Speed Racer (2008) | Movie Review

Speed Racer (2008) Movie Review

Speed Racer is primarily targeted at young boys though fans of Hot Wheels, Matchbox and Auto Grand Theft gamers will certainly lap up this Wachowski Brothers' (Matrix trilogy) live action, fast paced, CGI heavy, campy movie based on the Japanese comic book "Speed Racer".

Speed Racer offers a fairly decent family entertainment though not exactly one of the best action / CGI movies to be released this year. The movie is also available in IMAX format in certain theaters.

The movie retains the comic book feel with pop art colors especially the color motifs of the racers costumes, Sixties' car deco and racing tracks. The movie places a surprisingly strong emphasis on the importance of family, and the moral of the film teaches that "cheaters never prosper". However, the movie contains a lot of martial arts violence and other fighting, skimpy outfits as well as some language.

This movie is about Speed (Emile Hirsch - Alpha Dog), a natural and fearless racer who wants to carry the family tradition and win the prized Crucible. Most of the action takes place within a computer animated world so you can expect much of the action to defy the laws of physics. The characterizations are pretty 2-dimensional so adults may not find this movie appealing. Even my 12 year boy didn't quite enjoy this movie.

Christina Ricci (Black Snake Moan) stars as Trixie, Matthew Fox (Lost) as Racer X, and Oscar winner Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking) and John Goodman (Evan Almighty) as Mom and Pops Racer.

The adrenaline pumping score was composed by Michael Giacchino.

Speed Racer is Suitable for Children

Speed Racer is rated PG for sequences of action, some violence, language, and brief smoking. The racing is too fantastic to be believed and no one gets hurt in car crashes as the drivers are encased in some kind of super elastic bubble before being ejected from their cars. Violence is kept to a minimum, though there is a scene of one person being bitten by a piranha off screen. Small kids may find this scene frightening. Profanity and children being disobedient to parents may be off putting to families with very young children. This is more so as impressionable young kids may attempt to emulate such bad behavior. Other than that, this so-so movie is suitable for children.

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