Stop, Speed Racer, Stop!
The Wachowski siblings have unveiled the trailer for their upcoming adaptation of Speed Racer. Unfortunately, the thing looks like a phantasmagorical whirlwind of vomit.
While I appreciate the ability of the special effects to mimic the hallucinogenic look of the cartoon, is that a good thing?
As a boy, I didn’t love the cartoon for the graphics – I loved it for the CAR. My imagination made the Mach Five a real machine. The crappy animation, the rapid cutting, and the sketchy characters were only a temporary and barely-considered backdrop for the adventures made possible by the amazing abilities of the Mach Five.
By mimicking this style in live action, the Wachowski’s are undercutting the realism necessary to transport audiences. Bad idea.

Good God, that was the worst trailer I’ve seen in a long freaking time. What a waste of a great story.
These “effects” are far from special. This looks absolutely DUMB.
I think the only way to have pulled this off is to make it more campy. John Goodman????? And the fact that it’s being talked about on Entertainment Tonight is not a good thing. Susan Surandon?????
Actually, I think John Goodman is a perfect choice to play Pops … until he opens his mouth, that is. Then, suddenly, it’s Dan Connor in day-glo colors.
Crap! This is going from the theaters to the $5 DVD pile at Wal-Mart in about a week and a half.
Dammit! Not looking good, grasshoppers.
Here’s the problem — and this starts to happen every year around now. We’re TOLD what movies will be blockbusters and then we whip it into a frenzy. Over and over again. How many summers IN A ROW can dissapoint? How many times can you walk out of a theater let down? They (the studios) FORCE THIS SHIT on us. “They’ll watch anything!”
We need to stop hyping movies for these guys. Let them stand on thier own. Maybe it’ll be good, maybe it’ll suck. If it sucks, and you went to see it ‘cuz of the hype? Guess what’s gonna happen in the summer of ‘09? Same fuckin’ thing.
@ medavidson – You’re absolutely right. That’s partially why I refuse to post anything about shit like the new Sex and the City movie.
However, I am invested in this thing because I grew up on the cartoon, and I wrote a script for a live action film, which I intend to compare to this one once it’s finished.
Fucking Sprittle and Chim Chim. This is going to be really disappointing.
You’re right Ray, why not make a normal looking film and rely on the coolness of the car and story to pull it off?
I really have no opinion about Speed Racer (the movie). I’m 40. I watched it and enjoyed it. AS A KID. How many times are we gonna let our youth f us in the a? Over and over again.
They’re cashing in our childhood memories. Trust me. Speed Racer. Not that good. As a kid, it was pretty good. Shitting in my pants was pretty good back then too. So were those frozen tubes of flavored ice that you’d cut the end off and squeeze into your mouth. Lotsa things were pretty cool when I was a kid. But… not. cool. now. No matter how they’re repackaged.
There’s plenty-a BAD ASS original movies / material out there: No Country for Old Men? Bug? All sorts of stuff.
I mean, come on. How many times are we gonna fall for the SAME FUCKING TRICK. Grrrrr!
Oh. Have a nice day!