Liat Nosrati
“Speed Racer” is an electrifying rendition of an old classic.Gentlemen, start your engines. The Mach 5 is back in action. “Speed Racer” was originally an anime series in Japan called “Mach GoGoGo” and gained popularity in America during the late 1960s. But thanks to a green screen and a load of 21st century technology, it has turned into a film with gloriously vibrant action scenes.In this PG-rated film, all character names remain the same: Speed Racer, Pops Racer, Mom Racer, Rex Racer, Spritle Racer, Speed’s girlfriend, Trixie; and even their pet chimpanzee, Chim Chim. The storyline stayed true to the cartoon with only a few exceptions. The story begins with Speed and his great passion for wanting to be a professional racecar driver, just like his older brother, Rex. Speed was always distracted in school and all he could think about was car racing.After Rex dies in a crash at the Casa Cristo cross-country rally, Speed makes it his mission to be the best car racer in the world. With the family business and his girlfriend there to support him, he is fearless behind the wheel of his Mach 5, which was designed by his father.The owner of Royalton Industries makes Speed a tempting offer after he takes notice of Speed’s amazing driving skills. Speed turns down the offer, however, after realizing that Royalton is a cheater and will stop at nothing to fix the races in order to gain profit.Royalton swears to Speed that he will never win another race again, but Speed is determined to prove him wrong. Speed teams up with his rival, Racer X, to race in the Casa Cristo Classic 5000, the same cross-country rally race that took his brother’s life years ago.Emile Hirsch truly immerses himself in the role of Speed. He does a fantastic job of taking a character that is more than 40 years old into the world of the future.The film comes from the makers of “The Matrix” trilogy, Andy and Larry Wachowski, and they do everything in their power to utilize that classic bullet-time filming style for “Speed Racer.” The colors in this movie are so luminous and beautiful; it’s like seeing the first color scenes of “The Wizard of Oz” for the first time.There is no denying there are some corny aspects to the film, though. Characters use phrases like “jeepers,” “holy canoly” and “cool beans.” But it’s all in good fun; “Speed Racer” is a family film.Susan Sarandon plays Speed’s mom and really contributes a wholesome element to the film. Sarandon has major chemistry with John Goodman, who plays the role of Pops. She’s everything you’d expect a mom to be and fully supports her family, not unlike her role in “Stepmom.”The film looks like it takes place in the year 3000, but characters have accents streaming from all over the world: America, England and Australia. It’s hard to really tell where the movie actually takes place.Trixie, played by Christina Ricci, is an enormously cute character, proving Ricci’s acting versatility. She makes it look so easy to go from playing in a dark film like “Black Snake Moan” to capturing the hearts of the audience in “Speed Racer.”The idea of transforming the cartoon into a film had been in the air since 1992. However, production kept being postponed because the right combination of actors, writers and a director couldn’t be found – until now.”Speed Racer” is fun for everyone. A blockbuster in the making for 16 years, the film really is the result of hard work.
GRADE: B+