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It’s Willy Wonka meets The Matrix meets Talladega Nights meets
anime amped up, and built for—what else, but speed. Speed Racer,
directed by the Wachowski Brothers with John Gaeta, is all about
movement and explosions of candy color.
Before I go any further, I have to admit it is
absolutely heartbreaking to find out the IMAX cinema won’t be
screening a 3D print. As I sat there, watching the imagination of
the filmmakers roll out one stunning visual delight after another, I
kept thinking of how awesome it would be to have all these effects
larger than life spilling out onto your lap and laying down this
absolutely welcome assault on your eyes. To have the 3D effect pull
you into lush unreal cityscapes and landscapes or to a racetrack
with flashing lights, somersaulting cars, spinouts, blowouts, twists
turns and all would have been to max out (at least legally) the rush
you could get from all the hard work that went into creating the
world of this film.
The film gets an incredible boost from the
casting—I was personally happy to see Chim Chim on the screen.
Call me a simpleton but I found that monkey more intellectually
stimulating than the Architect from the Matrix sequel. Kidding
aside, John Goodman and the costume designer and make up artist
really brought Pops Racer to life, Susan Sarandon was the ever
sweet, nurturing, supporting Mom Racer who made stacks of yummy
pancakes and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (I got hungry for
them right after). Paulie Litt was adorable and spot on funny as
Spirtle and British actor Roger Allam was properly overbearing as
the villainous, megalomaniacal corporate chief Royalton. Christina
Ricci looked doll-like. Emile Hirsch looked fine and yummy as Speed.
But of course I was happiest to see Lost’s Matthew Fox as Racer X.
Speed Racer is the film adaptation of Tatsuo
Yoshida’s Mahha GoGoGo/ Mach GoGoGo manga which aired in the late
1960s. Over the last decade or so there have been attempts to make a
live action film—at one time, Johnny Depp was up for the part of
Speed (he was also up for Iron Man). Of course now, filmmaking
technology practically puts zero limits to what one’s mind can
imagine and now I’m wondering what it would be like to live in the
head of the Wachowskis or my favorite, Tim Burton. Finding out how
they thought up all those racing stunts and sequences and how they
worked on all the layers of each frame will be total treat when the
DVD gets released.
And here’s one last plea to “the powers that
be:” please please please give us a chance to experience the 3D
print.
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