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Speed Racer Movie Review

Comments

14 comments posted
I agree

I saw this tonight and was pleasantly surprised. You'd think with all the bad reviews it got, it would be an awful movie, but it wasn't. It was a live action cartoon, and not nearly as cheesy as one would expect. Matthew Fox was terrific as Racer X. It just seems (especially from reading Digg) that people want to HATE this movie without even seeing to for themselves.

GogDog's picture
Posted by GogDog on 11 May, 2008 - 23:38
Saw it this morning, and

Saw it this morning, and loved it. I too loved the original show, and this was pretty much a perfect translation with all the right visual cues.

BUT if you missed the product placement, they weren't doing it right. I actually caught quite a bit of it, but it was pretty subtle. It could have been much, MUCH worse.

wildwill's picture
Posted by wildwill on 12 May, 2008 - 01:08
The only one I saw was the

The only one I saw was the Motorola walkie-talkie on the janitor/guard but even then I was debating if it was or not. In any case, nothing came within 100 miles of the infamous "memory card tilt" in Transformers.

In any case, I LOVED the movie. For all the bad rap it's been getting, I haven't heard about anyone that saw it and didn't enjoy it.

Nidaram's picture
Posted by Nidaram on 12 May, 2008 - 07:51
I haven't watched it but

I haven't watched it but thanks to this review I will certainly put
this on my list of things to do for the week.
I'm sure this will be a treat for the wife and kids

Almost forgot about it though Ü

birdlog's picture
Posted by birdlog on 12 May, 2008 - 12:51
I really really like it one

I really really like it one thing bugged me too little Toejo they made him up to be a rival for speed in the last race but he didn't race

_____________________________________________________________________________
Transformer and other robot art by me on my DA site blitz-wing.deviantart.com

Blitz's picture
Posted by Blitz on 12 May, 2008 - 15:16
Josh.............?

Josh?

...........*heavy, dramatic, & extremely LOUD sigh*.....................


I'll think about it............after I see IRON MAN.

-Rodimus

Rodimus78's picture
Posted by Rodimus78 on 13 May, 2008 - 03:24
^ Heheh....great reply! ^

Yeah, I'll admit: I was not planning on seeing this movie.

I'm a huge Speed Racer fan from back in the day (well, when it was airing on MTV when I was a teenager), and I'm also a rather famous hater/snob. ;)

I generally try not to poop on movie-goers themselves, but I can't help but feel that folks who see movies like the Matrix trilogy and somehow manage not to vomit on themselves are either missing key neural activity in the ol' brainpan or have been cruelly drugged into utter numbness by years of Hollywood's war of attrition on the human mind. Suffice it to say, I've been burned far too many times by Hollywood to have ANY hope whatsoever about their pitiful offerings.

But at the same time, I like fun. When I heard that Marvel was actually in control of the production of Iron Man (instead of licensing out their characters to moronic corporate studios), I was intrigued. And look what happened: despite the questionable depiction of West Asians, it was a pretty great movie! I really enjoyed it...and I sure am looking forward to Marvel's public apology later this summer for Ang Lee's raping of the Hulk.

Back to Speed Racer, I haven't seen it yet, but I'm rather shocked by all the real fan responses to it. I was fully expecting it to be universally reviled. Apparently not! If all the negative reviews out there are just bougie critics pooh-poohing a children's movie based on an old children's property, well, screw that noise. I love the kitsch and the camp of the original show and if what I'm hearing from real fans is correct, this has been translated well in the movie.

I'm gonna have to check this out...

--
Sanjeev

Sanjeev's picture
Posted by Sanjeev on 14 May, 2008 - 12:02
I agree

I agree with everything you said. I too am a bit of a snob. My friends hate it and call me an elitist. I did see this movie and loved it and couldn't help myself when I would lean over to my friends and inform them as to how much like the original show this was. You know, I totally remember when they aired the show on MTV, must of been 1993 or 1994. My Dad would watch it with me and tell me how much he loved it when he was younger.
By the way, Sanjeev, I agree with you all the way about vintage gokin. I have stopped collecting the newer toys and am concentrating on vintage. Your Yamato Groizer review actually made me want to buy the Nakajima toy instead. Even though your review was positive, the pictures of the old one were beautiful.
Take care!

Jeromy's picture
Posted by Jeromy on 14 May, 2008 - 13:49
Hehe...I'm flattered by your

Hehe...I'm flattered by your comments! Yeah, I'm trying to work on the "snobby" part about being opinionated...it just ain't helpful. I'm not going to start liking bad movies, but maybe it'll become easier to take them less seriously and bust on them...as opposed to getting outraged by them! And, of course, I definitely don't like the bit about looking down on other people who like these sorts of movies...that's clearly my own classism and pretentiousness about being "cool".

But yeah, I still think most movies today are genuinely bad--not that there weren't genuinely bad movies back in the day, but there just seems far fewer true gems today than in the past.

Hehe...how funny is it that these comments totally reflect how I feel about toys!? :P

--
Sanjeev

Sanjeev's picture
Posted by Sanjeev on 15 May, 2008 - 11:47
Hahaha..I knew that was

Hahaha..I knew that was gonna be trouble! ;) Don't worry, Adam. Sanjeev doesn't even like Cannibal Holocaust, so you know he don't know jack about movies.... :)

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

NekroDave's picture
Posted by NekroDave on 14 May, 2008 - 22:11
So true...

