Well, I managed to catch "Speed Racer" yesterday and a huge question popped up while I was watching the movie - how the hell are Warner Bros gonna market this movie to Japan?

Before "Pokemon" of today, "MACH GO GO GO!" was one of the few Japanese anime shows that was ported/translated/edited during the 60s as "Speed Racer" in the US. So I'm wondering if this movie is going to be named as "Mach Go Go Go!" or "Speed Racer" when it premieres in Japan.

And the verdict about the "Speed Racer" movie? I LOVE IT!

The best way to describe the experience was that the movie was a Spy Kids movie in dazzling seizure-inducing super-saturated colors and a full-length Hot Wheels commercial.

IMHO the art direction was a very good choice. Instead of going for a super-realistic world with all the dirty nitty-gritty technical stuff, the movie celebrated the fact that "Speed Racer" as an animated series and went for a surreal colorful Austin-Powers-eque hyper-realistic world instead. The bright colors reminded the audience that you're suppose to have fun while watching the movie.

The story was pretty much straightforward, the characters were a little bland, but the storytelling was very effective and exciting. With all the dazzling, dizzy, fancy transition sequences, flashbacks, jump-cuts, etc., I'm hoping that I'm able to see a section of the storyboard some day and see how that was planned on paper. The way the backstory was told through flashback was cleverly executed and I love how they switch between the past and the present over the same scene. It might seem confusing at first, but I understood what's going on after a while. But for a short moment there I was worried that it's a movie meant for audience with short attention span. :3

Did I also mention that I love the crazy designs of the other race cars besides the Mach 5? I wonder if Hot Wheels had any part in designing some of the race cars... But it seems appropriate since the race course were pretty outrageous too.

Overall, this movie pretty much nailed the exhilaration of a high-speed race, and doing battle in an impossible environment. To my surprise, the gimmick gadget of the Mach 5, the Jumping Jacks, was used very effectively throughout the movie and was actually a necessity in order to survive a race. Of course, some of the bad guys are silly and have silly weapons installed in their vehicles. Watch out for those wacky racing teams themed after disco-babes, the army and VIKINGS. XD

And BTW, John Goodman IS Pops and was perfectly casted. Due to the nature of the movie, I've decided to overlook the fact that most of the characters were mostly 2-dimensional and did not get much character development. However, one of the notable scenes to look at was the scene where Speed and Trixie were dating in the Mach 5... It's really naughty.

ANYWAY

This movie is meant for kids and the young at heart. So, forget about seeing heavy family drama, forget the typical angsty teen hero, forget the Matrix even! This movie is about RACING at insane impossible speed and awesome impossible driving stunts in impossible hostile locations!

Just for once, allow yourself to displace your brain and enjoy the movie. I did.


I wonder if they'll ever make a movie base on "Neo Century GPX CYBER-FORMULA"?