Speed Racer (2008)

A young driver, Speed Racer, aspires to be champion of the racing world with the help of his family and his high-tech Mach 5 automobile.

Directors:

Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

Writers:

Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski,

Stars:

Emile Hirsch, Nicholas Elia, Christina Ricci

8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Emile Hirsch	...	Speed
Nicholas Elia	...	Young Speed Racer
Susan Sarandon	...	Mom
Melissa Holroyd	...	Speed's Teacher
Ariel Winter	...	Young Trixie Shimura
Scott Porter	...	Rex Racer
Gian Ganziano	...	Everyman Announcer
Peter Fernandez	...	Local Announcer
Harvey Friedman	...	Harold Ledermann Announcer
Sadao Ueda	...	Japanese Announcer
Valery Tscheplanowa	...	Russian Announcer
Sami Loris	...	Italian Announcer
Olivier Marlo	...	French Announcer
Sean McDonagh	...	Celtic Announcer
Kick Gurry	...	Sparky

Storyline

The story begins with Speed Racer who is a young man with natural racing instincts whose goal is to win The Crucible, a cross-country car racing rally that took the life of his older brother, Rex Racer. Speed is loyal to the family business, run by his parents Pops and Mom. Pops designed Speed's car, the Mach 5. The owner of Royalton Industries makes Speed a lucrative offer, Speed rejects the offer, angering the owner. Speed also uncovers a secret that top corporate interests, including Royalton, are fixing races and cheating to gain profit. With the offer to Speed denied, Royalton wants to ensure that Speed will not win races. Speed finds support from his parents and his girlfriend Trixie and enters The Crucible in a partnership with his one-time rival, Racer X, seeking to rescue his family's business and the racing sport itself.

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Plot Keywords:

speed | racer | race | racing | mach 5 | 

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Taglines:

In the world's fastest race, nothing can slow you down.

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Genres:

Action | Family | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for sequences of action, some violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [br] Warner Bros [fr]

Country:

USA Australia Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 May 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Speed Racer: The IMAX Experience

Filming Locations:

Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$120,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£362,102 (UK) (9 May 2008)

Gross:

$43,929,341 (USA) (1 August 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures, Silver Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Peter Fernandez and Corinne Orr, the original English voices of Speed Racer/Racer X and Trixie/Spritle in Speed Racer, voice race announcers in the film.

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Goofs

Speed's eyes change from a dominate color (brown) to a recessive color (blue-green), which is impossible.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Race Announcer: All drivers to your cars, please. All drivers to your cars.

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Crazy Credits

The Speed Racer theme (with both English and Japanese lyrics) plays throughout the closing credits.

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Connections

Referenced in Six Pack (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Jonny Quest (Background)"
Written by Joseph Barbera, William Hanna and Hoyt Curtin

User Reviews

I Don't Know What Haters Were Expecting But It Did Exactly What It Set Out To Do

and that would be, entertain.

I can't describe how many times I thought 'whoah!' it's one of those moments that could only ever happen in cartoons or 'whoa!' that was anime level crazy! This film set out to create a literal live action adaptation of a lovable & cheesy retro cartoon anime. That's exactly what it did.

Let's start with the PG rating, this was appropriate not because this film is 'aimed' at kids (which it wasn't clearly, as box office disconnect showed) but because it's a 'family' film for all ages based on a cartoon that most of the older generation watched when they were kids, the source material barely even bordered a 12A and yet the film managed to in fact surpass it's source material in maturity.

Fans of anime will seriously lap this up despite what the recent comments have said. Not only has every care been taken to preserve elements of the source material but it also has those cool retro and also modern anime moments. Good and bad guys with crazy cartoon anime hairstyles, crazy over-the-top kung fu, elaborate motion line effects just like in mangas, crazy death defying races, cheesy as hell dialogue which fits perfectly in context! Performances were quite impressive given it's a predominantly 'kids' PG film and that they were filming against green screen.

I also commend the Wachowski's use of such a strong colour palette.They didn't tone it down or diverge from the theme and each scene had a contextual wash of colour.Serious or more intimate moments had darker shadows while remaining colourfully vibrant. They were bold and not shy about what this film was going to look like.

To the haters again i say ,'what exactly where you expecting? The Matrix with cars?, people getting there throats slit?, symbolic commentary on capitalism,corruption, religion or the new world order? Go into this movie expecting high adrenaline scenes and all campy fun that only a 60's anime adaptation can provide, but don't just to go and watch it just to 'see what the fuss is about' until you actually understand what the source material was like. That way the movie will exceed your expectations.

I don't have complete praise for this movie however, in that towards the end of the film they got a little overboard with the editing and i was really let down by the final antagonist type drivers. Speed seemed to have a harder time in the casa cristo race in the film where the other drivers were far more menacing. It seemed like 'Cannonball Taylor', 'Gray Ghost' and especially the bad ass, white haired yakuza driver (for musha motors by the way) were just a flash gone by and Speed just beat them without any problems at all. Let's hope they make more of a presence in any semblance of an extended/directors cut