Speed Racer (2008)

[biodroid]

Just saw the trailer for this movie, looks good and stylised and has cartoon elements in it. Could be promising coz the Wachowski bros. made it.

SPEED RACER

 

[Culhwch]

Saw the preview for this awhile back. Certainly looks like nothing else. Be interesting to see the final result, and whether or not it's a success...

 

[Metryq]

Speed Racer didn't fare that well at the box office, probably because it was up against Iron Man. Both are based on cartoons, but Iron Man even sounds more manly. You're going out to a film with your lady, pick the more macho film. Speed Racer was a kids' cartoon, right? However, I read that many women loved Speed Racer—I don't know if it was because of Emile Hirsch (or maybe John Goodman?), or maybe it was the strong family vibe. After the movie went to video, the reviews picked up with many expressing the sentiment, "I can't believe I missed this in the cinema! I had no idea it was so good."

I enjoyed Iron Man greatly, but it felt like a reel was missing; everything turned over too fast. Stark is captured and escapes. Then almost immediately there is a showdown with the bad guy. Some middle chapter was missing. Speed Racer, on the other hand, masterfully played the audience's emotions up and down until a final, good-defeats-evil ending.

As a childhood fan of the series during the early '70s, it was great to spot all the allusions to the original:

• Peter Fernandez, who voiced Speed in the American version, was the local announcer at Thunderhead.
• The Mammoth Car, although reduced to a somewhat smaller truck, was still a force to be reckoned with. And it was owned by Cruncher Block.
• During the mountain stopover, Togokahn sees the other team racing past and shouts, "Go! Go! Go!" (In Japan, the anime was Mach Go! Go! Go!)

The story was well integrated and showed research into the original source material. For example, in the original manga Rex Racer "disappeared" for pretty much the same reason given in the movie, while the reason in the anime was somewhat lame. In the manga, Rex eventually comes back. And I thought the filmmakers were following that thread when Racer X removed his mask for Speed after the Casa Cristo. Surprise! They carried the idea further to a much more poignant resolution.

(My own interpretation is that Rex was the young man who went off to war because he knew it was the right thing to do. And was never heard from again. Although Pops should know just as well as his sons that a war between good and evil was raging, he would not admit it, even after what happened at the Fuji Helexicon.)

One scene I read in the script that apparently didn't make it into the final movie is when Racer X visits Speed in the locker room before the Grand Prix. Rex is wearing a red-trimmed tux. Earlier in the story Speed's characteristic red socks from the anime are elevated to a personal totem. After rolling a race car as a child, Rex told Speed he survived because he was wearing red socks. So when Racer X visits Speed in the locker room and finds that he is still not suited up, he asks why. During the rush to rebuild the Mach 6 and get out to the track, Speed forgot his lucky red socks. Silently, the two notice the red trim of Racer X's tux, and the camera pans down to his shoes. Cut to the next scene of Racer X, Minx, and the Inspector standing in one of the large windows overlooking the track. Racer X's bare ankles are evident.