Speed Racer
2008
†
Director: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Fox, Benno Fürmann, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rain, Richard Roundtree, Scott Porter, Roger Allam
Speed Racer was born to be a racing car driver. Apart from nominative determinism, his parents run an independent racing team and his late older brother Rex was an ace behind the wheel. Now the young man is at a crossroads: should he stay loyal to his family or join a big corporate team. I thought the Wachowskis hit the bottom with The Matrix Revolutions, but there was still a long way to go. Their adaptation of Tatsuo Yoshida's manga series is an insanely long, stupid, and boring children's movie with a plot which is simultaneously childish and elaborate beyond comprehension. It was shot entirely against green screen. The candy-coloured world looks striking at first, but it wears out its welcome very quickly. The computer-generated racing scenes, in particular, lack any sense of gravity and look like a computer game. If the film was entertaining, I wouldn't mind that it is an odd tourist ad for Germany. Half of the cast is German, the main villain speaks the language out of character, and the winning racer picks up a trophy shaped like the Brandenburg Gate.
