Column:

‘Speed Racer,’ an undeserving flop

By Dan Moore

Published July 9, 2008

Went, “Speed Racer,” went, and I almost can’t blame the people who saw “What Happens in Vegas” instead — almost. Given the far-gone reputation of the Wachowskis, given the fact that a remake of a campy cartoon from the ‘60s could easily turn into the next kitschy “Scooby-Doo” retread, it makes sense to be worried. Not to see “What Happens in Vegas” necessarily, but certainly to be worried.

But I’m writing this review now — when I could be waxing rhapsodic about “Wall-E” — for a reason. It’s so that when “Speed Racer” comes out on DVD this fall there is a voice, somewhere in the back of your head, that says: “Maybe I was wrong about this one.” Because you were. Its potential flaws, not to mention that box-office meltdown, kept people from experiencing one of the best summer action movies in years.

If you’ve never seen an episode of “Speed Racer,” you’re not missing all that much: The original is a badly translated, repetitive anime that has survived in our collective memories and cable TV stations as long as it has on the seemingly inexhaustible nostalgic goodwill of baby boomers everywhere. Suffice it to say that in this movie — which borrows its basic set-up and plot from the series — Speed appears in yet another of his most dangerous races ever, avoiding death, destruction, and, somehow, the suspicion that the mysterious Racer X is his brother.

But aside from the characters and that famous framework, the movie ends up refreshingly separate from the TV show. Somehow a formula-heavy, low-budget series with a way-too-groovy theme song has become one of the most aesthetically daring mainstream movies ever made.

Shot in a way that suggests another undeserving flop, “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,” “Speed Racer” plays like a live-action cartoon, any semblance of physical law bending to suit the moment. The editing eschews trendy shaky-cam in favor of a computerized smoothness and doesn’t even slow down for back story.

The overall atmosphere is, say, the Pixar to “Scooby-Doo”’s DreamWorks. There are no pop-culture interludes, there is no anachronistic or jarring shift of atmosphere, there is no campy winking about the basic absurdity of cars that can do back flips or survive cliff falls. Its cohesiveness is a sustained act of creation on the order of the famous cantina scene in “Star Wars.” Its pitch is perfect, at once light and thrilling.

In “Speed Racer” we were given a fully-realized vision, a movie that somehow managed to compromise nothing and remain universally appealing — and we watched Ashton Kutcher marry Cameron Diaz instead. When the voice comes calling, and the DVD comes out, give it a chance on the biggest TV you can muster.