Speed Racer Movie Review

With a name like Speed Racer, you know this kid was born to race. Kidzworld checks out this classic anime series turned blockbuster.

Born to Race

Since he was a kid all Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) has wanted to do is race. Now that he’s older, Speed has all the skill and instincts to be the best in the world. Speed’s family, including Mom, Pops, little bro Spritle, and their pet chimpanzee, Chim-Chim, all work for the family racing business, and along with girlfriend Trixie, they’ll do anything to help Speed fulfill his dream.

An Offer You Can’t Refuse

On the brink of racing superstardom, Speed is approached by the owner of Royalton Industries who gives him a big money offer, but Speed is loyal to the family and turns him down. Royalton gets crazy mad and vows to make sure that Speed and his Mach 5 never cross the finish line again. In fact, he’s been rigging races for a long time, along with a bunch of powerful companies, and when Speed find out, he knows he has to beat the baddies at their own game.

To save the family business and the sport he loves, not to mention show Royalton money isn’t everything, Speed teams up with his former rival, Racer X, and tweaks out the Mach 5 with a ton of gadgets and gizmos designed to help him win, and stay alive, during The Crucible, an insane cross-country race that took the life of his older brother, Rex. Can Speed fulfill his dream, or will he crash and burn?

Bottom Line

This movie is a dizzying series of reality-defying races where futuristic super-cars spin, flip, jump, and crash along racetracks so colorful and challenging they look like they came right out of a video game. If that’s what they guys who made The Matrix were going for, they succeeded, but even though the action is full-out sensory overload, there just isn’t much movie in between. The story is pretty played out and the characters aren’t very interesting, even played by a pretty impressive cast. Other than that, it just seems like Speed Racer should have stayed as a cartoon from the past, or turned into a sweet video game of the future.

Rating:

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