Speed Racer
Rated PG for sequences of action, some violence, language and brief smoking.
reviewed by Christopher Lyon
My brother and I loved watching "Speed Racer" when we were kids. It wasn't just the pure joy of physics-defying auto aerodynamics and car crashes. Speed was a hero who usually raced to save the world from some evil villain. Winning the race was always about more than just winning the race. We didn't know then to call it anime, but the show had cool stylized graphics and a loopy Japanese sense of goofball humor. When I heard the brothers Wachowski were remaking "Speed" as a live-action film, I wondered if they'd turn it into an eye-popping "Matrix"-style slam dunk -- or a "Matrix 3"-style head scratcher. The answer is yes.
The Story
Eight years after his race car driving brother Rex (Scott Porter) is killed in a race under shady circumstances, Speed Racer is moving up the racing ranks driving Rex's famous Mach 5. Speed races for the family business, Racer Motors. Pops Racer (John Goodman) builds the cars with the help of mechanic Sparky (Ken Gurry). Speed's little bro Spritle (Paulie Litt) and the family's pet monkey are always sneaking off and getting into trouble. Speed's girlfried Trixie (Christina Ricci) is an essential part of the team, and Mom Racer (Susan Sarandon) holds them all together.
Speed's success draws the attention of major corporate sponsor Royalton Industries. Royalton himself (Roger Allam) whisks the whole family off for a tour of the impressive race-training and car-building facilities in a bid to get Speed to sign a contract to race for him. When Speed turns him down, Royalton turns ugly, revealing racing's seedy underside to Speed and threatening the whole Racer family.
Realizing he's in trouble, Speed joins forces with the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox) to try to beat Royalton and the corrupt underworld machine that controls racing. To do so, they'll have to survive and win the treacherous cross-country race that killed Rex and hope for a spot in the ultimate race of them all, the Grand Prix.
The Verdict
What Works: I had a great time at "Speed Racer." It unfolds in a wild, Skittles-colored world in which the Wachowski brothers (who also wrote the film) duplicate and saturate details of the cartoon show and magnify them a hundred times larger and darker and more futuristic. Instead of racing on an oval track, Speed and his foes race on intricately curved and rounded and impossible 3-D courses that send cars flying and skidding and slamming into each other mid-air. From the trailer, I thought these scenes might just be chaotic and confusing, but they're mostly not. The action, especially later in the film, is intense but relatively easy to follow.
If you've ever played with Hot Wheels (or Matchbox) cars, making them jump and twirl and "fight," you'll know exactly what to expect here. And if you watch those scenes with that sense of play, I dare you not to have fun doing so.
On the human scale, the strategy is to make every shot big and bold and not to apologize about the lack of sophistication. Because of the CGI, most of the acting happens in front of green screens, giving the the feel of a cartoon stage play with live-action actors. And that eventually worked for me, especially in the story's second half. I really dug the 60s-era Batman-style fight scenes between the heroes and the villains.
It doesn't hurt that the W. bros. collected some A-listers to deliver the lines. Emile Hirsh is a great Speed Racer. Goodman recreates Pops nicely, and you can almost hear the director encouraging little Paulie Litt to ham it up even more as the over-the-top little bro Spritle. Matthew Fox even delivers some genuine acting as Racer X.
What Doesn't Work: Okay, the whole thing goes on too long at two hours and 15 minutes, and it takes a real willingness to play along with the Wachowski's larger-and-louder-than-life approach. Lots of people won't dig the giant close-ups of heads used to "wipe" between one scene and another. For others, the experience will feel like watching your good friend play a video game without ever handing over the controller. The story is so black-and-white and the performances so "big," others won't be able to dig the made-for-a-seven-year-old-boy frame of mind.
I get all of that. I just liked it anyway.
Content: Swearing includes the use of Jesus' name once and God's name several times, along with a few other harsh words. Parents of young kids will want to know that Speed and Trixie hang out alone in a car learning to kiss at "Inspiration Point." Lots of action violence results in one or two deaths.
Worldview
The film's central conflict revolves around what amounts to a religious war. Speed admits to Royalton that cars and racing serve as a religion for his family, with corporate sponsors filling the role of the devil. In rebuttal, Royalton explains to Speed that his religion is money, and he's willing to fix races and kill drivers to manipulate the stock market in the worship of his god. The story then pits the Racer family's worship of "pure racing" against Royalton's willingness to cheat, lie, and steal in sacrifice to money. I rooted for Speed's religion to win, but both make lousy gods.
Don't get me wrong. I love sports in a big way. But it's interesting to think of the worship of both money and competition on display at a NASCAR event. Or on any given NFL Sunday. Or on the global stage during a major soccer match. There's no doubt the world is full of sports and money worshippers. And the two often come together. But both idols are hollow and distract us from worship of the true God. (Check out Jesus' teaching in Luke 16:13, then read it again and replace the word "money" with your favorite sport.)
On the positive side, Pops and Mom Racer are a couple of great parents, especially for the movies. In a nice moment, we see Pops make a choice not to repeat with Speed a mistake he made with Rex eight years earlier. He admits to Speed that he was partly responsible for driving Rex away by laying down the law and telling him he could never come back home. When Speed is about to walk away, Pops shows incredible grace and tells Speed he loves him and that he can come back anytime.
It's an imitation of the grace God the Father offers to all of us who run from His family looking for fun or purpose away from Him. He's ready and eager to forgive our sin and restore our relationship with Him. Jesus described His Father in the story of the prodigal son as a man longing for the wandering son to come back home and be restored. (See Luke 15:11-32.) Pops becomes that father in the course of the film, making it easier for Speed to turn to him for help instead of heading off on his own.
Questions
- Most critics don't feel the need, the need for "Speed." How about you?
- Were you ever a fan of the TV show? What other ancient cartoons would you like to see made into movies?
- Which would you rather do: watch a good movie or play a good video game? Have you ever done both at the same time?
- Have you ever noticed that a major sporting event like a race or a football game can look a lot like people worshipping something? How do we keep our passion for the things we love from becoming bigger than our worship of God?
- Do you think of your dad as a man of grace or as an enforcer of the law or both? (Dads should all do both sometimes.) Do you think of God as someone who gives grace or enforces His law in your life?