Faster Speed Racer!
No, really…. The Warchowskis have succeeded in creating an incredibly immersive world that totally captures the spirit, and feel, of the cartoon. It is beautiful, funny, and thrilling. Unfortunately the dialog in between the races is well written, but not well written for the screen. For example, at one point Pops Racer asks Speed to sit down and listen when Speed is about to leave (it’s not clear where or why) and he tells Speed that he loves him, and is proud of him, etc., etc.. It’s really well written and something you’d love to hear a father say in exactly that situation, but in the movie it just kind-of drags… Maybe it’s that we’d already had a couple serious conversations about being proud of Speed.
The races, are incredible, and totally sucked me in. The little brother had way too much screen time. And, I didn’t think I’d ever hear myself say it, but this movie could have done with some heavy editing.
Overall money well spent but some people are definitely going to feel it dragging. Kids will probably love it, but they did use the one swear word you get without forcing an R rating which felt totally out of character for Speed, although it was used where a real driver would have used it. Pops racer also said “ass” which again, felt out of character. Normally I couldn’t care less about swearing in movies, and I’m not opposed to children hearing swears because they’re going to in everyday life anyway, but I felt that, in this instance, it actually detracted from the film.
About the drawing: I wanted to draw John Goodman giving his monologue to Speed but I couldn’t find a shot of it and didn’t want to attempt without a reference image, so I drew the beautiful Christina Ricci instead. If only the drawing did her justice.