Movie: 'Speed Racer' (2008)

I am becoming convinced that 2008 was a miniature golden age for movies I actually liked and ended up buying. Listing off in no particular order I have seen and even purchased:

1. Encounters at the End of the World,
2. Get Smart,
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,
4. Iron Man,
5. The Incredible Hulk,
6. Kung Fu Panda,
7. Speed Racer,
8. WALL-E,

and while a few of those are of questionable quantity (Kingdom Skull, cough cough, Get Smart) I did like them all. I saw five of those in the cinema, for goodness sake, which was unprecedented. The others I watched much later, and in fact, I only watched 'Speed Racer' this week, making it more than four years late.

'Speed Racer' was made by the Wachowski Brothers (now known simply as the Wachowskis for readily discerned reasons) and was based on the Japanese anime. This movie was roundly criticised on release, with some holdouts, and is now comparatively unknown. I really don't know why that happened, except as a punishing self-correction of critics after the 'Matrix' series.

I really enjoyed this movie. There are obvious flaws, and apparently noone was expecting a family movie from the Wachowskis, but it is overall a very enjoyable romp. The story is simple, as is everything else: The young Speed Racer (yes, that's his real name) is racing for his family's company in the futuristic racing league, and trying to redeem his dead brother's memory, when he and his family are approached by corporate behemoth Royalton Industries for a racing alliance. When Speed rejects the offer thoughtfully Arnold Royalton reveals the corruption at the heart of racing in bitter vengeance before vowing to break the Racers by any crooked means necessary, as he broke Speed's brother Rex before his demise. This lays the groundwork for most of the racing action in the movie as Speed endeavours to defeat Royalton and save his family and his own future.

The movie has twin cores of easy appeal in the incredibly colourful and dynamic racing sequences which dominate, and the excellent score by Michael Giacchino. Giacchino is clearly the composer of now; I love his scores and have ever since 'The Incredibles'. He is awesome and marries sound to colour vividly and coherently.

As mentioned the races are visually colourful and kinetic, forming miniature masterpieces of cartoon-like action linked together by the routine plot and John Allam hamming it up mercilessly as Royalton. Colour zooms all over the screen, in the backdrops that are halfway between cartoons and realism, in the blur of the racing and the costumes and colour schemes everywhere you look. It is awesome and a throwback to the '60s colour boom. It's also one of the things people didn't like, and I can appreciate that, but it is a good way to insulate the movie from reality.

Amidst all the special effect frothiness, there is a surprisingly heavyweight and high profile cast that includes John Goodman, Susan Sarandon and Christina Ricci as well as comparative newcomer Emile Hirsch. John Goodman seems to know no bounds; He will appear everywhere and in anything, and always pull his considerable weight. Ricci is an enigma as always, and someone whose back catalogue should be investigated. I had forgotten she existed in her quirky excellence. The cast also provide the one moment that sticks out like a sore thumb, the infamous brawl where Goodman as Pops Racer twirls a hoodlum over his head and everything looks wrong.

Summing up, 'Speed Racer' is an exciting, colourful, kinetic, musically gorgeous cartoon of a live-action movie. It has some bizarre moments that break the mood, and probably too little story for many viewers, but I liked it. I don't understand why it was ridiculed so badly. C'est la vie.

O.

PS Now to get back to reading. Far too many movies recently!