Uncle Sean's Moving Picture Show

Speed Racer (2008)

So, I watched this movie a few days ago. I wanted to see it when it initially came out, then it got awful reviews and I just never got around to it. Since then I have had multiple people independently recommend this movie to me. It is a delightful movie and arguably one of the most original bits of cinema you’re going to see. Every movie should be made like Speed Racer was made. I don’t mean the CGI, the bright colors, the heavy post-production, and the relatively basic script/story. I mean the pure commitment to making a movie exactly what it should be.

Speed Racer is exactly what it should be: bright and crazy and very fast-paced. They could have made it “realistic,” “gritty,” or whatever other thing it is they like to do with popular source material. They didn’t. They picked a direction that served the material and then they committed to that direction 100%. At no point watching the movie did they seem to hesitate in their commitment to the style and that’s why it works.

That’s what I mean about every movie being made like the Wachowskis made Speed Racer. If you’re going to take a movie stylistically and thematically in a direction you have to commit to pushing it all the way to the limit and never faltering. When you falter you fail miserably. Like The Exorcist II. I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority here but I think John Boorman’s sequel to The Exorcist fails not because he strays so far from the original film and enters more metaphorical/experimental/weird territory, it’s because he didn’t push it far enough. There’s hesitation in the film that allows you to doubt its direction and so it fails miserably and is a widely despised film.

Speed Racer doesn’t falter and its a delight. Do yourself a favor and watch it. Embrace it for the pure silly cartoon fun that it is and let it wash over you like a rainbow of rainbows. It is a rainbow made of rainbows.