Speed Racer (Blu-ray)

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When "Speed Racer" first appeared on the scene in the mid 1960s as a Japanese anime-inspired television cartoon series, I had already graduated from college and felt I was beyond such childish things. Since then, I've still not watched a complete episode of the old series nor any of the subsequent shows. As such, I came to the Wachowski brothers' 2008 "Speed Racer" movie with a clean and, I hope, unbiased slate (disregarding my familiarity with their "Matrix" trilogy), neither a fan nor a detractor but an innocent bystander. It was for the better. I admit I had a degree of resistance to the movie, but I tried to keep an open mind. As a result I came away more impressed than I thought I would be, at least with the look of the film. Maybe it's all flash and little substance, but there's no denying the appeal of that flash, and its high-definition Blu-ray picture is as flashy as they come.

The Wachowskis, Andy and Larry, updated the old cartoon by making their new movie a combination of live action and CGI animation. Even though the two styles don't always mesh, in the racing sequences they look mighty impressive. It's like watching a neon-glowing, slot-car racing video game, full of bright lights, nonstop action, and crashes galore. In this regard, it ought to delight old fans of the series, and even I found myself fascinated by all the color and excitement, especially in high def.

In between the racing sequences, however, things are different. The plot is simplistic and intentionally clichéd. Apparently, all the familiar characters from the series are here, but the story line seems a mere afterthought to string the races together.

Emile Hirsch plays Speed Racer, the kid who grew up dreaming about cars. Hirsch looks the part and does his best with a boyish charm. Christina Ricci plays his longtime girlfriend, Trixie, and she's a doll. Indeed, with her big eyes and short, dark hair she not only resembles the cartoon Trixie but the older cartoon character Betty Boop. And I mean that in a purely complimentary way; Ms. Ricci is wonderfully attractive in the role.

John Goodman plays Pops Racer, Speed's father, who designs and builds racing cars, and Susan Sarandon plays Mom Racer. Both performers lend a dignity to the movie and a needed heart. Paulie Litt plays Spritle Racer, Speed's mischievous little brother, who loves candy above all else. Scott Porter plays Rex Racer, Speed's older brother, who died in a horrible racing-car crash some years earlier. Matthew Fox plays Racer X, a mysterious do-gooder driver. Kick Gurry plays Sparky, the Racer team's mechanic. Richard Roundtree plays Ben Burns, a former champion driver. Ralph Herforth plays Jack "Cannonball" Taylor, a current Grand Prix racing champion. Benno Furman plays Inspector Detector, the official in charge of keeping racing on the up and up. And Roger Allum plays E.P. Arnold Royalton Esq., the rich, greedy president and chairman of the evil Royalton Industries, who wants Speed to race for his team. There are other players as well, too numerous to mention in a cast that outweighs the production needs, all of it indicative of the film's overall bloat.

The actors do their part, but it's really the special effects, the CGI graphics that surround everyone all the time, that stand out in the show. In order to connect the dots, the script has the iniquitous corporations manipulating all the races and drivers, with the pure-hearted Racer family out to buck the corruption. To be honest, while it is all fairly simplistic, as I said, there were times in the film when I found myself lost in the plot web of money and power grabs. It was like the Wachowskis' final two "Matrix" films, where even though you knew basically what was going on, they kind of left you behind on occasion. Maybe the Wachowskis need to learn to tell a simple story more simply; I dunno.

The filmmakers link the new movie to the old television series by anchoring it to the past and the future at the same time, which can be a bit confusing. Clothing, hair, and furniture styles remain in the mid 1960s, while cars, architecture, and technology look to some indefinite time well to come. The movie refers to Ben Burns, for instance, as having won the '43 Grand Prix. That would be about twenty-odd years before the mid sixties' setting of the original TV show. But then Royalton mentions that in his youth he started his company using a Commodore 64, a home computer not in use until the early 1980s. I guess you're not supposed to question the goofy time stage.

Speed's Mach 5 racing car and the film's various race tracks should impress fans. The car resembles the one in the cartoon, but the filmmakers bring it to life in full scale and in animation. The races themselves appear very cartoonish, intentionally cartoonish, with the tracks simulating not only today's video games but older slot-car layouts, especially the elaborate ones so popular in the Sixties. (I had an old friend whose father once owned a slot-car operation back then in a building that formerly had been a grocery store. It was a massive arrangement of tracks, overpasses, scenery, and accessories, and the movie reminded me of it a lot.) The filmmakers light everything in glowing colors and pump up the sound to the threshold of pain to ensure we don't take our eyes off the screen for a moment.

I found the racing sections a blast. There's the opening race; then the centerpiece Casa Cristo Classic, where it's not so much a race as a demolition derby in the desert; followed at the end by the World Racing League Grand Prix. These three races take up maybe half the film, and they are really the only parts I felt I needed to watch. Otherwise, the film is way too long. At 135 minutes, it's at least twice as long as it should be.