn't determine what type of audience they were aiming for.

It's certainly not for a lack of effort as this film is visually overwhelming. Using a candy-colored pallette, these two create a film that, just like The Matrix, provides things that you just haven't seen before in filmmaking. This odd blending of CGI and real life result in a film that is truly the closest thing to a real life cartoon that I have ever seen. By no means is it meant to look realistic; rather they transform you into this fantasy world where everything apparently revolves around racing.

And it is during those races where the visuals really pop. I've certainly seen my fair share of car racing in films (Cars, Talladega Nights, Days of Thunder) but nothing has felt more exhilirating to me than the competitions in this movie. Maybe it's because the cars were doing things that real ones couldn't. Maybe it's because everything was moving so fast you really couldn't tell who was winning. I'm not sure, but I found myself getting more and more into the races as the film went on.

Unfortunately, there is a lot to slog through before we get to any significant race. This is where the flaws of the movie begin to shine. In a film that is visually established as being a kid-friendly affair, they opt to weigh the story down with a lot of heavy-handed plot themes. Issues such as corporate greed, racing corruption, and being motivated by art vs. business are introduced in the film, yet seem out of place. For kids, all you need to do is make one person smile and one person scowl and they'll know who to root for in the race. And older viewers who could appreciate the more adult concepts won't here because they aren't handled very well. The film clocks in at about 2 hours and 15 minutes, but would have been better served with about a 100 minute time frame.

Continuing the confused nature of the film's intended audience is the equally prevalent kid-friendly moments. There are too many moments in the film intended for a very young audience that just bring the action to a halt. Typically these scenes involve Speed Racer's younger brother Sprittle and his chimp Chim Chim. Watching these moments, I just kept wondering to myself if the Wachowski's were trying to please everybody and failing or if they just had no clue who to aim this film for. But then just as my frustration would grow, another race would occur and I would forget all about those flaws.

From a casting standpoint, the film works really well. Most of the actors strongly resemble in looks and mannerisms their cartoon counterpoints. Emile Hirsch is boyish enough to handle Speed and Christina Ricci is a nice counterpoint as Speed's girlfriend, Trixie. John Goodman and Susan Sarandon also are perfect choices as Speed's parents. However, from an acting standpoint, things are a bit more of a mixed bag. Goodman and Sarandon work well with the material they've been given, but I was looking for a little bit more from Hirsch and Ricci. Both come off a bit wooden. They're about the only thing you could refer to as bland in a film like this.

Like the tracks that Speed drives on, my opinions on this film took a lot of twists and turns. Seeing how poorly it did at the box office, I came in expecting the worst. Then as the film went on, I kept running hot and cold with it. If they had just kept the story more simple, this would have been an easy success. But by introducing those more complicated and serious story points, it ruined a lot of the movie for me. How can they expect us to buy the fact that having Speed win the big race (ooops, spoiler alert) that all of these big problems they've introduced (like corruption in the racing industry) will suddenly vanish. It just doesn't work that way.

Since it's unlikely that anyone will still catch this at a movie theater, my recommendation would be to check this out only if you have a decent home theater system. The visual 'wow' of this movie is enough to make this an enjoyable rental. If however, you can't appreciate the stylistic mastery of the Wachowski's then all you'll be left with is a very uneven story that you'll likely get bored with about halfway through. Hopefully my recommendation won't steer you in the wrong direction. And with that terrible driving pun, I think it's time to end this review. Grade: B-