Movie Man
When film critic Will Pfeifer isn’t watching movies, he’s reading about movies, talking about movies, thinking about movies or dreaming about movies. Now he shares that unhealthy obsession with you. From Hollywood hits to Japanese obscurities, from Oscar night to the summer season, he’s got movies on the brain — and on this blog.

Archive for April 14th, 2008

Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer…

14 comments April 14th, 2008

In the comments section of last week’s post about THE INCREDIBLE HULK, reader Brian put the upcoming SPEED RACER movie way at the bottom of the summer movie list, saying it would only appeal to “young kids and masochistic viewers.” You might be right, Brian — some of that dialogue is beyond lame, and I question the use of Matthew “I’m acting as woodenly as I can” Fox in the pivotal role of the ultra-cool Racer X.

But as a boy who spent his formative years watching the high speed thrills and crashing carnage of the original SPEED RACER cartoon, I have to admit I’m looking forward to this one, and not just out of some warped sense of nostalgia (though that’s part of it). Looking at the trailers, I see a very real possibility that — at least on a purely visual level –this could be a groundbreaking movie. I can’t think of a time that the bright, pop-off-the-screen, candy-colored punch of cartoons has been brought to live-action with such zip and zing. Just check out this trailer…

I think we’re looking at something new here, something that takes the comic book physics of THE MATRIX movies (the Wachowski brothers’ last cinematic effort) and throws it right out the window, replacing it with something even wilder (and a heck of a lot more colorful). The way those cars bounce around mirrors the original cartoon perfectly, and even the quiet scenes pop right off the screen. Personally, I can’t wait to see this one, and on the biggest screen possible.

It is interesting to see Emile Hirsch, who starred in the ultra-serious INTO THE WILD, take on the role of Speed, but he seems to have the right wide-eyed wonder to carry it off. (Something he had, in fact, during INTO THE WILD, too.) And speaking of wide-eyed, if there’s a better casting choice for Trixie (Speed’s girlfriend) than Christina Ricci, I can’t think of it. She’s practically an anime character come to life. Not since her early work as Wednesday Addams has a role fit her this well. Even Matthew Fox seems well-used, with a digital boost making his voice even more robotic — and more fitting for the mysterious Racer X.

And if you need one more reason to be hopeful, there’s this: With all the computer-generated imagery packed into every frame of this film, they used a real chimp to play Chim Chim.  Now that’s entertainment.