There’s no doubting the sheer visual wonder that Speed Racer has to offer. It’s a kaleidoscope gone insane, from its opening frame of bright clothing and pin-sharp background to its colour-blur race sequences; it’s a candy store for the eyes and brain. And although it took me a fair amount of the film’s first half to get used to its overall mentality I must admit it eventually won me over.
Based on the original Japanese cartoon of the same name, Speed Racer tells the story of the titular character — a young man whose life is all about automobile racing. Fueled in childhood by his older brother’s death in a racing accident, he grows up wanting to win the race his brother died in and become the best racer he can possibly be.
As Speed Racer started and made its way through the first section of the runtime I kept thinking, “This is lame. This is so stupid”. The wacky visuals, the extremely cheesy dialogue and the way it takes itself so seriously just seemed totally lame to me. However as the runtime came up on the hour mark I must admit I submitted to the film's way. It oozes a certain childish charm that I really quite took to.
The two main things which won me over about the film were the visuals and the race sequences. The film is absolutely gorgeous to look at; we see this amalgamation of colours swerving and swirling across the screen as the cars go in all directions, crashing and bashing into each other as they go. Although the race sequences do get a bit repetitive, the adrenaline and visual flair are always present, making it not really matter. The film is about as close to a video game as a movie is likely to get (and I’m sure a game will be on the shelves in no time) and I am sure some people will hold that against the film. The film could very well be lifted straight from a video game; the story is over-the-top, the characters and action even more so. It isn’t all that much of a stretch to label it a video-game cut scene. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing I'll leave it up to you to decide for yourself.
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