Speed Racer

The first twenty minutes I joyfully wallowed in its ingenuity, stylization and precision that the Wachowskis shower at you both horizontally and vertically. But then the same happens over and over for the rest of the movie. Here and there a wonderful moment occurs, but mostly you just get a chimp gawping out at you from the screen. And I don’t mean the excellent as always Hirsch. In my eyes it gradually devolves into the level of a far too long tripped out paint by numbers book that isn’t shaken out of its over-combined lethargy until the very end. Personally, I was expecting something different and more bizarre. This was, Speedy’s adventures make a traditional infantile family movie about the right values, with a pinch of insight into basic capitalism for the very young. So, certainly baloney, but not much fun. Still I would like to recommend this epileptic’s paradise because you really don’t get the chance to see something like this every day. And, last but not least, for that feeling of speed that the Wachowski siblings (can’t call them brothers, can I?) are so skilled at instilling. P.S.: That monkey in the pajamas has an unpleasantly penetrating gaze. I still have the feeling that somebody’s looking at me. Brr. (2008-05-08)

The Wachowskis show once again their technical skills and impress with an incredible range of perfectly tuned colors, visuals, a captivating concept of car races, and typical camera positions and shooting systems of some scenes. On the other hand, they have quite traditionally forgotten about the script, which oscillates between a “sketch” from a silly sitcom and entertainment for the whole family, especially for the younger ones. The plot is very dysfunctional, but technically breathtaking. The classic that we are used to, but this time we won't forgive it. (2009-01-02)

Beautifully kinetic, not only via movement on the screen, but also the movement around the story. Had I seen it as a child, my brain would have blown out of my nose. Anyway, it is elegant, funny, confidently told and poetically boyish with its pastel-manga-coloring book-family-chimpy style. Even the clichés that sometimes irritate me are completely smooth and high-octane in this cheeky injection. WW may be ahead of their time, or maybe they missed it completely, but to hell with the times, I watch movies and this one works better than any 3D prefabricated product. The added dimension of Speed Racer is probably the art of listening to a complex but completely effective machine for a simple story. Family movies have always bored me. Now I know why. None of them look like Speed Racer. (2012-11-21)

Despite my aversion to Japanese animated series, despite the silly humor that abounds, despite the heaps of clichés and despite the silly characters of the little brother and his tame chimpanzee... I actually had fun with this. Not groundbreaking or memorable, but thanks to the stunning visuals, imaginative racing scenes and Giacchino's music, it's pretty much sound from start to finish. Three and a bit. (2012-12-31)

A visual trip into the dimension of spilled colors and an absence of plot that perhaps only looks at family values and "sports" clichés. I’m not familiar with Japanese pop culture sources for manga comics, so after an hour and a half I was looking at the clock an unusual amount of times. Sure, it's new and unique and maybe someone will want to reference it now and then, but I don't think the Wachowskis are the kind of filmmakers suitable for family entertainment in which the children get lost and parents don't understand. While film theorists are feeling blissful, I find myself wondering how many balls the Wachowski brothers actually lost. The people at Warner were obviously on speed when they went into this, and they must have cried a lot over the 120 million. (2008-09-12)