Speed Racer: The Review

Roaring into theaters Friday is Speed Racer, the multimillion-dollar, family-friendly adaptation of the beloved 1960s cartoon, fueled by the imagination of the Wachowskis brothers. GO!

Speed Racer, the extravagant film adaptation of the 1960s Japanese anime series of the same name, comes out Friday, after some 16 years in development. Various writers and directors came and went over the years until the Wachowskis brothers and producer Joel Silver teamed up and shifted gears on the project to make Speed Racer a family film that would reach a wider audience.

They succeeded. Speed Racer, shot entirely against a greenscreen and filled out with eye-popping CGI, is an amazing buffet of kid-friendly battles and bloodless brawls. Unlike many of the Wachowskis brothers' films, the death toll in Speed Racer is zero. Even when cars tumble and careen of cliffs into chasms, you notice in the CGI background the driver escaping safely. There's also a safety device, the "Kwiksave Foam," which is triggered during a crash to create a protective cocoon around the driver. The idea, after all, is to bring the kids; it's OK.

The biggest star of the film is actually the CGI, and it is phenomenal. There were so many alien shapes, colors, outfits, and machinery that the back part of my cerebral cortex started to melt at one point; and I mean that in a good way. The greenscreen-shot CGI world in which the film unfolds gives it a "cartoon cosmos" that a story like Speed Racer demands.

The first time I saw the original Speed Racer cartoon decades ago, the show's Japanese anime stood out because of the speed of animation, with images moving four clips faster then our Hanna Barbara tunes. The film delivers the same effect, with quick cuts and fast shots at a break-neck pace. Whenever the Mach 5 rockets around one of the mind-boggling designed racetracks, you just can't take your eyes off the screen.

Somewhat ironically, Speed Racer tells the tale of man bucking against the villainy of corporate sponsors (the film is backed by more than $80 million in corporate promotions from General Mills, McDonald's, Target, Topps, Esurance, Mattel, LEGO and others). The talented driver Speed (Emile Hirsch) turns down a sponsorship offer from the owner of the mega corporation Royalton Industries (played by Roger Allam). Speed has to fight to keep the family racing business and also expose a conspiracy of race-fixing by corporate interests.

Standing with Speed against the evil empire is his girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci). John Goodman and Susan Sarandon are competent in the supporting roles of Pops and Mom Racer. Comic relief comes from 11-year-old Paulie Litt as Sprittle and Chim-Chim, a chimpanzee played by two actual chimps, Willy and Kenzie.

The final piece of the cast is the mysterious Racer X, who may or may not be Speed's older brother, Rex. Racer X was the classic, beloved anti-hero of the cartoon. In the hands of Matthew Fox (Lost) he falls slightly flat. Back in 1994, the role of Racer X was offered to Henry Rollins, who probably would've made a much better, brooding antagonist.

But mostly, Speed Racer is an audio-visual feast; you could see this film ten times and not catch all the eye-candy stuffed onscreen.