Hollywood seems to have an Asian fetish these days.
From the countless horror remakes to the martial-art-heavy films such as "The Forbidden Kingdom" and "Kung Fu Panda," Hollywood producers have taken a liking to all things Asian. Now they're moving into the world of cartoons.
Five years removed from "The Matrix" trilogy, the sibling duo of Andy and Larry Wachowski have returned with a live-action version of the classic '60s anime, "Speed Racer." Taking a page out of the cartoon's frenetic animation style, they create a hyper-realistic world of fast cars and intense racing. But the film is constrained by overly corny moments and a lack of intelligent dialogue.
The film follows the story of Speed (played by Emile Hirsch), the middle child of the Racer family and a naturally talented driver who follows the footsteps of his late older brother, Rex (Scott Porter), who died in a race years earlier. Speed dominates the local circuit and is offered a lucrative deal to race with Royalton Industries. He turns down the deal and suffers the wrath of the company's maniacal owner.
What makes this film is its visuals. The Wachowski brothers tried to replicate the appearance of an anime by keeping both the foreground and the background in focus. The colors were saturated, creating a vibrant look. While it is trippy and a little difficult to absorb initially, it adds
The strong cast shined in their performances. John Goodman and Susan Sarandon are marvelous in their portrayals of Pops and Mom Racer, giving the film grounded balance to the cartoonish world. Roger Allam, who played the mogul Royalton, is the quintessential movie supervillain down to his Segway. Slithering and sliming his way through the film, he is fun to hate because he exudes natural charisma.
However, Hirsch didn't do much to give life to Speed, plodding his way with one emotion: focus. But his trash talking is amusing during the races.
But the quips were few and far in between. A lot of the dialogue is annoying, especially anything that came out of the mouth of Spritle (Paulie Litt). Much of what Spritle said sounded forced and added nothing to the film.
"Speed Racer" is a decent adaptation that provides some entertainment. While the visuals and the race scenes are fun to watch, the stuff in between comes off more as filler than substance. It's worth watching at the dollar theater or as a rental. Here's hoping the next anime adaptation, "Dragon Ball Z" will be better.
