Third Party View

When I heard that the Wachowski brothers were making a film version of the old Speed Racer cartoon, my first reaction was “Why?” I am not a very nostalgic person and when it comes to my childhood I sort of take the things that I used to like with a grain of salt. Speed Racer is supposed to be one of those cartoons that have a special place in people’s heart, but I have yet to meet anyone who actually likes it. Sure there are those that enjoyed its ironic revival on MTV and t-shirts in the 90s, but that’s pretty much it. I hate to break it to you but liking something out of irony isn’t actually liking it. Personally I’m of the opinion that no one really likes Speed Racer and this film doesn’t do anything to dissuade me.

The Racer family not only have auto racing in their name, but in their blood as well. Since the death of the eldest Racer son, Rex (Scott Porter), middle child, Speed, (Emile Hirsch) has been driving their car, the Mach 5. Unfortunately for the Racers, Royalton Industries wants to tighten their grip on the racing world by making them an offer they can’t refuse. Speed turns it down anyway, infuriating Royalton (Roger Allam), who guarantees that he will run them out of business. Now with the help of the mysterious Racer X (Mathew Fox), Speed will have to compete in the same grueling cross-country race that took his brother’s life.

At first I felt one of Speed Racer’s flaws is it’s casting, but I’m not sure if that’s the case or if everyone is so confused by the process that they just don’t have any clue what they’re doing. Everyone in the film looks quite a bit like the characters their supposed to be playing, but either reacting to the green screen world, bright colors or in Mathew Fox’s case, having to emote while clad head to toe in ill fitting leather seem to have thrown them off. Poor John Goodman is all over the place, one minute he has to act as though he’s a living cartoon character and the next he has to give heartfelt speeches on the importance of family with a ridiculous mustache and a monkey. There are scenes where you can see him just giving up. Emile Hirsch is just shoved in front of the camera and told to be as gosh darn earnest as possible, while Susan Sarandon as Ma Racer channels her inner Wilma Flintstone. Mathew Fox occasional gives a glimmer of what makes him so good on Lost, but it quickly fades once he realizes he’s dressed in fetish gear.

The two successes are Roger Allam and Christina Ricci. Allam is as good as the evil head of a corporation as was as the evil head of a television network in V for Vendetta although he’s good in everything I’ve seen him in. Ricci on the other hand was pretty much only required to be bright eyed and look fantastic in bright pink and to her credit she succeeds on both fronts.

The only thing I can say about Paulie Litt as the youngest member of the Racer family, is to warn audiences that this might be the most annoying thing ever captured on film. I’m also begging filmmakers to never ever do anything like this ever again. I would rather watch a whole movie based on the life and times of Jar-Jar Binks than see this kid mug for the camera with his monkey. If this were shown at Guantanamo they would have to hold a special session of Congress to see if it violated the Geneva Convention.

I appreciate what the Wachowski brothers are trying to do here with green screen technology. To their credit, the race sequences are fun to watch and allow for vibrancy in color that I’m not sure exists anywhere in nature. And while some of the editing in the film is creative, other portions seem as though they are done just for the sake of doing them or possibly because thirty seconds have passed without such an edit.

The biggest downfall comes in the ability of the actor to interact with the world around them. Using the green screen to digitally insert live actors into what is essentially a cartoon really falls flat when it is obvious the actors have no idea what they’re doing or supposed to be looking at. There are times where you feel like all the person on screen knew about their scene was that they were supposed to be happy, excited, angry etc. and they are reacting to that rather than what’s going on in the scene. Consequently, some of the film’s reaction shots remind me of crowd shots from infomercials.

Tonally, Speed Racer is all over the place. On one hand it wants to be a bright cotton candy colored, monkey throwing poop kids film, then there’s the intense racing and shootouts and finally it turns into a family drama. The scenes with Spritle and his pet monkey are nearly unbearable to watch for anyone who’s above the age of ten, while some of the driving and shootouts may be too intense for smaller kids. Clocking in at over two hours and with a plot that is entirely too complicated for children, I don’t know who this film is supposed to appeal to.

Overall, the Wachowski’s latest creation may be visually interesting, but flawed. The style is eye popping, but the reliance on the green screen causes the actors to not only have difficultly in relating to their environment, but they just never seem fully integrated into the world created for them. I’m not entirely sure if the Wachowski’s wanted to make a darker film or if they wanted to make a more kid friendly one, but the final product will probably not please anyone and thus holds up my opinion that no one really likes Speed Racer.

C