...It seems the more I communicate with today's movie-goer, the more I feel like giving up! Besides Jeromy above, I don't think too many people agree with my views, so don't sweat it! :P

Atom, at least with you, we have intelligent conversations about movies. I'm not looking to make people agree with me, but I do want a good discussion. Hell, we talk about movies and such all the time...and often disagree...but it's always a smart debate. I just think that that level of intelligent criticism is so sorely lacking in most movies today...

I guess the bottom line is that my time is so limited that I need to plan out my leisure time very carefully. Nekrodave was just busting my chops this morning to get on board with reading Image Comics' Walking Dead. Another good friend is trying to get me to start watching The Wire [hell, I've only seen this season's premiere of Battlestar Galactica...and I'm already committed to that show!]. I end up missing half my beloved Celtics' playoff games (even though I've gone to two of 'em this postseason). And this is all the while trying to figure out my art and writing, time to play with my toys, exercise and eating right, friends...women! ;)

The point is, if I'm in the mood to watch something, I'm not about to blow $10 and 2 hours of my time on a terrible modern movie, when I can spend that time watching The Day the Earth Stood Still, or Yokai Dai-Senso, or pretty much any Ray Harryhausen film, or Destroy All Monsters, or the old Outer Limits or Twilight Zone shows, or...

--
Sanjeev

Sanjeev's picture
Posted by Sanjeev on 15 May, 2008 - 11:34
I thought I would hate it but I loved it!

I wasn't even going to give this film a chance until I saw this review.

I'm so glad I got off my "movie snob" box and saw this one. Sorry in advance for the long rant, but I was so close to not checking this movie out, and I want to prevent others from making the same mistake.

Call me a snob, call me whatever you want. I expect more from the art I purchase. I don't like to be talked down to by a film. No matter what genre, kids aren't stupid, and talking down to the audience is the most insulting thing you can do to people seeing your film. It's got to make me think, or make me happy, or do something other than sit and buy another Coca-Cola, or be a ginat advert for some company's products. Be it a diecast toy from 1979, a star wars figure from today, or a movie, I want my money's worth. The time we as humans have on earth is limited, and there's so much beautiful art, music, and films out there you can't possible check them all out. So I'd rather read something by H.G. Wells than Tom Clancy. I'm not going to live forever and I think my time is better spent doing one over the other. That's me, you may be different, and that's cool, we all have different opinions. That's what makes the world such an awesome place. You might disagree, and that's cool, but I'm really hard on what films I spend my $10 on. More often than not, I wait for the film to come out on DVD, so I can enjoy and study and obsess over it.

As a long time fan of TRANSFORMERS, I thought that film was horrible- it seemed like it had no story at all, or at best, it was a compilation of 10 years of bad TF scripts. You might disagree, and that's cool, but I thought like it talked down to me as a fan in many ways. that since I liked Giant Robots, I was too stupid to want an actual plot and not just a bunch of scenes thrown together. Since I liked comics and cartoons, I wanted to see a half-naked chick just "being hot" because hey, isn't everyone who likes TF a guy who has no respect for women? Nothing wrong with beautiful women, but when my wife walks out within the first 30 minutes, and she likes Transformers AND Shia... that should tell you something is very wrong.

As a long time fan of IRON MAN comics, I was so disapointed in that film, I loved the first half-hour or so, but after that, it turned into such a blatant product placement-fest, (everyone in LA drives an Audi, huh?) and the other actors beside Robert Downey were so bad, that I just got bored. I think if the film hadn't been so pretentious as to try to say somthing political without "being" political, I would have enjoyed it much more, like the first 2 Spider-Man films.

I loved Speed Racer when I was a kid, and wouldn't miss an episode, but I'm not a very hardcore fan, I wouldn't buy SR toys or DVDs. And I absolutely HATED the Matrix films, and have no use for fake-message merchants like the Wachowskis (the only good thing they've done with their lives in my opinion is finance the brilliant comic SHAOLIN COWBOY, if you've never read it, get up and get to a comic shop RIGHT NOW.)

This film is just straight-up fun. It's exactly what a Speed Racer film should be. I really enjoyed the entire film. This movie is exactly what IRON MAN and TRANSFORMERS were trying to be, and honestly i'm much more a fan of those two franchises than SPEED RACER.

Unlike some anime pre-1980, like VOLTES V or CAPTAIN HARLOCK, there's no real message or goal in Speed Racer except fun, and that was captured perfectly. It was nice to see a film where it's message was "be cool to your family, try your best, and don't sell out your ideals for cash" which I think in this day and age is very rare to see in a big hollywood film, especially when you compare that theme to the ones they tried to pull off in IRON MAN (I'm not going to even touch the very serious race, politics, or economics that were either glossed over or completely ignored in that film) and TRANSFORMERS ("look at this girl's behind to distract you from a lack of story")

From a confirmed "movie snob", you can safely spend $10 on SPEED RACER. If you felt insulted by other CGI comic-oriented movies, this one knows what it is and doesn't try to be anything more. It's a popcorn and candy flick, not a Herzog movie. But it delivers on the same level, with a visual intensity and most importantly a VIBE, of positivity. It brought me back to feeling eight-years old, without being talked down to like you are eight-years old.

I am so happy to have been proven wrong about Speed Racer.

Now if only they could do a MAZINGER Z film like this...

The Big R's picture
Posted by The Big R on 24 May, 2008 - 15:01