Review by Rob Wright.
 
The makers of "The Matrix" trilogy bring the beloved anime series to the big screen with lots of flash, colorful effects and CGI. Is "Speed Racer" a Go Go Go? Or No No No?
 
http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2008/0 [...] er_review/

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Travis Meacham
 

Leave it up to Hollywood to ruin yet another movie about a cartoon I loved as a child. They even screwed up the car........they should have left it as the original was in the cartoon. Bastards! O well I still have my childhood memories  and they certainly can't take that away from me. Watching speed racer on a 12 inch black and white TV that got about 5 channels in all. It came on channel 45 with Captain Chesapeake and Mondy the sea monster. Those were the days. Remember when you wanted to change the channel you actually had to get up and turn the knob on the set. Then adjust the rabbit ears for the best picture.  

The crappy cgi in the trailer makes me wanna barf, this peice of crap is another "Hulk", no this might actually look worse.

".. like watching Michael Bay and Baz Luhrmann try to paint a Jackson Pollock with glow-sticks at a rave."
 
How long did it take you to come up with that line? I assume you're rather proud of yourself for it.
 
I agree with most of the points in the review, just not the overall conclusion. Yes, the movie is better when it isn't showing the race scenes.  In fact, it was surprisingly emotional. This movie is very much about Family, and there is far greater connection to the characters than in, say, Iron Man (which was still a good film.) And I agree, John Goodman is fantastic.
 
Even without the CG, the "dialog scenes" still have a very distinct look and feel to them, everything from the retro sets to the multi-layered video.
 
As for the racing scenes, yes, they are dizzying and over the top. But as for not being able to tell what's going on, I could say the same thing about some of the scenes in Transformers. And if you couldn't follow the action, I'll give you hint: there's not much to follow. Cars were rolling over each other and crashing into walls. That's all you really need to know.
 
Iron Man was a very good movie that did everything by the book. It hit all the right notes, just as it was supposed to. Speed Racer tried to do something new, and I say they succeeded. Just as the original cartoon looked very different from what we (in the U.S.)  thought a cartoon should look like in the 60s, the movie Speed Racer looks very different from what we think a movie should look like. And I applaud them for that.

Group hug everybody.

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Kevin Parrish
Contributing Editor / Official Chicken Clucker Tester
Tom's Games

 
Too cute for you? My apologies. Just trying to right something more complex and entertaining than "this movie sucks" or "this movie pwns."  
 

 
I'm not understanding what you're arguing about. You agree with me that the racing scenes in a racing movie are bad, and that the movie is better when it's focusing on the Racer family characters. We agree that John Goodman was excellent. We agree that the film has an extremely unique and exciting visual design. We agree on all of these things, so I'm not sure why you're in flaming mode.
 
I think the only thing we disagree on is  whether or not the blurry, messy racing/action scenes ruined the movie. You don't think so and argue the Wachowskis succeeded. I do think it ruined the movie because, after all, it's an action movie called SPEED RACER and the selling point should be the action, not John Goodman with a mustache.

"Flaming mode?" Nah, like I said I agree on many of your points. But I do NOT agree that the racing scenes are bad. I said they were "over the top." And in some movies, you HAVE to go over the top. I would have preferred if they slowed things down a little bit, but the racing did not spoil the movie for me. And when they did do some of the slow-motion Hero shots of the Mach 5/6 jumping, I thought it looked stunning.