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 (as The Wachowski Brothers) , Lana Wachowski (as The Wachowski Brothers)

Writers:

Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski,

Stars:

Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, Christina Ricci

10 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:

Speed has no limits.

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Genres:

Action | Family | Sport

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Brazil] Warner Bros [France]

Country:

USA Australia Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 May 2008 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Speed Racer

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., 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

While the racecars are totally fictional, most of the pedestrian cars are actually based on real-life futuristic concept cars (one can easily spot an orange Rinspeed E-GO Rocket parked at the nearest to the screen when Rex picks Speed up from school). At one point, two Peugeot concept cars (the award-winning Peugeot 4002 Lion design and the quirky Moonster) are seen as well.

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Goofs

After the fight between Cruncher's men and the others at the passage of Casa Cristo 2, Speed is located at the far right of Racer X. Yet when the camera close in on Racer X's face (when he says "looks like another change of plan"), Speed is on the immediate right, and it's impossible to move that fast.

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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 first half of the closing credits is white, with speed lines. The latter half of the closing credits is in luminescent rainbow colours.

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Connections

Referenced in Bum Reviews: Speed Racer (2008)

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Soundtracks

Score from the Speed Racer
Classic Television Series (1966-1967)
Written by Nobuyoshi Koshibe

User Reviews

An Interesting Transformation from Animation to Live Action!

Personally I have never been a fan of the original animated series, and I wasn't sure what to expect of this movie. After seeing the trailers I thought it looked kind of cheesy and over-done. After watching this I realized that the cheesy graphics, work to it's own advantage. This movie really caught a good look at Live action Speed Racer without losing the characteristics of the Cartoon. I didn't think even the Wachowski brothers could pull this off, but as usual, they did.

As far as the actors performances, Emile Hirsch did exceptional, but my eye was mostly on the brilliant performances by John Goodman, and new comer Paul Litt who plays Spritle, Speed's mischievous little brother. I recommend this for the family, don't wait for the DVD get to the theaters while this stunning cinematography is on the big screen!