“Are you ready to put away your toys and grow up?” spits Roger Allam’s power-hungry bad guy who seeks to foil Speed’s plans for victory in any way he can. The Wachowski brothers clearly aren't. He’s one of the film’s many over-the-top characters that provide for some cheesy encounters and confrontations. Speaking of that, the film plays it safe all throughout in everything from the fights and shootouts to the confrontational dialogue between the characters. And even the relationship between Speed and Christina Ricci’s character is very PG-friendly. You can’t blame the film as it’s obviously aimed at a younger audience for the most part, but anyone older than 10 will be questioning every innocent front the film puts on.
I am not so sure that Speed Racer will please all of the audiences out there. Critics seem to have turned against it for the most part, younger audiences will be transfixed by the visuals and the action but a lot of the dialogue and storyline will fly straight over their heads and the older viewers may find its cutesy, innocent demeanour a bit silly. It’s clearly aiming for the younger ones out there and I am sure that it will draw both them and the big bucks. It has that “toy store” appeal that kids will no doubt drool over, begging their parents to take them out for a time at the movies.
By its advertising and trailers Speed Racer looked both good and bad — good because of its eye-popping visuals and bad because of how cheesy and childish it all looked. I am both surprised and pleased to say that the film won me over and although it certainly has its weaknesses, it had enough of the fun factor and visual beauty for me to give it a moderate thumbs up.
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