Speed Racer

Cinema review
Directed by Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Starring Emile Hirsch, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox, Rain, Roger Allam
Release date 9 May 2008

Young Speed Racer (Hirsch) is a natural at hurtling down the racetrack. All he wants to do is make Mom (Sarandon) and Pop (Goodman) proud – but when he turns down a lucrative offer from corporate fatcat Royalton (Allam) he finds his life in danger…

Watching Speed Racer is akin to being whacked repeatedly over the head with a hammer for 135 minutes. Which isn’t to say it’s a bad movie. With its eye-popping colour scheme, dazzling CG sets and stylised racing scenes, this is the kind of film that cries out to be seen in the cinema. Just don’t go in with a hangover.

The movie is based on the cult 60s Japanese anime Mach Go Go Go, and it really does feel like a cartoon come to life (unlike, say, The Flintstones). Characters are unapologetically simplistic (our hero’s called Speed Racer and he’s a speedy racer – that’s pretty much all you need to know), the dialogue is knowingly corny (“You don't climb into a T-180 to be a driver. You do it because you're driven!”), and there’s exactly zero in the way of emotional or dramatic substance.

But substance was never the point here. In fact, the emphasis is so squarely placed on the visuals that this may as well have been a silent movie. And what visuals they are. Like 300 and Sin City, the movie drops its characters into vaguely otherwordly computer-generated environments. But instead of bloody battles or neo-noir, The Wachowski Brothers give us bright, family-friendly racetrack action. As you’d expect, the fantastical races are truly spectacular, and the numerous scenes of cars flying and looping through swirling Scaletrix-style tracks are unlike anything seen before. But even away from the racetrack, things are no less dazzling – the DayGlo home of The Racers turns the everyday into fantasy, while Royalton’s bustling headquarters looks like something Willy Wonka might have owned had he been involved in cars rather than confectionary.

It all becomes a bit much over the protracted running time, but it’s a film that should have equal appeal to kids, petrolheads and fans of Pop Art. Matt McAllister