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Film Critique
Fastest Movie Ever Made
The Wachowskis make summer family fun
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May 08, 2008 In Speed Racer the Wachowski Brothers achieve a divine vision of psychedelic visual ecstasy—you won’t believe the sheer amount of color on the screen at any given time—while digging deep into a campy tone that speaks to audiences of all ages. Emile Hirsch leads a flawless cast as the title character who carries the death of his car-racing brother Rex Racer (Scott Porter) as a constant inspiration to win races for his family’s racing business.
Anti-corporate themes abound as the sport’s predatory company, Royalton Industries, tries to bring Speed and his family to the dark side of greed. Far-out racing sequences, ninja attacks and a budding romance between Speed and his girlfriend Trixie (perfectly played by Christina Ricci) attend the trippy visual fun. Like a revved-up turbo mix of Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy with Disney’s Tron, Speed Racer is a blast from start to finish.
Since ending their Matrix trilogy with a whimper rather than its anticipated bang, the Wachowski Brothers have successfully turned their attention to uniting cartoon logic with live-action appeal. The pay-off is immediate and non-stop.
|  | | Oh, Speedy! |
The diabolical Royalton (exquisitely played by Roger Allam—The Queen) introduces himself to the Racer family as an effeminate pancake-loving family man who just wants to provide them with the riches they deserve. But when Royalton gets Speed alone in his office to sign a contract piled high across his desk, we learn the depth of his corporate villainy.
Speed Racer balances nicely between its dastardly dangerous car race rallies and the nefarious intrigue that surrounds them. A low-fi animated introduction sequence gets us inside the mind of young Speed daydreaming in class about racing with his brother, and doodling car crashes in the pages of his notebook.
It’s impossible not to be transported to the joys of childhood when all that mattered was how far your imagination could take you away from the mundane realities of homework, chores, and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. If Speed is a rebel with a one-track mind, it’s an ethic of independence that he consciously inhabits with his family’s allied approval.
The movie’s greatest achievement lies in its embrace of representing modern family entertainment in a broad yet boiled-down spectrum of soup to nuts humor, action and unbridled celebration. You can find touches of inspiration drawn from everything from The Three Stooges to Jerry Lewis comedies to Pee-wee Herman. The audience is happily encouraged to laugh at characters, with characters and at themselves for being so easily led. MTW
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