Speed Racer

After ‘Iron Man’ kicked off the summer to an exciting start, ‘Speed Racer’ has the unwelcome task of trying to repeat its critical and commercial success. So here comes ‘Speed Racer’ out of dressing room wearing the brightest, most sparkling colours ever seen on a cinema screen.

‘Speed Racer’, which is based on the 60’s Japanese cartoon, sees ‘Speed Racer’ (yes first name ‘Speed’, surname, ‘Racer’) trying to win the worlds greatest race and overcome the ghost of his older brother who has put the family name in tatters due to selling out and becoming a cheater. Speed aims to do this by defeating all sort of crazy villains on the track.

And it’s on the track where ‘Speed Racer’ is great. The visuals are bright and vibrant, the special effects are almost comprehensible by comparison to last summer’s ‘Transformers’. The races themselves are visceral and a feast to the eyes. But it’s off the track where the film suffers.



‘Speed’ (Emile Hirch), our hero and middle child of the race obsessed ‘Racer’ family, is a bit of a drip off the track. He spends most of his time being told what to do and having heart to hearts with his parents. ‘Speed’ (excuse the pun) doesn’t drive the story, he broods a bit too much and as a result the film slows unforgivably down.

It’s as if the Wachoski Brothers are covering their bets by making a light, child friendly film to contrast the philosophically heavy ‘Matrix’ trilogy. As if ‘Speed Racer’ were to be a critical failure then they could always say that it’s a film for children and not critics.

8 Year old boys will love this film and some of their dad’s will find it fun also. The style and colour are OTT and the races are wacky. It’s almost worth the admission for those genuinely curious.

2.5/5