Speed Racer

Speed Racer. We all saw the trailers with flashing lights and over the top backgrounds. We all knew it was being made by the Wachowski Brothers, most famous for the Matrix Trilogy. And we were all mad that, after the first one, the Matrix movies sucked. What hope did a silly kids show from the 60s have at the box office?
Well… not much. Speed Racer got a lot of bad press from movie critics and really didn’t do so well at the box office, but even good movies slip through the cracks. It could be from poor marketing, bad-mouthing it without giving it a chance, or any other number of reasons.

Right from the opening, we see what this movie is really about, a boy and his dreams. The movie opens with a young man sitting in a locker room, bouncing his leg in anticipation. The audience is sent to a flashback of a boy in class with an obvious case of ADHD. This young Speed Racer (played by Nicholas Elia) is obsessed with racing and thinks of nothing but racing. We then bounce back and forth between the current Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) during a race and the young Speed. Each member of the Racer family is focused on and flashes back to introduce them and a missing older brother, Rex (Scott Porter). Hints from the various announcers during the race suggest a scandal, and as the flashbacks continue we see what happened.

The movie continues with the majority of the story featuring Speed Racer fighting the big, bad company sponsors, mainly E. P. Arnold Royalton, played excellently by Roger Allam. Speed Racer explains to Royalton: “Racing's in our blood. Like for Pops, it isn't just a sport. It's way more important than that. It's like a religion. And in our house, the major sponsors are kind of like the devil.”
After rejecting Royalton’s offer, Speed finds out that his family was right to treat the sponsors like the devil as Royalton explains that the World Racing League is more about rigging races to alter stocks and earn money than actually racing.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is not at risk of seizure from bright flashing lights. But the important thing to remember is that this is a kid’s movie, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything more than that. Frequent cootie references and scenes focusing on Spritle and Chim Chim are a reminder of the kid-friendly tone. The lessons in family and fairness are standard for kid’s programming, but don’t let that scare you away. Simplicity is a good thing, and it works for Speed Racer. Just be careful the next time you get in your car; I know I just wanted go VRRROOOOM! Go, Speed Racer, Go!