Speed Racer
In a word, this movie is fun. If you're like me and expected the hyper-stylized look to be limited to the races, I think you'll be surprised 'cause the world of Speed Racer is clearly not this world. The entire world is the brilliant pastels that you've seen in the trailers and it totally works for this movie.
The races themselves are wildly over-the-top, but as someone who doesn't particularly care for auto racing, I have to say that I'd watch these insane tests of skill. And the cars ... man, those are some beautiful cars!
Translation of the characters from the cartoon was done surprisingly well, and I laughed out loud at the numerous jokes they made at the cartoon like Pops Racer grunting or even Speed's "oh!" expression that are so well known, even to people like me who didn't watch the cartoon that often.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Spridle and Shim Shim. To my surprise, they were truly amusing. Comic relief that didn't suck (ala Jar Jar Binks), if you will. I especially liked that Speed's idolization of his lost brother Rex had been transferred to Spridle's idolization of Speed. The moment that Speed realized that his little brother worshiped him like he worshiped Rex was nicely done and credit has to go to Emile Hirsch (Speed) for the way he carried that moment.
So, for some good clean fun, I can't recommend this movie more. If you're going in expecting it to be anything other than that, you might be disappointed, but I enjoyed the heck out of it.
4 Mach 5s out of 5.
The races themselves are wildly over-the-top, but as someone who doesn't particularly care for auto racing, I have to say that I'd watch these insane tests of skill. And the cars ... man, those are some beautiful cars!
Translation of the characters from the cartoon was done surprisingly well, and I laughed out loud at the numerous jokes they made at the cartoon like Pops Racer grunting or even Speed's "oh!" expression that are so well known, even to people like me who didn't watch the cartoon that often.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Spridle and Shim Shim. To my surprise, they were truly amusing. Comic relief that didn't suck (ala Jar Jar Binks), if you will. I especially liked that Speed's idolization of his lost brother Rex had been transferred to Spridle's idolization of Speed. The moment that Speed realized that his little brother worshiped him like he worshiped Rex was nicely done and credit has to go to Emile Hirsch (Speed) for the way he carried that moment.
So, for some good clean fun, I can't recommend this movie more. If you're going in expecting it to be anything other than that, you might be disappointed, but I enjoyed the heck out of it.
4 Mach 5s out of 5.