Speed Racer [DVD] [2008]

This is a movie based on a popular japanese cartoon series of the 60's that developed quite a following in american when it was shown - redubbed - over there. apparently. because I'd never heard much about it before and thus I was able to approach this movie as a member of the general viewing public rather than a die hard fan.Speed racer is the name of the title character of the film. and he's a young man who drives race cars for his family race team. not quite over the death of his elder brother after a fall from grace as a driver, speed is offered a role driving for a team run by an industrialist. saying no reveals to him how corrupt the sport is. despite finding he has a few allies out there, it's a long hard road for speed to become a champion and clean up the sport.the directing and the style of the film tries to make it look like what is basically a live action cartoon. whilst this can be a bit jarring for the first fifteen minutes, not least thanks to some rather obvious cgi backgrounds, you do get used to it after that. the inventive use of editing and some beuatifully coloured scenery only adds to the effect.The cast are all pretty good - especially the chief villain - and as an adventure story it's not bad. You will find yourself getting quite caught in some of the race action. Yet thie may not quite succeed in grabbing all the age groups. spritle, speeds young brother, and his pet monkey are comedy support characters and are clearly meant to be charming and funny but they're horribly irritating. although if you're of their age group then you'll probably love them. trouble is that age group will want to see fast races and excitiement, and they may get bored during all the character stuff. And there's a fair amount of that, especially in the first hour of the film.This clocks in at 129 minutes. on the whole it's an enjoyable spectacle, but it may not be for everyone.the dvd is a rather basic package. It begins with a trailer for the movie get smart. which you can skip past via the next chapter button. and a trailer for a speed racer video game. you can't skip this but you can fast forward through it.The language tracks on offer are english czech and hungarian.the subtitles are english czech hungarian and romanian.there are just two features by way of extras:spritle in the big leagues has the actor who plays the boy touring the set. it runs for thirteen minutes, and thankfully any attempts at humour work okay. It also is quite interesting if you wonder what goes on on movie sets.Sooed racer: supercharged!: runs for fifteen minutes and uses footage from the film and a few new sequences of computer graphics to make a documentary suppoesdly from tv in the world of the film about the various drivers and race teams from the races. as a way of filling in background details it has it's moments, but a lot of the technical details of the cars it goes into may not grab you unless you're really into that kind of thing.And that's the dvd. Okay package. not a bad movie

Clearly, if the creators (The Wachowski brothers, directors of The Matrix) of the movie want you to remember anything about this movie - it's BRIGHT COLOURS.This is movie making from the pages of a comic book, with the colours, acting and plot that this entails. When it started, it was so garish and hyperkinetic that I prepared myself for the worst... however, I have to admit that as I watched it, it actually did start to suck me in to this bizarre pseudo reality, and I began rooting for Speed Racer (That's his name, not just his title..).Speed Racer is the car obsessed son in the Racer family, his father the designer of racing cars. When he starts performing in major races, a huge corporate sponsor woos him, but amazingly, it turns out that the big corporation has money, and not the best interests of the Racer Family, at heart. A few chases later, via a mysterious ally, an uneasy alliance with a rival Japanese driver, and <ahem> ninjas, we reach the good versus bad confrontation.Nothing about this is real - everything is hyper real in a calculated way - remember, this is adapted from a Japanese anime. Yet the actors, even in a wide eyed cartoon style way, do gradually do make you accept they might just be believable. Even if on the podium the winners drink a hyper white milk, rather than any other sparkling drinks...The story linking the action scenes is actually passable, and is actually a welcome relief from the action scenes which could leave you woozy with an overdose of movement and primary colours which are pretty sickly after a while...just remember this is skewed young, yet the story does have a little depth for grown-ups too.The gimmick here is the effects, and though the effect may not be to everyone's cup of tea, the effects are seamless. This sort of cartoonish hyper reality may just be what cgi was meant for.The movie as a whole is not a complete success.. that's for sure. But neither is it a disaster.. this is at the very least innovative and imaginative cinema - you wont see another movie like Speed Racer this year, and the derision it received in some quarters smacks of close-mindedness. So if you can stomach the nausea inducing frantic movement of bright pink and red and yellow, and want to see something a little different, then why not give it a shot?

My daughter watched this on repeat when she was 4/nearly 5 and I would always fall asleep in the middle and wake up at the end. Fast forward 10 years and at 14/nearly 15 she wanted to watch it again and she still loves it, but for different reasons now she is a teenager. And, having now seen it all the way through, I realise it really is a great movie - mad, fun, crazy and occasionally a bit dark. If you have kids that have slightly outgrown 'Cars' but are not quite ready for 'The Matrix' then get them to have a look at this film.

The general FX can leave little to be desired but the racing FX along with the story-line give a lot of imagination and impact. A general feel-good movie but there are actually quite a lot of themes expressed (e.g. grievance, role-models, corruption, science-fiction, family, honour, spies and passion). Generally a kids movie but young adults who may have watched when younger may find it quite interesting to watch again.

Great film,very vibrant colours and cartoon action

Very good

He loves this movie and felt quite nostalgic watching it again

its an old film but worth getting