For those who don’t know or remember, “Speed Racer” was a Japanese cartoon that hit our shores and television sets back in the late 1960s. I would refrain from calling this show an anime’ since that to me carries a much darker tone. Anime in most cases delivers an impact of realism and drama, interlaced with exaggerated violence, nudity and blood spattering that is not for the faint of heart.
“Speed Racer” by contrast was children’s fare, at least in its edited American form. Taking into account that by the time it had reached our networks it was already old hat in its native Japan. Nevertheless it captured a cult audience as so many animes do, depicting a futuristic type of auto racing involving jumps, flips and spinning turns while fending off “bad guy” racers with all manner of wild gadgets and weapons.
The Wachoski brothers stood the movie world on its ear with its anime inspired Matrix Trilogy. They brought Hong Kong martial arts film making to whole new audience in a way never seen before. Although with “Speed Racer” the Wachoskis make no pretense towards realism, quite the opposite in fact. In as much as Frank Miller’s “Sin City” looked like a comic book plastered onto the big screen, “Speed Racer” is a cartoon that has been injected with live DNA. Without the benefit of wild prosthetics, each actor achieved the look and style of their cartoon counterparts with simple wardrobe and hairdos. The backgrounds and worlds they play out in are as wild and surreal as the Matrix was dark and foreboding. Bright primary colors abound and the cars and tracks look like Hot Wheels play sets on dinosaur steroids. The driving and action is over the top and at some points comical, as I believe it was intended to be. I’m sure young audiences will be wide eyed at what they see while many un-indoctrinated adults will have their senses assaulted.
Keep in mind this movie holds true to the spirit of the cartoon that inspired it and it captures the vivid imagination of a young child who is fascinated cars in a totally un-mechanical way. I relate to this so closely since I can clearly remember what it was like to love my toy cars and wish that I could shrink myself down to fit inside them and roar around the track. I knew nothing of engines or mechanics then, it was just the pure love wanting to be the race driver that screamed past all comers and held the checkered flag high on a victory lap to the cheers of an enormous crowd. It was here that John Goodman and Emile Hirsch truly shined in their respective roles as father and son. They delivered their lines with the kind of passion that swept you into believing that this family not only wanted to race cars, it was their very life’s blood.
I applaud the Wachoskis for being daring enough to make such an art driven and stylized film. Even if it isn’t a commercial success, it’s still in the winners circle for me. A fantastic homage that is better than the cartoon will ever be. Go Speed Racer Go!
Some years back, Polar Lights released a 1/25 scale 
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