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Speed Racer (2008) deserved more respect.

EmmanuelZorg

Lieutenant Commander
Red Shirt
Now this was a fantastic visually stunning movie that is truly faithful to the anime. The Wachowski Brothers really made a fine achievement next to "The Matrix" and "V For Vendetta", too bad it did bad at the box-office.
 
I'll agree with that. I really enjoyed the movie when I watched it on DVD. It is not Oscar defining, but it was a fun kids movie.
 
Speed Racer is great - one of the most underrated films of the last few years. I have it on Blu-ray, and it looks spectacular in the format.
 
I completely agree, it did a great job of bringing the cartoon to the big screen. The visuals are stunning and the movie is underrated IMO.

I really really enjoyed the movie when I watched it.
 
Speed Racer was a visually amazing movie that unfortunately was a little long in tooth in the story department and a little too silly for my tastes. It's simple fun.
 
I didn't see it, but the trailers were interesting. The babe gave me a good feeling in my special area...I sort of liked the cartoon as a kid, but it's not the sort of thing I gave a damn about past a certain age. And the Wachowskis had really burned away any respect I had for them by that point.

On the other hand, I'm sure most people burst out laughing at the trailers. I mean, it was the most silly trailer I saw that year, with the Hotwheels Acceleracers races and the cartoon physics. And how all the actors seemed to be playing it dead serious, that was the really funny thing. So I'm sure that didn't help much, even if it was true to the cartoon.
 
I was expecting to dislike the film based on the trailer, but when I saw the film I thought all the elements gelled very well to produce a heartfelt story within a bright cartoony universe.
 
I think it's the best live-action adaptation of a toon next to "Transformers" and "Ninja Turtles", i think it's better then "Masters of the Universe" and "Popeye" combined.
 
I think that had they eliminated the horrific Car-Fu it would have been better. A little less Spritle would have been good as well.
 
Back in 2008 I wrote an Iron Man vs Speed Racer blog entry. Sadly, very few agreed with me.

Interestingly, the villain in both Iron Man and Speed Racer is the big bad corporation, personified an evil executive at the head of the company.

In Iron Man, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is a brilliant scientist/engineer/playboy who inherited his daddy's weapons manufacturing mega-corporation. After escaping from terrorist kidnappers who forced him to build weapons of mass destruction, Stark decides to turn his company away from producing weapons. Nobel intentions indeed. If I were a determined chief executive seriously wanting to turn the company around, the first thing I would do is hide in my multi-million dollar basement designing a suit of high tech battle armor. Huh? I wonder hallucinogen Tony Stark is taking there.

Meanwhile, his number two executive decides Stark has finally gone too crazy (I don't blame him, Stark DOES seem crazy) and decides it is time for him head the company. Like any good number two executive, he decides the best option is to kill Stark. I guess the number two is also taking hallucinogens, because he too creates his own high tech battle armor and both executives slug it out metal-o-metal like two, erm.., metal cavemen.

Speed Racer's story revolves around a boy (Emile Hirsch), his family, and his dream to become a professional racer. The only problem is, he discovers that the world of racing, and every single race result is tightly controlled by automobile conglomerates who only care about how race results affect their company revenue. If he discovers that if he does not race for his would-be sponsor Royalton Industries, then he won't even be able to race at all. "What can I do? I only know how to race", ponders Speed Racer who is blocked at the driveway.

I won't go into details as to how Speed solves his problem and bring down the evil Royalton Industries, save to say that it is a story about sticking to his dreams, believing in himself and having strong family values. If this type of story appeals to you, then ignore the badly done psychedelic trailer and do give Speed Racer the movie a chance. The movie itself may just surprise you.
 
It's sad that THIS is the first time that I learn anything about the plot of 'Speed Racer.'

Knowing that fact last year would have made the movie far more appealing. I assumed it was a typical sports-style movie where he has to win the race, and the other racers want to stop him. The ads certainly gave that impression. Yay. Boring.

The fact that a more complicated plot existed probably would have helped the film had people known it existed.
 
It's primarily a kid's movie though, so advertising a complex morally ambiguous storyline would probably have been a bad idea.
 
Now this was a fantastic visually stunning movie that is truly faithful to the anime. The Wachowski Brothers really made a fine achievement next to "The Matrix" and "V For Vendetta", too bad it did bad at the box-office.

Definitely, it was a great film.
 
I am a HUGE Speed Racer cartoon fan (since the age of 6) and I thought they did a great job with the movie. My only beef was it could have used a little editing, but it was visually stunning, and, despite its length, it kept my ADHD kid glued to the screen for its entire run, and that's saying something. I was surprised it did so poorly. I figured that this generation just is not familiar with the original cartoon and stories.
 
I don't care how much it cost to make, who directed it, how much it earned, or how many critics trashed it, I thought it was excellent!
 
Well i think this movie is the next Blade Runner! same box-office returns and mixed reviews yet has an audience that discovered it later.
 
I agree. Speed Racer was my third favorite movie from last summer, behind WALL-E and The Dark Knight but ahead of Iron Man. Thank god someone else out there shared that opinion. This movie actually has quite the cult following. I am aware of some amateur movie reviewers who placed it in their top ten movies of the year.

There are many reasons why I preferred Speed Racer to Iron Man, but one difference was in the ending. Iron Man peaked in the middle of the movie with the bad-ass Middle East action. The big finish, however, was disappointing. On the other hand, the plot and action of Speed Racer kept building and building into one of the most thrilling endings I have seen in a summer movie. When I saw it in theaters, some people actually applauded, and I was tempted to as well. The movie was good, but the last 20 minutes sent the movie into the stratosphere.

I wish the Wachowski's were directing the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie instead of M. Night, that's for sure.
 
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